Ladenia is a Greek-style tomato pie with a pizza-like base, lots of onions, and tomatoes on top. This humble and easy-to-make pie is very delicious indeed!
Want to know what Ladenia means? It translates to oily. Meaning oily pie. And that's because the dough of this pie is loaded with healthy olive oil (150 grams to be precise). Which makes it softer, denser, and so much more flavorful!
The top of the pie is coated with a thin layer of garlic and oregano flavored tomato sauce. Plus lots of thinly sliced onions, and ripe tomato slices. The final flavor? Oh, sooo sweet!
This tomato pie is a local specialty from the island of Kimolos. It's very simple and basic. Like many Greek dishes that focus on local and seasonal produce and in this case tomatoes. Another great example of this is Tomato Fritters a local specialty from the island of Santorini.
Since this pie is so basic you can go ahead and add other ingredients to it as well. Such as feta cheese, olive slices, capers, salami slices, and anchovies. I didn't add any of these as I wanted to keep the recipe very traditional and as it is originally made. But all the ingredients I've mentioned above I am definitely adding. Not all together though. 😜
How To Make Tomato Pie
To make the Ladenia tomato pie you make the dough just like you would make any other yeast dough. Without needing to use an electric mixer though. Just some hand kneading for a couple of minutes (less than 5 that is).
Cover the dough and rest at room temperature until it doubles in size. Then place the dough in an 11 x 15-inch pan and open it up with your hands. Spread the sauce on top (will tell you how it's made in a moment) and place in a warm oven (50 °C) for 20-30 minutes for the dough to rise again.
And then add the onion slices and tomato slices on top. One thing to pay attention to is to try and coat all of the onions with tomato slices. So the onions won't overcook while you bake the pie, and will keep nice and sweet.
Now for the sauce, all you need to do is toss the following ingredients: tomato sauce, garlic, thyme, oregano, sugar, and olive oil along with some water, in a saucepan and simmer for a while.
The sauce needs to become nice and thick so it won't dampen the dough. You may then spread it on top of the dough.
Storing Tomato Pie Leftovers
You can keep this pie at room temperature for up to 24 hours as there is no dairy added to it. Then you can keep any leftover pieces inside a food container in the fridge.
Whenever you need to serve, just reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes on medium, and if you wish to revive its crust a bit, toss it in a hot, non-stick frying pan afterward to make the bottom of the pie a bit more crusty and less soft. If you have lots of leftovers and you wish to reheat them all together then add in a non-stick pan or baking dish cover it with foil and reheat in the oven at a temperature of 150 °C.
Recipe
Greek Tomato Pie (Ladenia)
Ingredients
For The Dough:
- 500 grams / 17.6 oz all-purpose flour
- 8 grams / 1 + ¾ teaspoon dry yeast
- 150 grams / 5.3 oz extra virgin olive oil + some extra to grease the pan and drizzle over the pie
- 225 ml lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 + ½ teaspoon salt
For Topping:
- 100 grams / 3.5 oz tomato sauce
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 3 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- ½ teaspoon sugar
- 100 ml water
- 1 small (90 grams) onion thinly sliced
- 2 medium-sized (285 grams) ripe tomatoes cut into thin slices
- salt and pepper
Instructions
For The Dough:
- In a mixing bowl add 100 grams of flour, the yeast, and the sugar. Stir with a whisk. Then add the water in slowly while stirring constantly and vigorously with the whisk.
- Next, add the olive oil while stirring.
- In a separate bowl combine the remaining flour together with the salt. Then add to the yeast mixture and knead the dough for 2-3 minutes for everything to incorporate well.
- Shape into a ball, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rest at room temperature for about 1 to 1 and a half hours until it doubles in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
For The Sauce:
- Add all of the ingredients for the topping, except the onion slices and tomato slices, to a small saucepan and heat over high.
- Once it starts to simmer drop the heat to low. Season with salt and pepper and simmer until sauce thickens. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.
- Heat your oven to 50°C / 122°F.
- Grease an 11 x 15-inch pan (28 x 38 cm) with olive oil. Take the dough and add it to the pan. With your hands press the dough to open and fit inside the pan.
- Add the sauce on top and spread evenly with a spoon.
- Place the pan in the oven and let rise again for about 20-30 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven and prick the dough here and there with a fork.
- Raise the temperature of the oven to 180°C / 356°F.
- Add the onion slices on top all over the pie. Then top with the tomato slices. Try to cover most of the onions with the tomato slices so the onions won't overcook.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Then take the pan out of the oven and lightly drizzle the pie on top with olive oil. Place the pan back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes more.
- Cut, serve, and enjoy!
Nutrition
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This is so good. Greeks all over make this or very similar. Since ancient times cuisine in the Mediterranean moved west from Greece. Just look at pissaladiere, you know the guys with the tall hats and bad attitudes make.
Enjjjoyed reading your recipes and anxious to get started, Thank You