If we go back to the summer of 2016, you’d find us as newlyweds in Greece. We visited the islands of Milos and Folegandros and it was one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. One morning in Milos, we stopped by this little café to pick up breakfast before hiking our way to a gorgeous beach. We ended up spotting someone sitting at a table biting into this thick piece of bread, laden with juicy baked tomatoes and basically pointed to their plate and asked to have the same. We were sent straight to food heaven, I’m telling you – so much so it remains one of our most precious food memories to this day. Later we learned the dish is called Ladenia, and is a local specialty to Milos specifically.
And of course, we’ve been trying to make them as good here at home – and when you have a garden with endless supply of fresh, delicious tomatoes, you can actually experiment away without going bankrupt as part of it. Because yes, while the bread will be good with ordinary tomatoes, sun ripened locally grown cherry or pearl tomatoes will make it outstanding.
You can think of it as a mix between focaccia and cheese-less pizza, and serve it as part of a buffet spread, as a side or just a pretty darn amazing summer lunch with a salad to go with. It’s one of our new favorite ways to use part of our tomato yield towards and really, something we could eat every day this time of year. Give this a go – you won’t be disappointed.
För recept på svenska, klicka här: Ladenia – grekisk tomatpizza
Makes one 24 cm pizza
Total Time: 2 hrs (including rise time)
Ingredients
Dough
150 g all purpose flour (250 ml)
1 1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/4 tsp salt
100 ml water
1 tsp olive oil
Topping
500 g cherry tomatoes (900 ml), cut in half
1 yellow onion (150 g), cut in half and sliced thin
1 tbsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200ºC. Mix the yeast with the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl. Let sit for 10 min.
- Add the water and olive oil to the bowl, and mix thoroughly with a mixing spoon.
- Tip the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for 5 min, adding more flour as needed.
- Let rise for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, toss the cherry tomatoes and onion with the oregano, salt and olive oil and roast in the oven for 20 min. Set aside.
- After the dough has risen, punch it down. Grease a 24 cm cast iron pan with a thin layer of olive oil and then press and stretch out the dough into it. You can also use a similarly sized spring form or just shape the dough into a circle on a baking sheet. Press your fingers into the dough to make dimples. Let rise for 20 min.
- Spoon the tomatoes and onions over the dough, and bake in the oven at 200ºC for 20 min.
- Cut into squares and serve.
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– Sophia & Michael