If you can make focaccia — and you know you can! — you can make excellent Sicilian-style pizza at home. It’s shockingly easy. Read on to learn the game-changing secret that allows the focaccia-like crust to stabilize and ensures the toppings do not overcook. 🍕🍕🍕

Just-baked Sicilian-style pizza still in the pan.

While the definition of Sicilian-style pizza as we know it today is debatable, the indisputable original Sicilian pizza is something called sfincione, a focaccia-like dough topped with onions, bread crumbs, and caciocavallo cheese. In Sicily, it’s traditionally served on New Year’s Eve.

If you go to a Sicilian-style pizzeria today, you’ll find slices that resemble sfincione with their focaccia-like foundation, but the toppings will vary as much as they would in any slice shop.

Unlike other styles of pan pizzas — I’m looking at you, Detroit — Sicilian-style pizza is incredibly easy to make at home: if you can make focaccia, either yeasted or sourdough, you can make excellent Sicilian-style pizza at home.

Find step-by-step instructions below but before you proceed, read these game-changing tips for success:

4 Tips for Sicilian-Style Pizza Success

  • Butter your baking pan before adding the olive oil. With some pans, using butter in addition to olive oil is imperative to prevent sticking. Moreover, butter adds flavor and promotes browning.
  • Take care with your final dimpling. Dimple throughout the center of the dough not the perimeter to ensure an even parbake. I learned this from Peter Reinhart’s Perfect Pan Pizza.
  • Parbake your crust: This is game-changing! Parbaking allows the focaccia-like crust to stabilize, which will ensure the crust does not taste doughy or gummy. Furthermore, it will prevent the toppings from overcooking.
  • Invest in a Lloyd pan: Lloyd pans conduct heat better than standard half sheet pans and, as a result, produce a superior, crisper crust. I love the 16×12-inch Lloyd “Grandma” pan.
A stack of Sicilian-style pizza squares.
The undercarriage of a slice of Sicilian-style pizza.

How to make Sicilian Pizza, Step by Step

Gather your ingredients: bread flour, salt, instant yeast (SAF is my preference), and lukewarm water:

Ingredients to make focaccia.

Whisk together the flour, salt, and yeast first:

Dry ingredients for focaccia whisked together.

Add the water:

Adding the water to the dry ingredients to make focaccia.

Use a spatula to stir the two together.

Just-mixed focaccia dough.

Slick the dough with olive oil:

A bowl of olive oil coated dough.

Then cover the bowl (with a lid or plastic wrap or something to make it airtight). Stick the bowl in the fridge immediately; leave it there to rise for 18 hours or longer—two to three days will give you an even lighter crust.

A covered bowl of risen focaccia dough.

Uncover the bowl, then…

Focaccia dough in a bowl after 24 hours in the fridge.

… deflate the dough. Using oiled hands grab a portion of the dough and stretch it up and toward the center. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat until you have created a rough ball.

A ball of focaccia dough, balled up after 24 hours in the fridge.

Prepare your pan for baking with both butter and olive oil. I love this Lloyd Sicilian-Style Pizza Pan.

A buttered and oiled sheet pan.

Transfer your dough ball to the pool of olive oil and turn it to coat.

A ball of Sicilian-style pizza dough in the center of a sheet pan.

Let sit for 2.5 to 3 hours or until it has poofed considerably.

A ball of Sicilian-style pizza dough in the center of a sheet pan after a three hour proof.

Dimple and stretch the dough to fit the pan. As soon as the dough resists, stop and let it rest for another 30 minutes.

Sicilian-style pizza dough stretched to almost fit a sheet pan.

Then stretch it again to fit the pan. At this point, the dough can hang out in the pan for several hours. Cover it with plastic wrap to ensure the dough does not dry out if you plan on doing so. Dimple one last time throughout the center of the dough before transferring it to the oven to parbake it.

A sheet pan of Sicilian-style pizza dough ready to be baked.

Parbake the dough for 11-12 minutes at 500ºF on a preheated Baking steel or pizza stone.

A parbaked Sicilian-style pizza crust.

Then, top as you wish. I’m using my go-to homemade tomato sauce here.

A sauced, parbaked slab of Sicilian-style pizza.

Top with cheese:

A Sicilian-style pizza crust topped with sauce and cheese.

Then add pepperoni or sautéed vegetables or sausage or whatever you wish:

A pan of Sicilian-style pizza ready for the oven.

