“It was a meal that we shall never forget; more accurately, it was several meals that we shall never forget, because it went beyond the gastronomic frontiers of anything we had ever experienced, both in quantity and length. It started with homemade pizza – not one, but three: anchovy, mushroom, and cheese, and it was obligatory to have a slice of each.” -Peter Mayle, British writer and ex-advertising industry drone, in his famous book A Year in Provence

What’s beautiful about Pissaladiére (or “Pizza Derriere”, if you’re five years old like I secretly am…..) is the fact that it can simultaneously shout out almost single awesome food culture around the Western Mediterranean Sea region in one fell swoop.  It is, for all intents and purposes, a pizza, which is a nod (and a really, really good nod at that) to Italy.  It’s topped with oil-cured olives, the best of which seem to always come from Morocco (or at least done in a Moroccan style).  It’s also topped with anchovies and caramelized onions, which seem to me to be quite decidedly French.  And garlic, well…..garlic is kind of just a universal variable thrown into any good savory dish, isn’t it?  The only reference glaringly absent here is Spain, but oh Spain, mi España, I shall get to you soon enough, my charmingly lisped love.  Just you wait.  (Secret Side Note:  This dish would be about a million times better, I think, with boquerones instead of regular anchovies, so if you want to cheat and sneak Spain in between the goal posts in celebration of their recent World Cup victory, I won’t tell.  I especially won’t tell anyone French.  Shhh.)  At the end of the day, though, this is unmistakably a French dish of the Provence persuasion.  Provence-style cooking tends to do what Pissaladiére does so well:  refer gently to other cuisines in the nearby Mediterranean area.  All you have to do is look at a map to figure out why this is.  And man, oh man, do I dream of an extended trip to the area.  (Dear Life Genie, For my three wishes I’ll need a yacht on the Mediterranean Sea with a kitchen and fully-stocked wine bar, a list of the best purveyors and secret beaches within a 500-mile radius of Marseille, and a certain super-dreamy travel companion, please.  Thanks.)

Now, I realize that anchovies tend to be a rather divisive ingredient.  People either love them or hate them.  I love them in moderation.  Used properly, they’re an extra, subtle, pitch-perfect background note in the recipe’s song.  They deepen the music.  Yes, anchovies have an incredibly pungent flavor, and it’s easy for it to dominate the whole performance.  I think that’s why most people who claim to hate them have such adamant turned-up noses:  it’s because they haven’t had a dish that uses them properly.  All of that said, Pissaladiére straight-up showcases them, for better or for worse.  The good news is that they sit right along-side a few flavors that can give them a run for their money in the pungency department:  caramelized onions, garlic, and oil-cured black olives.  The other good news is that you can always pick them off if you really can’t stand it.  After a few minutes in the oven, chances are they’ve left a flavor imprint anyway, even if you discard them.  Plus, you can do all kinds of fun little decorative patterns with them and make a rather beautiful presentation.

I imagine Pissaladiére as a really special weekend summertime lunch, served with a fresh green salad and a wonderful rosé or sauvignon blanc.  And, as is strictly appropriate, eaten al fresco.  (And, may I humbly suggest, with a soundtrack provided by Édith Piaf, Serge Gainsbourg, or Vanessa Paradis?)

Ingredients:

For the pizza dough (adapted directly from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible):

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, sifted (NOTE:  I used King Arthur brand, which bread-makers seem to swear by across the board.)

1 tsp. instant yeast

1 tsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

2/3 cup room-temperature water

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

For the toppings:

Neutrally-flavored oil, such as vegetable or canola

1/2 tbsp. butter

3 large yellow onions, washed, peeled, and sliced into very thin half-moons

2 big garlic cloves, smashed, skins discarded, and chopped fine

6 sprigs of thyme, washed, dried, leaves removed and stems discarded

Large handful of oil-cured black olives, pitted and coarsely chopped (NOTE:  If you can’t find oil-cured olives, any black olive from the Mediterranean region will do.)

6 whole anchovy fillets, tiny bones gently scraped away with the back of a knife blade, and sliced in 1/2 lengthwise

Small handful of parsley leaves, washed, dried well, and chopped fine

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1.  First, make the dough.  (NOTE:  Be aware that there is at least 1 hour of rising time involved, so plan ahead accordingly.)  In a small-to-medium stainless steel or glass work bowl, whisk together the flour, instant yeast, and sugar with a fork until ingredients are evenly distributed.  Add the salt and whisk again with a fork to combine.  (NOTE:  Ms. Beranbaum mentions in her book that it’s crucial to add the salt secondarily as it prevents the yeast particles from coming into direct contact with the salt, effectively killing it.)

