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Deep Dish Focaccia Pizza

Categories Main Course

This deep dish focaccia pizza is like heaven in a heavy cast iron pan. It’s cheese and herb stuffed focaccia bottom is met by pizza sauce, more cheese and toppings of choice then cooked to bubbly pizza pie perfection!

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I love what deep dish pizza does to the crusts! It almost caramelizes them against the hot pan and gives them the best crisp and chew. It’s droolworthy!

As a kid we made homemade pizza every Friday night. So I’ve been making homemade pizza for years! I love this fun twist on the classic and combining it with focaccia just seemed right. I know in some areas of Italy focaccia acts as a pizza crust and they have a focaccia style of pizza. I am not Italian, nor have I eaten that authentically from Italy so I can’t compare. However, I believe this recipe would be similar.

This pizza can be made with any of your favorite toppings or sauces. I have a classic red sauce as my base for this recipe, however, if you are feeling an alfredo pizza or even BBQ then this recipe can be easily adapted to fit that.

This recipe can be made in any heavy bottomed oven proof pans. I prefer cast iron because it works like magic on the crust but if you don’t have one, then use a heavy duty pan that can handle the heat and is deep enough for this pizza to rise. Because the focaccia will rise and push this pizza to the top of the pan.

What you need to make this deep dish focaccia pizza:

Makes 1 – 12 inch pizza

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
  • 1 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil – divided
  • 8 ounces mozzarella pearls or mozzarella cut up into chunks or shredded
  • Italian herb seasoning – sprinkled on top
  • ~1 cup pizza sauce of choice
  • ~12 ounces fresh mozzarella – shredded
  • Pepperoni – optional, as much as you want
  • shave parmesan – optional
  • Any desired pizza toppings

Instructions

  1. In a large mixing bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar and salt and stir.
  2. Add in the flour a cup at a time and stir until a dough forms, it will be sticky.
  3. Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the dough and knead it into the dough.
  4. Cover dough in the bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
  5. Spray a cast iron or a deep, heavy bottomed, oven proof skillet or pan with oil, then add your risen dough to the pan and press dough down and shape to fit the skillet.
  6. Let rise for 1 more hour covered.
  7. Preheat oven to 475 F.
  8. After the final rise, press down little spots with your finger tips while you add the remaining olive oil and press the mozzarella pearls into the dough divots you create with your fingertips.
  9. Sprinkle the top of the dough with Italian herb seasoning.
  10. Add pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni and parmesan or toppings of choice.
  11. Cook for 20 minutes, watching to make sure the toppings don’t spill out into the oven, you may want to place a cookie sheet underneath if you topped your pizza with lots of toppings.
  12. To get a crisped top, broil for 1-3 minutes.
  13. Let pizza cool slightly then slice and enjoy.

Here are a few other recipes you may love:

Pizza Bombs
Pizza Dough
Supreme Stuffed Spaghetti Squash

Print Recipe
4.80 from 29 votes

Deep Dish Focaccia Pizza

Mozzarella and herb stuffed focaccia crust that is topped with sauce, cheese and toppings of choice.
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time23 minutes
rise time2 hours
Course: Dinner, Main Course
Cuisine: Dinner, Italian, main course, pizza
Keyword: cheese, Dinner, Italian, main course, Pizza, Weekend Dinner
Servings: 1 12 inch pizza

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water
  • 1 tablespoon dry active yeast
  • 1 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
  • 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil – divided
  • 8 ounces mozzarella pearls or mozzarella cut up into chunks or shredded
  • Italian herb seasoning – sprinkled on top
  • 1 cup pizza sauce of choice
  • 12 ounces fresh mozzarella – shredded
  • Pepperoni – optional as much as you want
  • shave parmesan – optional
  • Any desired pizza toppings

Instructions

  • In a large mixing bowl, combine water, yeast, sugar and salt and stir.
  • Add in the flour a cup at a time and stir until a dough forms, it will be sticky.
  • Add 2 tablespoons of olive oil to the dough and knead it into the dough.
  • Cover dough in the bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
  • Spray a cast iron or a deep, heavy bottomed, oven proof skillet or pan with oil, then add your risen dough to the pan and press dough down and shape to fit the skillet.
  • Let rise for 1 more hour covered.
  • Preheat oven to 475 F.
  • After the final rise, press down little spots with your finger tips while you add the remaining olive oil and press the mozzarella pearls into the dough divots you create with your fingertips.
  • Sprinkle the top of the dough with Italian herb seasoning.
  • Add pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella, pepperoni and parmesan or toppings of choice.
  • Cook for 20 minutes, watching to make sure the toppings don’t spill out into the oven, you may want to place a cookie sheet underneath if you topped your pizza with lots of toppings.
  • When the pizza looks done, to get a crisped top, broil for 1-3 minutes or until the cheese is browned to liking.
  • Let pizza cool slightly then slice and enjoy.