Pissaladière Niçoise
Caramelised onions cooked down until they're sweet and almost jammy, spread over a soft yeasted dough and topped with salty anchovies and black olives. This is Nice's answer to pizza, and it's delish!
Ingredients
For the dough
- 250 gr plain flour
- 6 gr baker's yeast
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 150 ml water lukewarm
For the topping
- 1,5 kg onion white or yellow
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 14 anchovy fillets salted in oil
- 25 black olives
- 1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
- 1 bay leaf
- 4 sprigs thyme
- black pepper freshly ground
Equipment
- 1 knife
Instructions
1. Prepare the dough
- Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water and leave for 5–10 minutes until bubbly and foamy. Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl, add the yeast mixture and olive oil, and mix until a shaggy dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured surface for about 10 minutes until silky and elastic. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover, and prove somewhere warm for about 1 hour, until doubled. Short on time? A good ready-made bread or pizza dough works fine.
Short on time? Honestly, just grab a good-quality ready-made bread or even pizza dough. The kitchen police won’t come knocking.
2. Caramelise the onions
- While the dough rises, heat the olive oil over low heat in a large frying pan. Add the sliced onions, whole garlic cloves, thyme, bay leaf and herbes de Provence. Season with pepper but go easy on the salt, as the anchovies bring plenty. Cook very gently for at least 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onions collapse into a soft golden tangle. Remove the garlic, thyme and bay.
3. Shape and rest the dough
- Knock the dough back and roll it into a rectangle about 30x40cm. Lay it on a greased baking tray or baking mat. Cover with a damp tea towel and rest for 20 minutes while you prepare the toppings.
4. Assemble
- Spread the onions evenly over the dough, right to the edges. Lay the anchovy fillets over the top in a lattice or diamond pattern, and set an olive in each diamond.
5. Bake
- Bake at 210°C (190°C fan) for about 20 minutes, until the edges are golden and crisp. Let it cool to just above room temperature before slicing.
Notes
- If anchovies are too intense for you, rinse and dry them, or use fewer. Some locals spread a thin layer of anchovy paste on the dough before the onions for deeper umami.
- The onions can be cooked a day ahead and kept in the fridge, which makes this far more manageable.
- Pissaladière keeps beautifully and is excellent at room temperature or cold, so it's a good make-ahead for picnics and parties.