Pissaladière

Ingredients

• For the dough
• 300 g plain flour
• 50 ml olive oil, plus extra for the pan
• 1 tsp fine salt
• 7 g dried yeast
• 180 ml lukewarm water
• For the onion jam
• 1.5 kg white or yellow onions, thinly sliced
• 80 ml olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, unpeeled
• For the topping
• 16 anchovy fillets in oil, drained
• 24 Niçois olives, unpitted

Method

1. 1
   Combine the flour, salt, and dried yeast in a large bowl. Add the olive oil and lukewarm water. Mix until a cohesive dough forms, then knead on an unfloured surface for 8–10 minutes. The dough is ready when it is smooth, elastic, and springs back when pressed with a fingertip.
2. 2
   Shape the dough into a ball, return it to the oiled bowl, cover, and leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours. The dough is ready when it has doubled in volume and a finger poked into its centre leaves a clean impression that does not spring back.
3. 3
   While the dough rises, warm the olive oil in a wide, heavy pan over the lowest possible heat. Add the sliced onions and the unpeeled garlic cloves. Cook, stirring occasionally, for a minimum of 60 minutes — ideally 90. This is where the pissaladière lives or dies: insufficient heat produces raw, acrid onions; excessive heat produces uneven browning and a harsh flavour. The onions are done when they have collapsed entirely into a deep golden-brown, jam-like mass that tastes profoundly sweet with no trace of sharpness.
4. 4
   Remove the garlic cloves from the pan. Squeeze their softened flesh from the skins and mash it back into the onion jam. Discard the skins. Remove the pan from the heat and allow the jam to cool to room temperature.
5. 5
   Oil a rectangular baking pan generously. Knock back the risen dough and press it by hand into the pan — do not roll or stretch it thin. The dough should cover the pan in an even layer. Cover and leave to prove for a further 1–2 hours. It is ready when the dough has puffed to a depth of roughly 1.5 cm and the surface yields softly to a light touch.
6. 6
   Heat the oven to 220°C. Spread the onion jam evenly across the proved dough to a depth of 1 cm, reaching to within 1 cm of the edges. Lay the anchovy fillets in crossing diagonals to form a diamond lattice. Place one Niçois olive at the centre of each diamond. The surface should look uniformly covered — sparse topping is a failure of ratio.
7. 7
   Bake at 220°C for 20–25 minutes. The pissaladière is done when the bread base is deep golden, the underside sounds hollow when tapped, and the edges of the onion jam have caught to a darker, slightly caramelised fringe.
8. 8
   Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow the pissaladière to cool to room temperature before cutting into rectangles. It must not be served hot: the structure of the onion layer and the flavour integration of anchovy and olive require time to settle.