Focaccia Bread Pizza

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/4 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 packet dried yeast
• 2 cups of all purpose flour (plus extra for kneading)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup marinara sauce
• 1/2 oz sun-dried tomatoes, roughly chopped
• 2 oz maitake mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 10 black olives, halved
• 1 oz grated Parmesan
• 2 oz mozzarella, cut into slices

Method

To Make the Focaccia Bread
1. Begin by placing a small saucepan on a medium heat and pouring in the olive oil. When it is hot, add in the garlic, oregano, rosemary and black pepper and fry for 3 minutes, until the herbs are fragrant, then remove from the heat and leave to one side.
2. In a large bowl, pour in the warm water and yeast, give it a good stir and leave for a couple of minutes.
3. Next, sieve in half of the flour and 2 tablespoons of the olive oil mix from the saucepan. Stir until combined, then follow with the rest of the flour and salt and stir until combined.
4. Remove the dough from the bowl and place onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for around 2 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. IF the dough becomes too sticky whilst kneading, add a little more flour as you go.
5. Place the dough into a greased bowl and cover with a damp towel. Leave to rise for 1 hour (you can leave it for longer if you want/need to).
6. 10 minutes before the dough has finished rising, preheat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit / 200 Celsius.
7. Punch the dough down and remove it from the bowl, placing it onto a large rectangular greased oven tray and press the dough outwards, so that it fills the surface of the oven tray.
8. Pour the remaining olive oil mixture over the dough and place your oven tray into the oven, baking the foccacia for around 15 minutes.
To make the pizza
9. Remove the foccacia bread from the oven and pour over the marinara sauce, spreading it evenly.
10. Add on all of the other toppings and place the pizza back into the oven for 5-8 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and the cheese has melted.