I'd noticed that every time I was out of town on a Friday night (for sled hockey tournaments) my spouse would order a focaccia pizza. The leftovers I'd have after my return were pretty tasty, so I was eager to try it out myself. I consulted my personal pizza resource, The Best Pizza Is Made at Home , for inspiration on the crust as well as baking directions. I had some arugula pesto, made using the recipe out of Farmer John's Cookbook: The Real Dirt on Vegetables, so I decided to try that. If you don't have asiago cheese, try Bryn's easy arugula pesto recipe instead, or the arugula pesto of your choice.
I was comfortable jumping into a flavored dough but needed to try the method on a barely-topped bread first, just to make sure I set myself up for success. The last spectacular pizza failure, seen on my Facebook page, of my deep dish spinach pie on eggnog crust is still too fresh in my mind. Such a great idea in theory, so bad in execution . . . ah well. That's why I call it recipe development. If at first you don't succeed . . .
Making focaccia this way calls for a 12 inch round deep dish pizza pan. I don't have one. Since I never know what size kitchen we'll be living in at our next house, I try not to collect single-purpose items (hello, asparagus steamer, I'm talking 'bout you!). I do have a 12 inch cast iron skillet though. That's what I used for this focaccia, and I recommend using one if you also have one. The resulting bread was thicker than my usual pizza crust, crisp on the bottom like my cornbread, delightfully chewy on the inside, and topped with a flavorful combination suggested by my spouse from items we had on hand in the fridge/freezer. The toppings added to the flavor of the base, but didn't overpower it. I've said in my Pizza Primer that less is more, and it sure is true here. You really don't want to glop on heavy toppings or sauces here. At least, not the first time you make it.
Who knows what I'll do next time, though clever blog readers may think I've already done it with this Salmon, Goat Cheese, and Arugula Pesto pizza--though that is baked and topped differently, and even a bit different ratio of flours for the dough. All good, though, and yes you are quite bright!