Pissaladière

I was first introduced to Pissaladiere by a French friend who brought some to a picnic. I was hooked! What is there not to like in a pizza which is covered in slow cooked onions, anchovies and olives? (I may have eaten much more than my fair share that day!) While travelling in France we came across it in the bakeries in Nice, and dragged ourselves away from their baguettes long enough to purchase a few in our travels.

So, I decided one Saturday that I had to make some myself. I didnt have a set recipe (which is what i do all the time), i knew the topping was basically slowly cooked onion with some thyme, salt and pepper and then topped with the anchovies and olives. For the base i used a recipe from Maggie Beers massive cook book for flat bread. The base can also be a shortcrust style pastry, depending on your mood. As I begun though I noticed I only had spelt flour so it became a spelt based pizza. This was not a problem in itself though it was a bit more difficult to knead and I had to call in the master kneader (Nathan) to finish it off for me.

And the result? Fantastic! The spelt probably made the base heavier but this wasnt a problem at all, with it being crispy and chewy and a perfect base for the onions. i had too much dough and not enough onions so one pizza ended up with an olive oil, garlic and rosemary topping which we ate straight out of the oven with more oil drizzled over it. mmmm