German Flammkuchen: Crisp Thin-Crust Tart with Bacon, Onions and Creme Fraiche

Make the dough: mix the flour and salt in a bowl, add the olive oil and water and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured counter for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.

Serves 4

Ingredients

• 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) lukewarm water
• 3/4 cup (180 g) creme fraiche
• 1/4 cup (60 g) fromage blanc or full-fat Greek yogurt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 7 oz (200 g) smoked bacon, cut into thin lardons
• 2 medium white or yellow onions, very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh chives, snipped
• Simple green salad with mustard vinaigrette, to serve

Instructions

1. Make the dough: mix the flour and salt in a bowl, add the olive oil and water and stir until a shaggy dough forms. Knead on a lightly floured counter for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic. Wrap and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
2. Place a baking steel, pizza stone or an upturned heavy sheet pan on the lowest oven rack and heat the oven to its highest setting, 500 to 550 F (260 to 290 C), for at least 30 minutes.
3. Cook the bacon lardons in a dry skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes, just until the fat starts to render and the edges turn golden. They should not be crisp yet. Drain on paper towels.
4. Stir the creme fraiche, fromage blanc, nutmeg, a pinch of salt and plenty of black pepper together in a small bowl.
5. Divide the dough in half. On a floured sheet of parchment, roll one piece into a rough rectangle or oval about 12 by 8 inches (30 by 20 cm). It should be almost paper thin, around 1/8 inch (3 mm); thinner is better.
6. Spread half the creme fraiche mixture over the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch (1 cm) border. Scatter over half the onions and half the bacon.
7. Slide the parchment onto the hot stone and bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the edges are blistered and deeply browned and the bacon is crisp. Watch closely in the final minutes.
8. Repeat with the second piece of dough while you eat the first; flammkuchen waits for no one. Shower with chives, cut into squares and serve immediately with a sharp green salad.
9. Flammkuchen, or tarte flambee, comes from the Alsace and Baden regions along the Rhine, where farmers once used it to test the heat of their wood-fired bread ovens. A scrap of bread dough was rolled thin, topped with whatever was in the larder, and pushed into the flames for a couple of minutes before the bread went in. Today it is the great autumn lunch of the Black Forest and Alsace, eaten with new wine during the grape harvest. The crackling-thin crust against cool, tangy creme fraiche and sweet onions is what makes it so addictive.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 520 kcal
• Protein: 16g
• Fat: 28g
• Carbohydrates: 52g
• Fiber: 3g
• Sugar: 4g
• Sodium: 760mg