Sardenaira — Liguria's cheese-free anchovy and olive flatbread

Dough spec

Flour

Type 00 flour

Hydration

70%

Salt

2.2%

Oil

7%

Scale this guide

This dough is sized to the pan, not a per-pizza ball weight — use the pan/tray dough calculator with your pan's dimensions and the Medium thickness setting for a different pan size. Open the full dough calculator for more control, or the fermentation schedule builder to work backwards from a target bake time using this guide’s room temperature long fermentation approach.

Related techniques

Steps

1. MixHand or machine mix flour, water, salt, and oil to a soft, wet, extensible dough, similar in feel to a focaccia dough.
2. Bulk fermentBulk ferment at room temperature for 2-4 hours, with a gentle fold partway through to build structure without knocking the dough back.
3. ShapeTurn the dough out onto a well-oiled round or rectangular pan and dimple it out to the edges with oiled fingertips, focaccia-style, rather than stretching or rolling.
4. Final proofLet the dimpled dough proof for a further 30-60 minutes in the pan before topping.
5. TopSpread a thin layer of tomato over the dough, then scatter over garlic, salted anchovies (originally sardines) and Taggiasca olives. For the traditionalist version without tomato, skip the tomato; neither version has cheese.
6. TopFinish with a scattering of oregano and a generous drizzle of olive oil.
7. BakeBake at around 220-240C for 15-20 minutes, until deeply golden and the base is cooked through and crisp at the edges.
8. RestCool briefly on a wire rack — sardenaira is traditionally served at room temperature, not straight from the oven.
9. ServeCut into squares or wedges and serve at room temperature.

Bake notes

Under-oiling the pan is this guide's most common failure — the crisp, almost fried base this style depends on comes directly from a generously oiled pan, the same principle as focaccia.