Pissaladiere is a thin bread or Pizza base topped with onion marmalade, olives and anchovy.
The Base:
You’ll need a basic savoury yeast dough for the base made from 200 g white wheat flour for a standard 280 mm round baking tray. See here for the dough recipe.
The Marmalade:
I normally use very large vegetable onions (which have a bit less bite), and a few red onions (because it looks interesting), but any onion will do. The onions will lose a lot of volume, so prepare a very generous amount. Three very large vegetable onions for a round tray might be just enough. Peel, then slice thinly.
You could use an electric chopper for this, provided it slices rather than grinding the onions to a pulp. I slice manually and tearfully! Of you could follow Jamie Oliver’s advise and get somebody else to do it.
Add finely chopped garlic to taste. Red hot chilly peppers also work well, if you like it hot.
Heat a good swig of olive oil or clarified butter. Toss the onions and garlic in the oil, then cover and let steam gently for 15 to 20 minutes. Uncover, season with salt and thyme, and allow to cook uncovered at low heat for 30 minutes at least, stirring occasionally. Be patient. Very patient. When done, season to taste with salt, thyme, pepper, a pinch of nutmeg. A spoon of soured cream is optional.
The Finish:
Line your baking tray with baking parchment. Roll out the dough, transfer to tray. Let the dough recover and rise again (allow for 20 minutes). Then, thinly spread out the onion marmalade. Top with olives and anchovy, and bake at 200 C until golden, approximately 20 minutes.
