I’m trying to be conservative these days with spending money on food (and in general), which means I’m desperately trying to use ingredients from pantry and fridge. I made a recipe of focaccia bread dough the other day intending to use the dough for something specific that I can no longer recall. But as I was perusing the shelves of my refrigerator I changed course to use up some spinach, an onion and cooked bacon after browsing recipes for spinach + focaccia + pizza.
I found a good base recipe at Laura’s Sweet Spot. I already had the focaccia bread dough ready and just need some sort of inspo for toppings. I needed a recipe that used fresh spinach and Laura’s caramelized onions were an excellent bonus. I added the bacon because I wanted to use it up and by the way doesn’t bacon make everything taste better?
ingredients.
- ½ recipe focaccia bread dough
- Sautéed spinach, one bunch
- 6 slices thick cut bacon cooked, sliced or crumbled (optional)
- 1 or 2 large onions, caramelized (depending on how much onion you like; I made one onion and wished I’d had more)
- olive oil
- salt and pepper, to taste
- 3 to 4 c. shredded white cheese such as mozzarella, Monterrey jack, etc.
directions.
- Make the focaccia bread dough. While the dough is rising start prepping your other ingredients (saute the spinach, cook the onions, shred your cheese).
- When the dough is ready to start cooking, line a cookie sheet with parcment paper and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and stretch it into a rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for about 20 minutes. Uncover the dough and stretch it into the corners if you can or toward the corners if you can’t. You want your dough to be at least 1/2 inch height, 3/4 inch is better.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F and position the rack in the center. Place a roasting pan on the rack below where you will be baking the focaccia. When you put the pizza bread in the oven to bake you’ll add a cup or so of hot water to the pan below. The steam from the pan should give the crust a nice crunchy exterior while keeping the interior moist and chewy.
- Sprinkle the foccacia dough with olive oil, salt and pepper and any seasoning you may desire such as thyme, oregano, basil, etc.
- Place the focaccia in the oven on the rack above the pan; fill the pan with water, and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the dough starts to brown on top.
- Remove the pan from the oven. Top the dough with the onion, spinach, cheese, and bacon.
- Continue baking the focaccia until the cheese is bubbly and browned, another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven. Serve immediately.
- If there are leftovers, reheat at 275 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until warm to the touch before serving.
I feel like there’s something wrong with my oven. It doesn’t seem to want to brown anything so I end up cooking pizzas and breads extra long or use my broiler for a bit at the end in an effort to brown. Natch my pizza didn’t really brown but it still tasted pretty darn good despite that fact. If you want a more traditional pizza I would say leave a “crust” by not placing the ingredients all the way to the edge. I personally found that I liked the inside pieces of my focaccia bread pizza best because it had the most ingredients (i.e. bacon and cheese). I found myself wanting to dip the plain ends of the focaccia bread pizza in olive oil and balsamic!
Recipe rating:
Food Snob 