Hot Dog Focaccia
A soft and oily focaccia bread studded with spiraled hot dogs! A fun recipe that lets you cook the buns and the hot dogs at the same time! I love making homemade focaccia even though I am not the best at it. It’s a fun and pretty easy process that results in really tasty bread every time! Adding the hot dogs to the focaccia turned the flavor up to the next level!
The inspiration for this recipe
Soft and oily focaccia bread is really trendy on the internet lately and it’s always fun and pretty easy to make. I realized I could make a focaccia with hot dogs on top and slice it into long strips so everyone could have a perfect slice with a whole hot dog in it! I am far from a bread expert but I can usually make things work. If you need more bread advice for making the perfect focaccia, I have put some links at the end of the article.
Form the focaccia
You need to start making the focaccia the day before you want to eat it. I didn’t take any photos because I did it at night, but also because it isn’t exactly photogenic. Just mix some flour, salt, yeast and water and let it sit overnight.
The next day I added a little relish to the mixture, then some flour and formed a ball. Spread the ball onto a very heavily oiled pan and let it rise for two hours. I have linked many focaccia resources below so if you need more help, check out the links!
Spiralize the hot dogs
Making spiral hot dogs is popular right now and I thought it would make sense for this focaccia bread recipe. This way the dogs wouldn’t curve into shapes that messed up the forming of the bread as they cooked. I just roll the hot dog and let the knife make small cuts. If you need more help or a different method for this, check out this post.
Prepare the hot dog focaccia for the oven
Once the focaccia has risen, make some dimples on the surface, then add shallots, and then the hot dogs.
Drizzle the whole thing with more oil before baking.
Baking the hot dog focaccia
Preheat the oven to 525 and bake these for 20 minutes. Amazing!
I normally wouldn’t put two pictures here but wow I love this hot dog focaccia so much.
Slice and serve the hot dog focaccia
After it cools, pop it out of the pan and slice it up! Let everyone top with whatever toppings they like most. I liked pickled jalapenos and mustard.
This hot dog focaccia was such a fun and unique idea! I had so much fun making it and eating it! I think I need to do this a few more times and get better at making focaccia.
You know I had to throw in one last picture of the half eaten one!
Twists and links for this recipe
I mentioned I am not the most seasoned bread maker. If you need help or tips on making focaccia, here are some links. I started with this serious eats recipe because it is a beginner recipe in my opinion and pretty easy to follow. This is a great video to see the process happen and it’s a slightly more involved recipe. This is also a great focaccia resource!
Check out my build your own hot dog bar post for more hot dog focaccia topping ideas! I think olives would be great on these too, and maybe some garlic butter. You could also top the whole bread before slicing it if everyone wants to eat the same thing, or you want to do a specific flavor profile for your guests.
Hot Dog Focaccia
Equipment
- eighth sheet pan (10×7)
Ingredients
Day 1
- 300 grams bread flour about 2.5 cups
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2/3 teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 1 1/4 cups water
Day 2
- 1/4 cup sweet pickle relish
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 small shallot diced
- 6 hot dogs
Serve
- mustard
- pickles
- pickled jalapenos
- your fave hot dog toppings
Instructions
Day 1
- Mix the day 1 ingredients together in a large bowl. The bowl should be at least 3 times the size of the mixed ingredients to allow for rising.
- Cover tightly and leave on the counter overnight.
Day 2
- Add the relish to the dough mixture. Gently fold the dough over itself a few times, deflating it a bit and mixing the relish into the dough, but not over mixing it.
- Spread about half the olive oil onto the eighth sheet pan.
- Drizzle some of the flour onto a work surface and pour the dough out onto it. It will be very wet dough.
- Fold the dough ball onto itself a few times, utilizing the dry edges of the dough from the counter. (refer to links above if you need additional help!) When you have a somewhat decent looking dough ball, flip it on to the sheet pan, seam side down. Spread it out with the palm of your hand a bit so it is even in the pan. As it rises, it will spread out more.
- Brush the top with olive oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rest for 2 hours.
- After the first hour, start preheating the oven to 525.
- Spiral the hot dogs by starting at one end of your cutting board and inserting a knife about 1/3 of the way into a hot dog at one end at a 45 degree angle. Gently roll the hot dog along the cutting board moving the knife as you go creating the spiral cut. There is an alternative method I have linked above if you need more help!
- When the dough is risen fully, use your fingertips to press and create the typical bumpy focaccia shape.
- Spread the shallots onto the surface of the bread.
- Press the 6 hot dogs into the bread making sure to press them well into the bread so that there is dough in between each dog. Make sure they are spread evenly.
- Bake at 525 for 20 minutes until fully cooked and browned.
Serving
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Slice the bread and let everyone top their hot dog as they see fit.
Hi! What brand/length of hot dogs did you use? The eighth sheet pan looks too small for a Nathan’s or a Hebrew National?
Nathan’s “bun length” skinless. You want the pan to be barely bigger than the dogs
nathans “bun length no casing”
looks yummy. do you think some cheese in the dough would work?
I don’t have a ton of experience with breadmaking and doughs, but I have seen it work in some recipes. Sometimes people also put the cheese as a layer in the middle
This looks amazing! I was wondering though if you could do this with regular bun dough or would it be to drense?
I think it probably would work! I think you would have to let the dough rise with the hot dogs in it.