Pissaladière (French Pizza)
Pissaladière is the ultimate in French street food; crispy crust, caramelized onions, anchovies and salty, oil-cured olives. Because it is wonderful served both warm and at room temperature, it makes perfect picnic fare. La bonne vie is sitting on a blanket with a slice of Pissaladière and a glass of chilled, crisp white wine.
Ingredients
- 1 pound pizza dough
- 3 pounds onions peeled, halved and cut into thin half-moon shapes then roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme or 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme
- 3 garlic cloves peeled and sliced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- black pepper to taste
- 8-10 oil packed flat anchovy fillets patted dry, or more to taste. See notes.
- 16 Niçoise olives pitted and halved (You don't need to be fancy about it. Pop the pit out with your fingers and tear the olives in half.) Or more, to taste.
Optional but tasty:
- 1 roasted red bell pepper stem and seeds removed, thinly sliced into strips
Instructions
- Preheat your oven and a pizza stone to 500°F (or up to 550°F if your oven can go higher.)
- While the oven preheats, gently heat the olive oil in a heavy-bottomed skillet. Add the onions, thyme, bay leaf, garlic, salt and pepper, stirring to evenly coat with oil, and cook gently over medium low to low heat (lowering if necessary to prevent over-browning) for about 20 minutes, until the onions are softened and just lightly browning around the edges. Do not caramelize the onions completely or they will scorch in the oven giving a burned taste to the final product. Remove the bay leaf from the caramelized onions.
- Dust your work surface with flour and gently stretch your pizza dough into a circle. Use a floured rolling pin to stretch the dough out until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Generously cover a pizza peel with semolina or cornmeal.
- Spread the onion mixture (including the oil) to within 1/4-inch of the edges of the crust. Arrange the anchovies and olive halves over the top of the onions. If you're using the red bell pepper strips, arrange those artfully among the anchovies. Give the peel a gentle shake to be sure the dough isn't sticking. If it is, carefully lift that area and sprinkle more semolina or cornmeal underneath to fix it.
- Slide the dressed dough onto the hot stone and bake for between 8 and 15 minutes, depending on the heat of your oven, or until it is evenly browned and crisp underneath. Use the peel to transfer the Pissaladière to a cutting board.
- Cool for five minutes, cut into wedges and serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
If you find anchovies to be unpalatably salty, you can soak them in a little cool water for about 30 minutes to remove some of the salt prior to use. Just be sure to pat them well dry before adding to your Pissaladière.
Nutrition
Calories: 287kcalCarbohydrates: 44gProtein: 7gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 2mgSodium: 755mgPotassium: 279mgFiber: 4gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 64IUVitamin C: 15mgCalcium: 54mgIron: 2mg
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.
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