2.  Form a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the water.  Using a rubber spatula, gradually stir the flour into the water, working in a circular motion, until all the flour is moistened and it just barely comes together as a dough, about 20 seconds.  (NOTE:  I had to add a tiny touch more water to my mixture to get all of the flour moistened.  Whether or not you will have to depends on many factors:  the humidity in the room, how accurately the ingredients were measured, etc.)  The dough should start to pull away from the sides of the bowl but still be a little on the sticky side, and should have a slightly rough appearance.  It’s important not to over-mix the dough during this step.

3.  Drizzle a bit of extra virgin olive oil into a clean medium-sized bowl, and use clean fingers to rub the oil all over the bottom and sides of the bowl.  With oiled fingers, gently place the dough in the oiled bowl and turn a few times to get it all coated with the oil.  Cover tightly with plastic wrap.  If using dough soon, allow to rise at room temperature for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.  If making ahead, and for best flavor development, allow to sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, and then place in the refrigerator for at least 6 and up to 24 hours.  Remove dough from refrigerator 1 hour before baking.

4.  Preheat oven to 475ºF, and place a rack at the lowest level.  About 30 minutes before you put the pizza in the oven, place a baking stone or an upside-down sheet tray on the oven rack to heat up.

5.  When the dough is ready to be shaped after rising, use clean hands to oil a 1/2 sheet tray well with olive oil.  With hands still coated in oil, place the dough in the center of the pan and use fingertips to press down and deflate it gently.  Gently and gradually, work the dough from the center outwards until the dough fills the sheet tray, edge to edge.  (NOTE:  The dough will want to sort of retreat back from the edges.  This is normal, don’t sweat it at this stage – just do the best you can.)  Allow dough to sit and relax for 15 minutes.

6.  Once again, use fingertips to work the dough outward to the edges of the sheet tray.  (You’ll notice that it’s much easier now to handle the dough after it has relaxed.)  Try to eliminate any air bubbles you notice in the dough, and don’t worry about making it perfect.  Hand-formed pizzas should look a bit rustic, after all.

7.  Slide the pizza tray into the oven on top of the baking stone or overturned sheet pan, and bake for 5 minutes.  Remove from oven (but leave the oven on), and work on the toppings.

8.  In a medium-sized sauté pan, heat just enough oil to coat the cooking surface over medium-high heat.  When the pan gets nice and hot, add the butter and stir quickly to incorporate.  Immediately add the sliced onions (don’t worry if the pan looks crazy full – they’ll cook down), and give them a gentle stir to coat with the oil and butter.  Add just a tiny pinch of salt to help the onions release their water content.  Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions just start to turn a nice, deep golden-brown color and start to sort of “mush” together.  At this stage, add the thyme leaves and finely-chopped garlic, and continue to cook for another few minutes, until everything is very fragrant and a beautiful caramel color.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

9.  Spread the caramelized onion mixture evenly over the par-cooked pizza dough, leaving about 1/2″ border around all of the edges.  Arrange the anchovy slices on top in whatever decoration you choose (NOTE:  Since you have 12 strips of anchovy, and you’ll get 12 slices of pizza at the end of the day, try to come up with a pattern that gives every slice 1 piece of anchovy.), and then sprinkle the whole thing evenly with the chopped olives.  Brush the entire border of crust with a light coating of olive oil, and sprinkle the entire pizza with the chopped parsley.  (You can lightly salt the crust edges too, but take it easy with the salt on the toppings themselves, because anchovies and olives are inherently very salty.)

10.  Place the pizza back in the oven to finish cooking, about 5-8 more minutes.  It’s basically ready when the crust is lovely and golden-brown and crispy around the edges, so keep an eye on it.  Remove from oven when ready, and allow to cool slightly on a wire rack.  Divide into 12 even slices and serve.

Yield: You’ll get a pizza that’s just a teensy bit smaller than a 1/2 sheet pan (it shrinks in the oven a bit…..), and assuming there are 2 pieces to a serving, you’ll feed 6 hungry mouths.