Transfer to the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest in the pan for another 5 minutes before transferring the pizza to a board to rest.

Just-baked Sicilian-style pepperoni pizza.

Shower with pepper flakes, if you wish.

Just-baked Sicilian-style pepperoni pizza.

Cut into squares and serve.

Just-baked Sicilian-style pepperoni pizza, cut into squares.

Here’s the sautéed vegetable + pepperoni one:

Just-baked Sicilian-style pizza still in the pan.
Just-baked Sicilian-style pizza still in the pan.

Just-baked Sicilian-style pizza on a cutting board.
Just-baked Sicilian-style pizza cut into squares on a board.
A stack of Sicilian-style pizza squares.
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Just-baked Sicilian-style pepperoni pizza.

Homemade Sicilian-Style Pizza

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Description

If you can make focaccia — and you know you can! — you can make excellent Sicilian-style pizza at home. It’s shockingly easy. The key to success is to parbake the crust. Below you will find a yeasted dough recipe but if would like to make a sourdough version, follow the recipe for this simple sourdough focaccia bread recipe through step 5; then proceed with the recipe. 

**Attention Pizza Fans**: My pizza cookbook, Pizza Night, is here! 

Notes: 

  • As always, for best results, use a digital scale to measure the flour and water. 
  • As with the focaccia recipe, a long ferment is best. I often let the dough sit in the fridge for 2 days before proceeding.
  • You’ll need a 12″ x 18″ sheet pan for this recipe.
    • Lloyd makes a Sicilian-style pizza pan, which I love — it’s 12×16 inches, but it works great here.
    • If you have a Lloyd Detroit-style pan and would prefer to use that here, see the notes below the recipe for scaling the dough recipe to fit that size pan. 
  • I love SAF instant yeast. I buy it in bulk, transfer it to a quart storage container, and store it in my fridge for months. You can store it in the freezer also.
  • If you are using active-dry yeast, simply sprinkle the yeast over the lukewarm water and let it stand for 15 minutes or until it gets foamy; then proceed with the recipe. 
  • Flour: You can use all-purpose or bread flour here with great results. If you live in a humid environment, I would suggest using bread flour. If you are in Canada or the UK, also consider using bread flour or consider holding back some of the water. Reference the video for how the texture of the bread should look; then add water back as needed.
  • Cheese: I know the idea of using grated cheese for some of you may be off-putting, but there are a few brands I like, and it saves some time using them: Trader Joe’s sells a Quattro Formaggi blend that’s great, and Tillamook sells a large-grate mozzarella that I also really love. 

Ingredients

For the dough: 

  • 4 cups (512 g) bread flour, see notes above
  • 2 teaspoons (12 g) kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons (8 g) instant yeast, see notes above if using active dry
  • 2 cups (455 g) lukewarm water, made by combining 1/2 cup boiling water with 1 1/2 cups cold water
  • olive oil 

For the pizza:

  • butter
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 12 ounces of grated cheese, such as whole milk mozzarella or a mix of Monterey Jack, Cheddar, and Mozzarella, see notes above
  • 1 cup (+ a few spoonfuls) tomato sauce, such as this one or this one, or your favorite jarred sauce

For a veggie pizza: 

  • 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
  • 8 ounces mushrooms, sliced 
  • 1 green (or other) bell pepper, diced
  • 1/2 red onion, thinly sliced

For a pepperoni pizza: 

  • 6 ounces pepperoni, I love Vermont Smoke & Cure, sliced as thinly as possible — if you want the pizza to be really loaded with pepperoni, you’ll need more like 12 ounces 
  • crushed red pepper flakes

For a pickled jalapeño & pepperoni pizza: 

Instructions

To make the dough:

  1. Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the liquid is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Rub the surface of the dough lightly with olive oil. If your bowl has a lid, cover the bowl. Alternatively, transfer the dough to a vessel with a lid or cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap to ensure the dough doesn’t dry out in the fridge. 
  2. Transfer dough to the fridge for at least 18 hours but ideally longer: 24 to 48 hours. Longer is fine, too: I’ve kept the dough in the fridge for 3 days before proceeding. 

Prepare the pan for baking:

  1. Grease a 12″ x 18″ sheet pan with butter. Pour 2 tablespoons of olive oil into the center of the pan. (Note: This greasing step may seem excessive, but with some pans, it is imperative to do so to prevent sticking. Moreover, it adds flavor and helps brown the bottom crust perfectly.)

