Smothered with caramelized onions and layered with tomatoes, anchovies, olives, and garlic, pissaladière is irresistible! The no-knead dough, focaccia, combined with the toppings, is truly a delicacy, like pasta Puttanesca in bread form: sweet, salty, oily, briny, bold, and aromatic. Heaven!

A large sheet pan holding just baked pissaladière.

Pissaladière is a Provençal tart smothered with caramelized onions, anchovies, and olives. According to this Saveur article, pissaladière gets its name from pissalat, a pungent anchovy paste made by layering baby anchovies and sardines with salt, spices, and herbs and fermenting the mixture for 45 days. Early versions of pissaladière called for spreading the fish paste over the dough before layering onions on top.

Today, the tart is characterized by an iconic arrangement of anchovies over the dough in a crisscross diamond motif, with olives either marking the anchovies’ intersections or the centers of the diamonds they form. I’ve never loved this geometric pattern, so I make an anchovy-and-olive paste instead, similar, I suppose, to the pissalat. I like this approach for a few reasons, namely that it more evenly disperses the intense (umami!) flavor throughout the dough, and, in some ways, because it disguises it: those who think they dislike anchovies won’t know they’re there.

In the summer, I like to add tomatoes to mine, too, and truly, to me, there are few combinations more delicious than this one: it’s like pasta Puttanesca in bread form, all sweet and salty, oily and briny, bold and aromatic.

How to Make Pissaladière, Step by Step

First, make the focaccia dough, whichever recipe you prefer, until it completes its bulk fermentation. Pictured below is sourdough focaccia, but most often I make this yeast-leavened focaccia:

Sourdough pissaladière in a large glass bowl.

Transfer the dough to a buttered and olive-oiled pan. If you are certain your dough will not stick to the pan you are using, you can get away with olive oil alone; if there is any question, butter the pan first—it will ensure your dough releases without issue. Let the dough rise for 3 to 5 hours or until it looks like …

Sourdough pissaladière dough on a sheet pan.

… this.

Pissaladière dough, ready to be topped.

In the meantime, gather your ingredients for the topping: garlic, anchovies, olives, capers, olive oil, tomatoes, and onions.

Ingredients to make anchovy purée.

Make a coarse purée with the olives, garlic, capers, anchovies, and olive oil.

Olive-anchovy purée in a food processor.

Sauté the onions until lightly golden, about 15-20 minutes over medium to low heat.

Caramelized onions in a sauté pan.

Then layer the toppings over the dough as follows: onions, olive purée, and tomatoes.

Unbaked pissaladière, ready for the oven.

Dimple one last time; then transfer to the oven immediately. Bake until evenly golden, about 25 minutes.

Dimpling an unbaked pissaladière.
A large sheet pan holding just baked pissaladière.
Baked pissaladière, side view, on a board.

Cut into squares; serve warm or at room temperature.

Baked pissaladière, cut on a board.
Cut pieces of pissaladière on a board.
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A large sheet pan holding just baked pissaladière.

How to Make Pissaladière

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Description

Smothered with caramelized onions and layered with tomatoes, anchovies, olives, and garlic, pissaladière is irresistible! The no-knead dough, focaccia, combined with the toppings, is truly a delicacy, like pasta Puttanesca in bread form: sweet, salty, oily, briny, bold, and aromatic. Heaven!

Notes: 

Adapted from my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs. In my cookbook, I make the pissaladière start to finish in just about 3 hours. In this updated version, I call for either an overnight, refrigerated focaccia (yeasted) or a sourdough focaccia, both of which were adapted from the BTC focaccia recipe. 

The pan: Any standard half-sheet pan will work here. I love this Lloyd “Gramma” style pan for pissaladière.

Ingredients

The Dough:

For assembly: 

  • 6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing
  • 3 cups sliced onions (about 3 medium onions, halved and thinly sliced)
  • pinch of kosher salt
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 4 anchovies
  • 1 tablespoon capers
  • ½ cup coarsely chopped pitted kalamata or niçoise olives
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes

Instructions

  1. Make your focaccia dough through step 1 for the overnight refrigerator focaccia and through step 3 for the sourdough focaccia. 
  2. For the pissaladière toppings: In a large sauté pan, heat 2 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. When it begins to shimmer, add the onions and a pinch of salt. Cover; then immediately reduce the heat to low and cook, stirring every few minutes, until the onions are lightly golden, about 15 to 20 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a food processor, mince the garlic and anchovies together. Add 2 tablespoons of oil and blend until smooth. Add the capers and pulse to coarsely chop. Add the olives and pulse again to coarsely chop. Set aside.
  4. Line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper or coat with butter or nonstick cooking spray. Pour the remaining 2 tablespoons oil on the sheet pan. Using lightly greased hands, deflate the dough by releasing it from the sides of the bowl. Again, using your hands, shape the dough into a rough ball or rectangle; then transfer it to the prepared sheet pan. Roll the dough ball in the oil to coat it all over. Let it rest without touching it for 3 to 5 hours or until the dough has puffed considerably and is filling the pan.
  5. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 425°F.
  6. With lightly greased hands, press down on the dough, using all 10 fingers to dimple and stretch the dough outward. Pull gently on the ends and stretch them toward the corners of the sheet pan. When the dough begins to resist being stretched, let it rest for 5 minutes, then stretch it again, continuing until it fits most of the sheet pan.
  7. Spread the sautéed onions over the dough. Top with the anchovy puree. Finally, scatter the tomatoes over top. Use all 10 fingers again to dimple the dough and gently stretch it.
  8. Transfer the sheet pan to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the underside is golden and crisp. Remove the pissaladière from the oven and transfer it to a cutting board. Let it cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into squares.
  • Prep Time: 24 hours
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American, French