Is Pizza Dough The Same As Focaccia? 

Last updated on July 17th, 2022 at 10:51 pm

Pizza is one of the most famous options for dinner, lunch, and even breakfast. One of the reasons that pizza is a go-to option for dinner is not only is it easy or fast when ordering out, but it is also tailor-made. 

Do you prefer a white sauce or red sauce? Do you prefer all the meats or all the veggies? Do you prefer extra cheese or extra meat? Do you like your crust thin, deep, hand-tossed, stuffed, or flavored? 

Most pizza places can even create a half and half pizza. You like all the cheese and white sauce but your partner prefers all the meats and red sauce, not a problem! Order half red sauce and half white. On the white sauce side order only cheese and on the red sauce side all the meat. Instead of purchasing two pizzas and having leftovers for days, or instead of ordering one and eating a pizza that one of you doesn’t prefer, you can order it half what you like and half what they like. 

If you plan on making your own pizza at home, is it an option to use focaccia as a base instead of pizza dough? Are focaccia and pizza dough the same thing? Will the pizza taste different if you use focaccia as a base instead of pizza dough? 

Pizza dough and focaccia are very similar but they are not exactly the sameThey are made with ultimately the same ingredients, but they are made with different amounts of those ingredients. 

Focaccia is made with a little more yeast than pizza dough. The extra yeast in the focaccia allows it to rise more and become a bit more fluffy than pizza dough should be. 

There won’t be much of a taste difference if you use focaccia over pizza dough for your pizza base. The main difference you would notice would be in the texture of the crust. The crust would be a bit lighter and fluffier than the typical pizza crust you’re used to. 

So although they are similar and you could likely change one for the other if you wanted to, they are not the same thing. 

Why Is it Called Focaccia? 

Focaccia is a deliciously moist and airy bread that tastes its best when paired with dips and cheeses or even as bread for a sandwich. Though the bread name may sound interesting and not very appetizing, it is. 

Many historians believe that the bread was created in Italy, pre Roman Empire, or Greece. But how exactly did this bread get the name Focaccia? 

The word focaccia is derived from the Roman phrase, panis focacius. The phrase “panis focacius” translated means: hearth bread. Being called “hearth bread” refers to the fact that it was made by baking in coals. 

The recipe back then was olive oil, water, rough flour, and very small amounts of yeast. Original focaccia would be a bit denser and have a lot less flavor than the focaccia we know and love today. 

Is Crescent Dough The Same As Pizza Dough? 

When you use the crescent dough in baking, you typically end up making crescent rolls. If you happen to not have any more crescent dough in the fridge, could you end up using pizza dough? 

Are crescent dough and pizza dough interchangeable? If you ended up not having any pizza dough, could you substitute your pizza crust for a crescent crust? 

Pizza dough and crescent dough are not the same. Crescent dough is intended to be light and fluffy whereas pizza dough is a bit thicker. Crescent dough is made from the same type of dough as pizza dough, but butter is added to create a different flavor and texture. 

However, if you are planning on making a breakfast pizza, you could consider swapping out the pizza dough for some crescent dough. While regular pizza is always an option for breakfast, breakfast pizza can be an even tastier option. 

You can use the crescent dough for a crust, a breakfast sauce, eggs, and your favorite breakfast meat for your breakfast pizza. Swapping out the pizza dough for crescent dough in the breakfast pizza makes for a lighter, tastier pizza. 

Can You Use Pizza Dough For Dumplings? 

Dumplings are one of the best comfort foods. You can have dumplings in many ways, you can eat them fried, boiled, baked, or steamed. They can be filled with almost anything you want too. 

You can have meat or veggie-filled dumplings, Chinese dumplings, or cheese-filled Polish dumplings. You can even go, rogue, when creating your own dumplings and make them sweet with a sugar coating. 

Whatever type of dumpling you prefer, we can all agree that they are delicious. 

If you plan on making dumplings, can you use your leftover pizza dough? You baked pizza for dinner last night and ended up with some extra dough; could you use the pizza dough to create some delicious dumplings for tomorrow’s dinner? 

Surprisingly, you can use pizza dough to make dumplings but they might taste a little different since many people use baking powder or baking soda in dumplings while the pizza dough will contain yeast. 

Dumplings are typically made with the raising agents baking powder or baking soda; however, before the 19th century, they could only raise their dough with yeast. To this day, some bakers still prefer that their dumplings be made with yeast. 

Since yeast is the raising agent in pizza dough, you could use pizza dough to make your favorite dumplings. Since the yeast creates a stretching, glue-like effect in the dough, you’re less likely to lose pieces of the dough when frying the dumplings as well. 

Do You Use Different Dough For Wood Fired Pizza? 

Anything that is made flame-grilled and in a fire tastes great…except for a majority of desserts of course. Whether you’re cooking meat over a fire or roasting marshmallows, there’s an extra bit of flavor when cooking over a fire. 

Pizza is the same way. You can bake pizza over the fire with a wood-fired oven. They even have long pizza paddles that you can use to place your pizza over the fire safely. If you are thinking about getting a wood-fired pizza oven, you’ll never go back to any other type of pizza. 

Since a stove and a fire are both very different methods of cooking, do all the ingredients cook the same? For example, a charred piece of meat on a fire grill tastes much different than a charred piece of meat in the oven. The charred grilled meat tastes smoky whereas the charred oven meat just tastes awful. 

To prevent your pizza crust from burning, is there a different dough that you have to use for the wood-fired oven? 

Since temperatures are a bit hotter in the wood-fired oven, the typical pizza crust might not taste the same and can possibly burn. So although you don’t have to use a different pizza dough when making a wood fired pizza it is best to change the dough recipe. 

This pizza dough recipe from Serious Eats excludes sugar and oil in the dough, which helps slow down the browning and burning process in the pizza dough. Your pizza will be cooking around 800º instead of the regular 425º in the oven so you will want to slow that process down so the pizza dough doesn’t burn. 

You’ll need a medium-high protein flour. Since removing the oil to tenderize the dough, you’ll need a medium-level protein in the flour to help keep the dough from getting tough. If you can’t find medium-high protein flour, you can also use bread flour. 

• 4 c and 3 tbs of flour
• ½ tsp instant dry yeast
• 1 ½ c and 1 tbs water
• 1 tbs salt
• Olive oil

Combine flour and yeast in a food processor bowl. Pulse the dough about three to four times until it is well combined. While the machine is running, add water and continue to process until a ball forms and there is no more dry dough. Allow the dough to rest for around 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the salt on top of the dough and process again until a smooth ball of dough is formed. 

The dough should be at 75ºF when mixing, if not, then continue to mix in 10 seconds intervals until that temperature is reached. 

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl and knead it once or twice. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, wet your hands lightly and knead in the bowl until the dough is uniform in texture. Cover and let it sit at room temperature until the dough becomes puffy but not quite doubled in size. This will take about an hour. 

Move the dough to a lightly floured countertop and divide the dough into four pieces. Roll the four pieces of dough into balls and coat them lightly in oil. Place in a container with a lid and refrigerate for dough for a minimum of 24 hours, but no longer than 4 days. 

When you plan on baking the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow the dough to warm up, while covered, for about an hour before baking. The dough should be around 60ºF before stretching and adding ingredients. 

Final Thoughts

Next time you make pizza and you’re in the mood for a lighter, fluffier crust, or can use focaccia instead. Though they are made with the same ingredients, however focaccia is lighter and fluffier than pizza dough.