Focaccia is one of our favorite breads. And pizza is one of our favorite foods. So why not combine the two, right?! This vegan focaccia pizza is honestly the answer to all of our hopes and dreams, and we hope you feel the same way about it. We use our easy no-knead focaccia recipe as the crust.

For the marinara, if you’re using store-bought we find that local brands have the best flavor, and we would choose a local brand over a big name brand all day every day. But of course feel free to make your own marinara.

If you try this recipe, leave us a comment below to let us know how it goes. We would love to hear from you!

Vegan Focaccia Pizza

Little Lighthouse Baking Co.

Easily customizable pizza with a no-knead focaccia crust.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep 25

Cook 25

Rest 1 1

Total 1 1 50

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Servings 6 servings

Equipment

whisk
large mixing bowls
rubber spatula
quarter sheet pan
large spatula

Ingredients

Focaccia Crust

1 tsp active dry yeast
¼ cup water (60g) for the yeast
3 cups bread flour (360g)
1 ¼ cups water (295g) room temperature
½ tbsp kosher salt
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Assembly

1 cup marinara sauce
fresh basil
toppings of your choice

Instructions

Make the Dough (Day 1)

Heat the water in a small bowl until it is slightly warm (about 105ºF). Add in the yeast, and whisk together.
In a large mixing bowl, add the yeast mixture, water, bread flour, and kosher salt. Mix with a rubber spatula until there are no lumps and a very wet dough has formed.
In a second large mixing bowl, add half of the olive oil. Tilt the bowl so that the sides of the bowl are coated in oil. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough out of its bowl and transfer it to the oiled bowl. Use your fingers to dab some olive oil from the sides of the bowl onto the surface of the dough.
Tightly cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place the bowl in the fridge. Let the dough rise for 16 – 24 hours. The longer the dough rises, the better the flavor and texture of the focaccia.

Shape the Focaccia (Day 2)

When you are ready to continue, remove the dough from the fridge. If your dough has not doubled in size, remove it from the fridge and let it continue rising at room temperature until it has doubled in size. Continue to the next step once the dough has doubled.
Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl. Drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a quarter sheet pan and use your fingers to spread the oil to coat the bottom and sides.
With your still oiled hands, slide your hands between the bowl and the dough. Lift the dough out of and above the bowl, and hold it for a couple seconds. The dough will naturally fall down towards the bowl. Lower the dough back into the bowl. Turn the bowl 90º, and repeat the lifting and lowering process for a second time. Turn the bowl 90º again, and repeat for a third time. Turn the bowl 90º one last time, repeat the lifting, then lower the dough into the quarter sheet pan.
Just a warning: if you just took your dough out of the fridge, the dough will be very cold.
Use your fingers to gently stretch the dough to completely cover the bottom of the pan. If the dough does not want to stretch, loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rest for 15 minutes before continuing to stretch the dough.
Once the dough has been stretched to completely cover the bottom of the pan, loosely cover the pan with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise at room temperature until it is almost doubled in height, about 1 hour. The dough should almost reach the top of the sides of the quarter sheet pan.
Prepare your toppings while the dough is rising.

Assembly (Day 2)

Preheat the oven to 450ºF. Arrange one rack on the bottom position and one on the upper third.
Remove the plastic wrap from the top of the pan. With lightly oiled fingers, use a claw hand shape to press down through the dough to the bottom of the pan. Do this all over to dimple the dough, leaving about a 1 inch border of undimpled dough along the edges. If any very large bubbles form on the surface of the dough, pop them. Sprinkle some kosher salt on the surface of the dough.
Bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 15 minutes or until the top is firm but not yet browned.
Remove the pan from the oven. Use a rubber spatula to spread an even layer of the marinara on the surface of the dough, leaving a 1 inch border without sauce along the edges. Add the rest of your toppings.
Return the pan to the oven, this time on the rack on the upper third, and continue to bake until the unsauced edges are a deep golden brown, about 5-10 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Use a large spatula to gently loosen the pizza from the pan, first along the sides and then on the bottom. Transfer to a large cutting board or other hard surface for cutting, then serve.