so you can imagine my emotions when I saw pissaladière on the May list of breads for Mellow Bakers. JH describes pissaladière as: "the pizza of Provence, replete with onions cooked long and slow, fresh herbs, anchovies, and pungent black niçoise olives."
On the one hand, we are not fish people; on the other hand, we love pizza more than just about any other meal.
Due to scheduling and life and whatever, I actually made this bread over three days. I made the pâte fermentée (bread flour, water, salt, and yeast) on Saturday evening and let it ripen until Sunday afternoon. At that point, I added more bread flour, some whole wheat flour, water, salt, yeast, the pâte fermentée, and finally, some olive oil. The dough was kneaded briefly and then allowed to proof for two hours, with a strech-and-fold halfway through.
But then I realized we didn't have any onions, and we needed to feed the kids dinner, so I threw one pound of dough into the freezer and one into the fridge.
Tonight (after buying some onions), I made the topping: onions and garlic sautéed in olive oil and mixed with fresh thyme and salt and pepper. I dumped them on the crust, along with black olives, thinly sliced anchovies, (and pepperoni). We baked it for about 10 minutes at 515º.
I kind of wish this had been described as an appetizer, a flatbread with unusual toppings, instead of as a pizza. We are red sauce and mozzarella pizza people (especially my hubby), and this was nothing like our usual pizza. However, the crust was tasty; I liked the addition of the whole wheat flour. And the onions were pretty good (I wish I'd cooked them a little longer to caramelize them). I was going to try the little anchovy corner, but the smell just did me in, so hubby was the designated taste tester. His comment: "salty."
Not one we'll make again, but I'm glad we tried it. I'm sure we'll make our traditional pizza with the remaining pound of dough.
I agree about this--it's more of an appetizer than a "pizza." I rather like the anchovies, but I was sceptical the first time too. They can be more of a condiment than a fish though. I've had trouble with the amount of onions making the ultimate product a bit soggy, perhaps I didn't brown long enough...
ReplyDeleteI have the ingredients, and am ready to start this one, just have to have the time. It certainly looks nice! I had wondered about it being an appetizer vs an actual dinner and like how you used a small section of your pizza to try it out. I think I might carry it one step further by making a really small one for this, and using the rest of the dough for a real pizza. Pepperoni here I come!
ReplyDeleteYou are brave! I wouldn't bring those fishies in my house. We like seafood, just not that kind. Good idea to use just a corner for the fishies. Were there more anchovies left in the can?
ReplyDeleteOh Abby, I wish you could have been making this at our place. We adore anchovies, and pissaladiere is one of my favourite meals - the combination of caramelised onions and anchovies is divine. You're very brave to make something that you were pretty sure you wouldn't eat! :)
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