Fugazzeta (Cheese-Stuffed Pizza)
Updated April 2, 2025

- Total Time
- 1¼ hours, plus at least 2 hours’ proofing
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour, plus at least 2 hours' proofing
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 2¼cups/315 grams bread flour
- 2teaspoons/8 grams kosher salt
- 1teaspoon/3 grams instant yeast
- 2teaspoons/8 grams olive oil, plus more for drizzling
- ¾cup plus 2 tablespoons/215 milliliters lukewarm water
- 1tablespoon olive oil
- 5ounces provolone, sliced
- 2cups/6 ounces shredded low-moisture mozzarella
- 1teaspoon dried oregano
- ½teaspoon red-pepper flakes
- Kosher salt
- 1large onion, sliced as thinly as you can, preferably with a mandoline (about 3 cups)
- 3cups/720 milliliters ice cold water
- 1¾cups/2 ounces grated Parmesan
For the Dough
For the Filling and Topping
Preparation
- Step 1
Prepare the dough: Combine the bread flour, salt and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment. Mix on medium speed for 1 minute to combine. Add the olive oil and water, and mix on medium until it comes together into a smooth dough, is no longer sticky, and has reached optimum gluten development, 15 to 17 minutes. (You can test gluten development by stretching a small lump of dough between your fingers; when it’s ready it will stretch into a thin, see-through film without tearing.)
- Step 2
Lightly drizzle the dough ball with more olive oil then tightly wrap the bowl in plastic wrap. Set aside to proof in a warm area in your kitchen until doubled in size, 1½ to 2 hours. When you gently poke the dough with your finger, a small indent should remain.
- Step 3
Prepare the filling and topping: Divide the dough into 2 even pieces. Rub the bottom and sides of a well-seasoned 10-inch cast-iron skillet with the olive oil. Stretch out one portion of dough into an even disk that covers the bottom of the pan. Shingle the provolone in the center, leaving a ½-inch border. Top with the mozzarella, maintaining that ½-inch border along the edges. Evenly sprinkle with oregano, red-pepper flakes and a pinch of salt.
- Step 4
Stretch the remaining portion of dough into an even disk slightly wider than your pan’s size. Drape the disk of dough on top of the cheese and pinch the edges of the top and bottom rounds of dough together, securing all the cheese inside. Cover with a towel and set aside in a warm area to proof for another 30 minutes.
- Step 5
In the meantime, in a large bowl, whisk together 1 tablespoon of salt and the ice water. Soak the shaved onion in the salt water.
- Step 6
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
- Step 7
Drain the onions, spin them dry in a salad spinner, then pat dry with paper towels. Evenly top the fugazzeta with the grated Parmesan, shaved onion, a drizzle of olive oil and a large pinch of salt. Bake until onions have shriveled and charred in spots and the dough is golden brown underneath, 25 to 30 minutes.
- Step 8
Turn the broiler on high and broil until the onions are deeply charred, 2 to 3 minutes. Let rest for at least 10 minutes, then slice into wedges and serve.
Private Notes
Comments
Hi Thank You for the recipe. I would like to add a few adjustments for the best focaccia on the planet. Been improving and even went to the San Francisco Baking institute to master. weigh everything to the weight of the flour. I use 400 grams liquid is 65% of the flour 260gms olive oil is 8%, 32 gms fresh regiano parmesean 8% or 32 grams in dough preheat water to 104 for best Activation mixer is 2 mins speed 1 to absorb, then 3 mins speed 2 to glutanize ENJOY
Soaking the onions softens their flavor and removes some of the pungency. If you buy a sweeter variety such as Vidalia you might omit this step.
Soaking the onions in ice water is to make them milder and possibly not inclined to bitterness when deeply charred. What you call "flavor" are the sulfur compounds that give onions their heat.
I made this on a humid day, but I had to almost double the amount of flour. It came out great. If you make, I’d suggest going by the look and feel of the dough, not just the recipe.
I sometimes read the comments before trying a new recipe and in for this recipe I saw a lot of people debating over the reason behind soaking of the onions. Ham answers this in the video. NYT does great videos but they don’t always attach it to the recipe in the app and make it more searchable but I wish they would. It was watching the video that made me think “I want to eat that” and so I made it to share with friends. It was a hit!!! They loved it! Here is the video for all of you. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gjtxQ2ulXv8
This is a very tasty item with a nice contrast between the crispy onion top, soft onion layer, gooey cheese and crispy focaccia bottom. We made our usual sourdough pizza recipe (with overnight proofing) and made this as a side for pizza night with two dough balls. I think any pizza dough recipe would work with this technique and I'm excited to experiment with some variations in fillings