This is a thick, delicious sourdough focaccia dough that is topped with your favorite pizza toppings and the perfect summer camp out meal. It’s easy to make, easier to warm up, and will please a whole crowd!
❤️ Why You’ll Love Focaccia Pizza
Summer is here, which means grilling, cookouts, campouts and all the summer get togethers! This is the perfect pizza for all of that. It’s simple but still impressive – because it’s sourdough, obviously. I actually took my kids camping and we brought this for dinner and heated it right up on the fire. Adults and kids alike enjoyed this pizza so much!
🍲 Ingredients
Sourdough Starter – Bubbly, active sourdough starter serves as the leavening agent to the dough. Feed it in the morning and assemble your dough at night when it’s at its peak.
Alll-purpose flour – Organic, unbleached all-purpose flour.
Water – Room temperature filtered water.
Honey – For just a touch of that pizza dough sweetness.
Olive oil – Good quality olive oil.
Salt – I use pink Himalayan salt in my recipes but use what you have on hand.
Marinara Sauce – Or a half cup of your favorite pizza sauce.
Mozzarella – I used fresh mozzarella pearls that I found in the cheese/ charcuterie section of my local grocery store and loved how it turned out! If you can’t find mozzarella pearls, chop some fresh mozzarella.
Pepperoni – I like the change of texture and flavor of pepperoni on pizza, you can use your favorite kind or leave it out entirely.
👩🍳 How to Make Sourdough Focaccia Pizza
- In the morning, feed your starter.
- In the afternoon when your starter has peaked, assemble your focaccia dough.
- Using your kitchen scale, mix together your bubbly starter and water until the starter has dissolved and turned into a milky liquid. Add in the honey, flour, salt, and olive oil and mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.
- Cover with a damp tea towel or bowl cover and let rest for one hour.
- After resting, wet the tips of your fingers and pull the sides of the focaccia dough up and towards the middle, rotating the bowl each time until a semi-smooth dough forms. Cover and let rest for one more hour.
- After resting perform one stretch and fold/ coil fold. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest on the counter overnight for 12 – 14 hours to bulk ferment.
- In the morning, drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil into your baking dish and transfer the dough into the pan. Fold the top of the dough up and in the middle, repeat the same with the bottom. Flip the dough seam side down so the dough is covered in olive oil and the top of the dough looks smooth.
- Cover and let rest for 1 – 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size and puffy.
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- When your dough is ready to bake, drizzle 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of the dough. With your fingers, dimple the top of the dough all over.
- Spoon and spread the marinara sauce all over, and top with the pepperoni, fresh mozzarella and dried oregano.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, carefully pull the focaccia out, top with the shredded Italian cheese and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Let rest for 10 – 15 minutes and enjoy warm!
🪄 Tips and Tricks
- If you wet your hands during stretch and folds, it will help the dough not stick to your fingers before the bulk fermentation.
- If you’re making this for a cookout/ camping trip. Bake in an aluminum pan and immediately cover with aluminum foil. Warm up on top of a cooking grate over an open flame. Avoid placing the pan directly on the open flame; the edges of the pizza will char.
🗒 Variations
We love focaccia here, and I think pizza is the perfect kind for the summer season. Focaccia is fun and delicious either way because if you have a good base dough, you really can use whatever toppings you like! Check out some of these other focaccia breads that I know you’ll love.
🗒 Substitutions
Pizza is great because you can literally top it with anything you like. This specific kind is intended to please a crowd, so cheese and pepperoni seem like a safe bet If you’re making this for your family and have something specific you like – use this recipe and make it your own <3
- Any pizza toppings you like.
🗒 Best served with
- Summer BBQ
- Weekday dinner.
- Camp fire dinner.
- Side salad for lunch.
👝 How to Store Leftovers
If you’re baking this in an aluminum pan, keep the leftovers in the pan, store in the fridge for up to 4 days for easy reheating. If you want to freeze the dough, after the bulk fermentation, in morning, transfer your dough to a Ziplock bag and into the freezer for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to bake with it, take out your dough the night before and let it thaw either on the counter or in the fridge. When it’s thawed transfer it you your oiled baking pan and continue as normal!
🤔 Common Questions
Absolutely! Bread flour has a higher protein content and gives the focaccia a chewier texture. It’s delicious and I say go for it!
Focaccia Pizza
Equipment
- bowl cover/ tea towel
- baking dish Aluminum pan
- kitchen scale
Ingredients
- 200 grams bubbly starter
- 380 grams filtered water
- 600 grams all-purpose flour
- 20 grams honey
- 50 grams olive oil plus 2 tablespoons for drizzling
- 10 grams salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ cup marinara sauce
- ¼ cup sliced pepperoni.
- mozzarella pearls or fresh mozzarella
- ½ cup shredded Italian cheese.
Instructions
- In the morning, feed your starter.
- In the afternoon when your starter has peaked, assemble your focaccia dough.
- Using your kitchen scale, mix together your bubbly starter and water until the starter has dissolved and turned into a milky liquid. Add in the honey, flour, salt, and olive oil and mix everything together until a shaggy dough forms.
- Cover with a damp tea towel or bowl cover and let rest for one hour.
- After resting, wet the tips of your fingers and pull the sides of the focaccia dough up and toward the middle, rotating the bowl each time until a semi-smooth dough forms. Cover and let rest for one more hour.
- After resting perform one stretch and fold/coil fold. Cover with a damp tea towel and let rest on the counter overnight for 12 – 14 hours to bulk ferment.
- In the morning, drizzle one tablespoon of olive oil into your baking dish and transfer the dough into the pan. Fold the top of the dough up and in the middle, repeat the same with the bottom. Flip the dough seam side down so the dough is covered in olive oil and the top of the dough looks smooth.
- Cover and let rest for 1 – 2 hours until the dough has doubled in size and puffy.
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- When your dough is ready to bake, drizzle 1 – 2 tablespoons of olive oil over the surface of the dough. With your fingers, dimple the top of the dough all over.
- Spoon and spread the marinara sauce all over, and top with the pepperoni, fresh mozzarella and dried oregano.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- After 15 minutes, carefully pull the focaccia out, top with the shredded Italian cheese and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
- Let rest for 10 – 15 minutes and enjoy warm!
This looks yummy! Based on the fermenting and baking times it looks like I would need to bake the focaccia in the morning. What should I do if I want it ready to bake in the late afternoon?
Yes I have the exact same question!
Right after transferring it into an oiled pan, cover and place it in the fridge until you want to bake it. Let it sit out for one hour prior to baking 🙂 or you can par – bake it! which is baking it for 15 minutes, placing it in the fridge, then topping with more cheese and pepperoni and continue baking it for another 10 – 15 minutes when you’re ready!
Thank you!! This was my question too. Your recipes are always so delicious and easy! Your beginner sourdough recipe finally gave me successful results!!!!
Looking forward to making this for Father’s Day tomorrow but concerned about bulk fermenting on the counter for 12 hours. It’s 110 degrees in Phoenix. Won’t that overproof? Can I bulk ferment in fridge overnight instead?
I’m in Phoenix too. I finished the bread around 9:30 at night, left it on the counter, and put it in the dish around 8:30 the next morning. So closer to 11 hours. The dough had reached the top of the bowl by then.
What is a bubbly starter?
Hi Alex! It’s your fed sourdough starter at its peak. Usually about 8 hours after you have fed it.
So good!!!!