Description
This easy overnight focaccia dough transforms into a thick, fluffy, and downright bouncy pepperoni pizza. It’s quickly become my favorite homemade pizza recipe – a perfect weekend movie night couch meal.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Focaccia:
- 4 3/4 cups (570 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoons (12 grams) fine sea salt
- 2 1/4 teaspoon (7 grams) active dry yeast
- 2 cups (452 grams) warm water
- 1/4 cup (60 grams) olive oil
- 1 tablespoon (21 grams) honey
For the Pizza:
- 1 12-ounce jar pizza sauce (I love the RAO’s brand)
- 2 cups (about 8 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
- Thick-sliced pepperoni, as much as you’d like
- 1 cup (8 ounces) whole milk ricotta cheese, seasoned with a few sprinkles of salt, red pepper flakes, and dried oregano)
Instructions
- Twelve to 48 hours before you want to bake your focaccia pizza, make the dough. In a large bowl stir together the flour, salt, and yeast to combine. Add the water, olive oil, and honey to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to thoroughly combine, about 2 minutes. The dough will be very wet and sticky. Cover the dough and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Using a dough scraper or damp hands, gently reach under the dough, folding the bottom portion over the top of the dough. Repeat this reach and fold four or five times, rotating the bowl to work your way around the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 12 hours and up to 48 hours.
- When ready to make the pizza, bring the dough to room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Grease a 9×13-inch cake pan with a generous amount of olive oil. Add the dough to the pan and gently turn it over so both sides are coated in oil. Don’t worry about spreading the dough at this point, simply cover the pan and let the dough rise until nearly doubled in size, 30-45 minutes.
- Once the dough has nearly doubled, use your fingertips to stipple the dough. This will even out the thickness, spread the dough across the bottom of the pan, and create little dimples in the dough.
- Sprinkle the dough with half of the shredded mozzarella cheese. Dollop and gently spread sauce over the cheese. Tuck pepperoni slices into and on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese and dollop with ricotta in heaping spoonfuls.
- Allow the dough to rest while you preheat the oven to 425 degrees F with the rack in the center of the oven.
- Once preheated, transfer the dough to the oven to cook for 25-32 minutes, until deeply golden brown and bubbling.
- Allow the pizza to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the pan and slicing into thick squares. Serve warm.