Prepare the pizza for baking: 

  1. Remove the dough from the fridge and use lightly oiled hands to release it from the sides of the bowl. Then, again with oiled hands, grab an edge of dough and pull up and to the center. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat until you’ve shaped the dough into a rough ball. 
  2. Place the dough ball in the pan and turn to coat. (Note: You do not need to cover the dough here. The coating of oil should be sufficient to prevent the dough from drying out.) Let rest for 3 hours. With lightly oiled hands, stretch the dough to fit the pan — tent your hands, and use your fingers to dimple and stretch. You will likely not be able to get the dough to stretch all the way to the edges. When the dough resists, let it rest again for 30 minutes; then stretch it again using the same technique. 
  3. At this point, the dough can hang out in the pan for a couple of hours (if your kitchen is on the cool side). I’ve baked it 30 minutes after this point, and I’ve baked it two hours later. If the dough is going to hang out for a while, cover it with a sheet of plastic wrap.

Bake and Top the Pizza:

  1. If you have a Baking Steel or pizza stone, place it on a rack in the middle or lower third of your oven, and heat your oven to 500ºF. 
  2. Using oiled hand, dimple the dough one last time with the exception of the perimeter — this is important. It will help the dough bake more evenly. 
  3. Transfer pan to the oven and place on heated Baking Steel or pizza stone for about 10 to 11 minutes or until evenly golden. 
  4. Remove pan from oven and lower the oven to 475ºF. (Note: my oven doesn’t change temperature so quickly, so I actually turn the oven off during this period. Just before I return the pan to the oven, I turn the oven back on to 475ºF. Also: You can do this parbake hours ahead of time or even a day ahead of time.)
  5. Spread the sauce evenly over the dough. Top with the grated cheese. Then top as you wish:
    • For the veggie pizza: In a large skillet over high heat, heat 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. When it shimmers, add the mushrooms and let cook undisturbed for about a minute. Season with salt; then stir. Cook for 3 to 5 minutes or until the mushrooms are beginning to brown. Transfer to a bowl. Add the remaining tablespoon of oil to the skillet; then add the peppers and mushrooms. Cook for 1 to 3 minutes, or until slightly softened. Season with salt; then transfer to the bowl with the mushrooms. Toss to combine. Taste and adjust with salt as needed. Spread this mixture over the cheese. Add some sliced pepperoni if you wish. 
    • For the pepperoni pizza: Arrange the sliced pepperoni over the cheese.
    • For the pepperoni + pickled jalapeño pizza: Arrange the sliced pepperoni and pickled jalapeños over the cheese.
  6. Transfer pan to the oven and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and just beginning to brown in spots. 
  7. Remove the pan from the oven and let the pizza rest for 5 minutes in the pan. If you are making a pepperoni pizza and are using the crushed red pepper flakes, sprinkle some of the pepper flakes over the top. If you are using the hot honey for the pickled jalapeño pizza, drizzle some over the top. 
  8. Run a knife or spatula around the pan’s edges. Then, carefully remove the entire pizza from the pan, transferring it to a cutting board. I like to use a serrated knife to cut this pizza. You can cut the pizza into however many pieces you wish. I’ve been doing 20 squares. 

Notes

To Scale the Dough for a Lloyd Detroit-Style Pan, Use These Proportions (and please use a scale!): 

  • 277 g flour (2 cups + 2 tablespoons)
  • 8 g salt (1.5 teaspoons)
  • 6 g yeast (1.5 teaspoons)
  • 245 g water (1 cup + 1 tablespoon)
  • Note: My calculations lead me to think that a Detroit-style pan needs about 532 grams of dough. So another way to do it would be to make the recipe as written, use 532 grams of it for the Detroit-Style pan and use the remainder for something else — pizza, mini rolls, etc.

To Scale the Dough for a Lloyd Sicilian-Style Pan, Use These Proportions (and please use a scale!):

  • 488 g (3 3/4 cups) flour
  • 11 g (2 teaspoons) salt
  • 8 g (2 teaspoons) yeast
  • 432 g (1.75 cups + 2 tablespoons) water
  • Prep Time: 24 hours
  • Cook Time: 20 minutes
  • Category: Pizza
  • Method: oven
  • Cuisine: American, Sicilian