TWO PIZZAS (ITALIAN, FRENCH)

I made a fancified Neapolitan Pizza Margherita Friday night, and a Marseilles-style pissadaliere on Saturday, using the following procedure to compress a fairly lengthy process into a couple of hours.

I used the same basic quick pizza dough base for both:

Put 2 cups bread flour and 1 teaspoon salt into the Cuisinart and process (steel blade) for just a few seconds to mix. Stir 1 teaspoon sugar and 1 packet dry bread yeast into 3/4 cup hot water in a measuring cup, and set aside until it starts to bubble. Then stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil and pour gradually into the spinning Cuisinart until the contents form a ball that rides up on the blade. The liquid should be just the right amount, but watch it carefully as you pour, and either stop short or add a few more drops until the contents just consolidate into a firm ball. Take it out and press it flat on a floured bread board. It shouldn't require any serious kneading, as the processor will already have done that. Form it into a ball, rub it with olive oil, and pop it into a large bowl covered with a dish towel to rise. Cut a deep X into the top of the ball to open it up so it will rise well, then leave alone for an hour or two (time's not critical) until it at least doubles in size. When you're ready to cook the pizza, punch it down, toss it out onto a floured board, and press it into a pizza-size circle with a slightly thicker edge to hold the contents in.

Toppings:

For the pizza margherita, pour 1/2 cup thick tomato sauce or puree, from a can or box or homemade, onto the pizza. Slice one-half of a fresh mozzarella thin and lay them on top of the cheese. Sprinkle on lots of fresh, thin- sliced basil leaves. For a traditional margherita, that's it. However, we made it a heartier meal by adding a dozen anchovies, half of a green pepper sliced into thin rounds, and half of a small Vidalia onion sliced into paper- thin slices and separated. Slide onto a searing hot pizza stone in a preheated 500F oven and bake for 10 minutes or until the dough edge is golden and the cheese bubbling.

For the pissaladiere, chop two large sweet (Vidalia or Walla Walla) onions into slivers, and sautee them with as much thin-sliced garlic as you can stand in a small amount of olive oil in a nonstick pan for 15 or 20 minutes with one bay leaf, a teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, and salt and pepper to taste, until the onions are very limp and almost forming a puree. At the end of this period, raise heat if necessary to drive off any remaining liquid, then turn the onion mix onto the pizza round, and top with as many anchovies as you can stand and 1/4 cup of sliced olives. Place on a pizza stone and bake at 350F (note the difference from the pizza technique, which would burn the onions) for 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is crisp.