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

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. Layer your softened onions, then cross your anchovies, slit your black olives and scatter a little thyme.
6. 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

Cooked pizza with Giovanni Pillitteri on the ESSE Fire Stone

The Pillitteri family are so proud of their products that you are able to visit the production facility and sample a taste of their hand crafted pizzas cooked inside a Fire Stone as proof to their word and corporate philosophy “perfect dough = perfect pizza, first time, every time”.

Ingredients

• Dough ball pizza (Caputo dough ball approximately 210g)
• San Marzano tomato
• Buffalo Mozzarella cheese
• Sun blush tomatoes
• San Danielle parma ham
• Fresh wild rocket
• Parmigiano Reggiano

Method

1. Shape dough ball by hand using a stretch and turn mechanism (anti clock wise) until you have achieved the desired size approximately 9″-10″
2. Add chopped san marzano (or equivalent) to your base leaving 1cm for crust.
3. Add Buffalo mozzarella (approximately 1 ball) ensuring all water is drained, tear into small pieces and place desired amount.
4. Add sun blush tomatoes then bake in a pre-heated ESSE wood-fired oven approximately 400-450 degrees Celsius ensuring you turn the pizza regularly until golden brown.
5. Remove the pizza then decorate with a few slices of San Danielle parma ham, wild rocket and shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano.