Focaccia: Cutting Edge Of Pizzas

There is nothing like tasting a half-dozen delivered pizzas to make you appreciate the crisp, yeasty crust and fresh-tasting toppings of even the most basic homemade pizza.

Then I remembered the pizza party I once gave and only barely lived to regret. While pizzas are, in theory, extremely simple to make, the practice is somewhat different.

I prepared the dough earlier in the day, and set out some toppings. I went all out: bowls of sliced air-dried Tuscan salami, sliced ripe tomatoes, hand-cubed mozzarella (I think it melts better than shredded), grated Parmesan, fresh goat cheese, gently browned onions and garlic, pitted and chopped oil-cured black olives, thinly sliced fresh prosciutto, mushrooms sauteed in olive oil, pickled artichoke hearts, a spicy tomato sauce and little bowls of slivered basil and fresh oregano leaves.

In addition to these more-or-less standard ingredients, I put out some crumbled blue cheese and coarsely chopped walnuts - which make a surprisingly delicious pizza.

All the guests had to do was flatten out a little round, sprinkle some ingredients on top and bring it to the oven for cooking. At least that was the idea.

But trying to juggle all of those ingredients and - most especially - timing the cooking of a couple dozen different pizzas is a good way to go crazy.

The problem is that, even in the best of circumstances, the normal home oven is only big enough to manage about three pizzas at a time. That means that while three pizzas are cooking, everyone else is waiting.

If you’ve got your heart set on making something pizza-like for a party, try focaccia.

By doing the last rise in the refrigerator, you can prepare it several hours in advance. Just bring it out 45 minutes or so before baking, so the dough comes up to room temperature.

This recipe is adapted from the Italian food magazine A Tavola.

The neatest thing about it is the technique of salting the onions for an hour before distributing them over the dough. It leaves the onions limp and soft - as if they’d been cooked over very, very low heat for a long time - but at the same time tasting fresh.

Onion Focaccia

1 large onion, thinly sliced

Salt

Focaccia dough

6 sage leaves, torn in pieces

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

Put onion slices in colander, salt lightly and toss to coat. Let stand 1 hour.

Spread bread dough in well-oiled 10- by 15-inch jelly roll pan. Spread onion slices over top of focaccia dough and distribute sage leaves over top. Drizzle olive oil over all. Let stand 30 minutes.

Bake at 400 degrees until well browned on top, about 30 minutes.

Yield: 6 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 287 calories, 90 milligrams sodium, no cholesterol, 14 grams fat (44 percent fat calories), 35 grams carbohydrate, 5 grams protein.

Focaccia Dough

2 1/4 cups flour

Dash salt

1/4 cup olive oil

1 package dry yeast, dissolved in 1/4 cup warm water

1/2 to 3/4 cup warm water

In food processor or electric mixer, combine flour and salt. Stir to mix. With machine running, add olive oil, then yeast dissolved in water. Continue adding warm water until dough comes together in ball on top of food processor blade, or comes cleanly away from sides of bowl of electric mixer. Continue mixing until satiny and soft.

Set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down and use as desired.