Perfect pissaladière niçoise
 
Prep time: 50mn
Cook time: 25mn

Serves 8
Ingredients
For the bread base
  • 500g all-purpose flour
  • 30cl warm water
  • 2 packets dry active yeast
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons dried oregano leaves
To garnish
  • 1kg white onions
  • 1 to 3 tablespoons sugar (depending on the natural sweetness of the onions)
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • a jar of anchovy fillets in salt*
  • anchovy paste (optional)
  • small black olives from Nice (or regular black olives, of course)
Instructions
  1. Peel the onions, leaving the root. By doing so, the root will maintain the onion during cutting process, making chopping the onion way easier. Cut the onions into 2 then cut about 1cm slice horizontally, stopping a few millimeters before the root. Cut the other way to get a beautiful square cut, ideal for pissaladière.
  2. Once cut, sauté the onions over very low heat in a heavy saucepan with 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir occasionally, until onions are soft (about 30 minutes in total). Be careful, you want the onion to keep their translucent colour, they should not brown if you cook them over very low heat.
  3. After 20 minutes of cooking, add 4 anchovy fillets and a tablespoon of oregano and mix. The anchovies must blend into the onions. Let stew at least 10 more minutes.
While the onions are cooking, prepare the dough:
  1. Mix the yeast with 3 tablespoons of warm water, put aside for 10 minutes. In the bowl of a stand mixer, put the flour and salt. Begin to mix with the hook at slow speed while adding the dissolved yeast and the rest water. Once all the water has been absorbed, knead for 5 minutes at medium speed. After 5 minutes, add the oregano, thyme and olive oil and continue to knead for 10 more minutes.
  2. Then roll out the dough on a sheet of baking paper into a rectangle the size of your baking tray (a 30x40cm rectangle for me). You can give small marks with your fingers across the surface of the dough, it will help it to proof regularly.
  3. If you wish, spread a little anchovy paste on the dough. Then, spread the hot onions directly on the dough, leaving 1,5cm around the hedge. Sprinkle a pinch of sugar over the onions. Then arrange the anchovies and olives on top of the onions.
  4. Let bread proof for 50 minutes in a warm place. Preheat your oven at 220°C. Then bake the pissaladière at 180°C for 20-25mn until the hedges of the bread are golden brown.
Recipe by Anne-Sophie Vidal - Fashion Cooking at https://www.fashioncooking.fr/2016/10/prayfornice-perfect-pissaladiere/