Pissalidiere Remade

Last weekend I had my first "catering" event since moving home. A childhood friend's mother just wrote a fantastic children's book called Benjamin and Bumper to the Rescue. I made a bunch of different things: butternut squash and caramelized onion galette, salmon rillettes, persimmon wrapped in prosciutto and a lot more. My favorite was a flatbread with marscapone, black fantasy grapes, rosemary and sea salt.

I learned the recipe for the crust at cooking school over the summer. Its the same dough that the French use to make Pissalidiere-- a classic southern pizza with caramelized onions, capers, anchovies, tomato "petals" and thyme. I remember asking one of the chefs if people ever put other things on pissalidiere. "No!" he screamed emphatically. The chefs were really serious about not mixing and matching recipes. In fact, I'm pretty sure they would have a conniption knowing that I am even trying to call this anything remotely related to a pissalidiere. Next time I play around with this I am going to try gruyere, roasted cauliflower and leeks (maybe with some fried breadcrumbs on top!).

To make the dough:

200 gr. flour

10 gr yeast (I just used one packet)

5 gr. salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

60 ml water

1 egg (lightly beaten)

For the topping:

5 ounces marscapone cheese

40 or so black seedless grapes, halved

2 Tablespoon coarsely chopped rosemary

2 tsp sea salt

drizzle of olive oil

1) Mix flour, salt, sugar in a bowl

2) Dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water (use some of the original 60 ml)

3) Using your hands incorporate the egg into flour mixture

4) Pour the yeast mixture and olive oil into the flour/egg mix

5) Knead the dough well for five minutes on a clean surface

6) Make the dough into a ball and put in a bowl. Cover with saran wrap and keep in a warm place (like above pre-heating oven) until the dough doubles in size (at least 1 hr).

7) Flour your worksurface and roll out dough (the chefs were very insistent that it be perfectly round. I feel more strongly that it should be rolled out to your desired thickness). Make the edges a little thicker

8) Spread cheese onto the dough, sprinkle with the halved grapes, chopped rosemary and sea salt. Drizzle with olive oil. Brush the crusts with olive oil.

9) Bake in 400 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes. Make sure the bottom is golden brown.