There is no agreement on the name, let alone the recipe.
The Pissalandrea (or Pizza all’Andrea or Piscialandrea or Machettusa or Sardenaira, to name but a few) is a Ligurian focaccia from the Riviera di Ponente but also French from the Côte d’Azur, typical of the province of Imperia and the municipalities around Nice.
The Niçoise version (pissaladière/pissaladiera) is perhaps the one that has retained most of the link with the original recipe, the one that originated in the 14th-15th centuries, because it does not include the tomato, which was certainly added some time later, with the introduction of the plant to Europe from the Americas.
Legend has it that the name of Pissalandrea is a tribute to Andrea Doria: the famous admiral of the Republic of Genoa was born in Oneglia (now Imperia). More probably, however, it derives from ‘peis salat’, or salted fish, since it is precisely the salted anchovy that is the main ingredient of this Ligurian focaccia recipe. For Sanremo’s ‘sardenaira’, it is assumed that sardines instead of anchovies may have been used in the first versions.
Every town and village on the Riviera dei Fiori – but at this point perhaps also every district – claims to be the repository of the unique and authentic traditional recipe for this dish. We have therefore decided to publish our own free interpretation, in defiance of the various specifications, so that we displease everyone and do no one any harm.
The recipe for Pissalandrea, Ligurian focaccia
- INGREDIENTS FOR TWO 25 CM ROUND PANS
FOR THE DOUGH
- 500 grams of type 0 flour
- 360 grams of water
- 100 g sourdough or 4 g brewer's yeast
- 30 grams of extra virgin olive oil
- 1 teaspoon of honey
- 13 grams of salt
FOR SEASONING
- 400 grams of tomato pulp
- 5 large-sized white onions
- 150 grams of pitted taggiasca olives
- 10 salt-packed anchovies
- q.b. oregano
- q.b. salt (for onion cooking)
- q.b. extra virgin olive oil (for onion cooking)
- INSTRUCTIONS
Once the sourdough starter is ready 3 to 4 hours after refreshment, we add it to 330 grams of water and honey in a very large bowl. We pour in the flour, taking care not to form lumps. When the water has absorbed all the flour, knead for 5 minutes, making folds inside the bowl. If we use fresh brewer’s yeast instead, we can also mix flour and water first (autolysis), let it rest for at least half an hour and then add the brewer’s yeast.
After we have kneaded flour, water and yeast, let it rest for 15 minutes, then add a little oil and a little water and start kneading again until the dough has absorbed the oil and water we have added: alternate these phases of kneading and resting. When we still have the last part of oil and water left, add these with the salt to the dough and finish kneading. Let it rest in the bowl 30 minutes covered with a cloth.
Slightly wet your hands and with wet hands remove the dough from the bowl and knead it briefly on a non-stick surface (marble, steel or other materials that do not make wet dough stick): make reinforcing folds and using a notch to transfer the dough back into the bowl. Leave to rest for one hour at 25°C. Make reinforcement folds and again leave to rest for another hour. At this point the first rising phase is over and we can form our dough ball on the work surface with the help of a mug. Place the formed dough inside the bowl and brush it with a little oil so that it won’t dry out or stick for the next few hours. with cling film and place everything in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours if you used brewer’s yeast and between 24 and 36 hours for dough with sourdough.
After the hours of cold rest have passed, take the dough out of the fridge and let it rise for half an hour at room temperature. Moisten our fingers and pour the dough onto the work surface, using a dough cutter divide the dough in two, give it a quick shape and dust with flour: leave to rest under a clean cloth for 15 minutes. Dust the work surface with flour and gently start to enlarge the dough: be careful, this is just to give it the shape, there will be time later to reach the size of the baking tin. Transfer the dough into the well-oiled baking tin (or line with lightly greased baking paper). Dust the surface of the focaccia with very little flour and leave to rest at 25°C under a cloth. After half an hour, flour our hands and stretch the dough to the edges. Leave to rise for at least another hour and a half.
In the meantime, we cut the onions into rounds and sauté them in a pan with oil and salt (if desired, we can deglaze with a little white wine). Add a little water and cook for ten minutes on a low heat until dry.
Turn on the oven (preferably static) and bring to a temperature of 230°/250°C. When the oven is at temperature and the buns have risen, it is time to season: add the tomato, onions, oregano and olives. Put a bowl with ice in the lower part of the oven to make plenty of steam. Bake for 20/25 minutes then remove from the oven and add the anchovies, which in the meantime we have desalted and boned (if you want to know more, here we explain everything about salted anchovies and anchovies in oil!)
