All we ask is you give us a review, tell us what's good or bad, so we know what you really think, to help improve our service to you!
DOUGHRISEFOUNDERS
Recipe
6 min read
Sourdough Pissaladière with Caramelised Onions, Anchovies & Niçoise Olives
A sourdough pissaladière recipe with slow-cooked onions, anchovies and Niçoise olives. A stunning spring bake that's easier than it looks.
Appetizing flatlay of anchovy tapas with olives and onions, perfect for food photography.The smell of onions that have been cooking low and slow for an hour is one of those things that makes a kitchen feel genuinely lived in. Add a sourdough base crisping up on a hot stone, a few good anchovies collapsing into the heat, and some wrinkled olives doing their thing, and you have got a pissaladière: one of the most underrated things you can make on a Saturday afternoon in spring when you have a bit of time and a lively starter.
Pissaladière comes from Nice, and it sits somewhere between a pizza and a tart, though arguing about that feels like a waste of energy. What matters is that the combination of deeply sweet onions, salty anchovies, and briny olives on a thin, crackery sourdough base is absolutely brilliant. It is the kind of thing you bring out with cold rosé and good company, and people always ask what it is. The sourdough version is better than any shop-bought pastry base you have tried, with a bit more chew and a flavour that holds its own against the strong toppings.
The Dough
- 350g strong white bread flour
- 245g water, room temperature
- 70g active sourdough starter (at peak)
- 8g (1½ tsp) fine sea salt
- 15g (1 tbsp) good olive oil, plus more for the tin
The Onion Base
- 1kg white or yellow onions, thinly sliced
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- 1 tsp caster sugar (optional, helps colour)
The Toppings
- 1 tin (about 50g) good quality anchovies in olive oil
- 80g Niçoise olives, pitted (or small Kalamata if that is what you have)
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme to finish
- Black pepper
Baker's Tips
- The onions are the heart of this. Do not rush them. You want them completely collapsed, golden-brown, and almost jammy. Forty-five minutes on a low heat is not too long. If they are catching, add a splash of water and turn the heat down.
- This dough sits at around 70% hydration, which gives you a base that is easy to handle but still has some structure. If you are scaling the recipe up or adjusting for a different flour, the DoughRise Pro app lets you save your formula and pull it up again next time without starting from scratch , genuinely useful once you start tweaking things.
- Let the baked pissaladière rest for five minutes before cutting. The base firms up as it cools and you will get clean slices instead of a mess.
METHOD
- Start with the onions (do this first, they take the longest). Put a wide, heavy pan on the lowest heat you can manage. Add the olive oil, then the sliced onions, thyme sprigs, bay leaf, and a pinch of salt. Stir everything together, put a lid on slightly ajar, and leave them to soften for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, add the sugar if using, and continue cooking for another 25 to 30 minutes until deeply golden, sweet-smelling, and reduced right down. Set aside to cool completely.
- Make the dough. Combine the flour, water, and active sourdough starter in a large bowl. Mix until no dry flour remains, then leave it to rest (this is the autolyse) for 30 minutes. After the rest, add the salt and olive oil. Squeeze and fold the dough until both are fully incorporated and the dough feels smooth. It will come together more than you expect.
- Bulk fermentation. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to ferment at room temperature. During the first two hours, perform four sets of stretch and folds about 30 minutes apart, then leave it undisturbed. Total bulk fermentation time will be 4 to 6 hours depending on your kitchen temperature. You are looking for the dough to have grown by around 50 to 75 per cent, feel airy when you handle it, and have a slightly domed top.
Why this works
The olive oil in the dough does two things: it slightly inhibits gluten development, which makes the dough easier to stretch thin without it springing back, and it contributes to a crisper, more cracker-like texture on the base once baked. That is exactly what you want here, because the topping is rich and you need something with a bit of backbone underneath it.
- Shape the base. Lightly oil a large baking tray (roughly 30 x 40 centimetres works well) with olive oil. Tip the fermented dough into the centre of the tray. Leave it to relax for 15 minutes, then use your fingertips to press and dimple it out towards the edges, working gently and letting it rest if it resists. You want it roughly 5 to 6 millimetres thick. It does not need to be perfect.
- Second proof. Once shaped, cover the tray loosely with a clean tea towel or reusable wrap and leave for 45 minutes to an hour at room temperature. Meanwhile, get your oven up to 240°C (fan 220°C) with a shelf in the lower third. If you have a baking stone, put it in now.
INTO THE OVEN
- Top the dough. Spread the cooled caramelised onions evenly over the surface of the dough, right to the edges. Lay the anchovy fillets across the top in a diagonal lattice pattern (or just scatter them, honestly, it still tastes the same). Tuck the olives into the gaps. Grind over some black pepper.
- Bake. Slide the tray into the oven (onto the hot stone if using) and bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until the edges are deeply golden and the base is crisp when you lift a corner with a palette knife. The anchovies should have mostly dissolved into the onions by now.
- Rest and serve. Pull it out of the oven, scatter over a few fresh thyme leaves, and leave it for five minutes before cutting into rectangles. Serve warm or at room temperature. Both work brilliantly.
Scaling this up for a crowd, or want to dial in the hydration for a different flour? Use the free DoughRise Baker's Percentage Calculator to adjust the formula exactly to your batch size and flour type.
Happy baking! Find everything you need at doughrise.store