The French obviously invented pizza and this is about as good as it gets.
Paired with a Provençal Rose, this is just a match made in heaven. Using the dough recipe I previously gave you wonderful ESSE devotees, you can prepare this recipe in advance and do the two-day prove. If you aren’t that patient – or organised – you can add more yeast to the dough and make this in a day.
For the topping you need:
- 3 large Spanish onions or 15 shallots
- 1-2 tins of anchovies in olive oil
- Pitted black olives
- Fresh Thyme
Method
Peel the onions. Slice in half. Finely slice. Heat a knob of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in a non-stick pan. Gently soften the onions. Stir from time to time. They don’t want to start crisping. Leave on a low heat. Add a little more oil or a drop of water if they need it. They need to soften until sweet.
For the dough:
- 600g strong bread or pizza flour
- 350ml water
- 7g fast action dried yeast
- 8-10g salt
- Olive oil
Method
- Knead the dough by hand or in a mixer until smooth. Leave in a large bowl or tub greased with a good glug of olive oil and covered with a lid.
- Let it prove all day at room temperature. If it is bubbling too much, turn it out onto a floured surface, ball and place in the fridge covered with a damp cloth until a couple of hours before you use it.
- Pull out of fridge. Re-ball your dough. Leave to get to room temperature for the first hour. In the second hour the balls should relax and go soft enough to open like a pizza base. Flour a surface.
- Open ball and work in a circular motion from the middle outwards until you have your pizza base. Slide it on to greaseproof paper to add toppings. Heat your ESSE to 240˚C (Top Oven – Very Hot) or get your pizza stone out.
- Layer your softened onions, then cross your anchovies, slit your black olives and scatter a little thyme.
- Cook in your ESSE for 10 minutes or until golden. You should get two large pissaladiere pizzas from the amount of dough in the recipe.
Recipe by Miranda Rose Shearer
