Craving for pizza? Try Flammekueche, a Franco-German version of pizza! Flammekueche is best described as a cross between pizza bianca (white pizza), flatbread and tart: it has a super thin base that’s traditionally covered with crème fraîche, bacon and sliced onions. It’s mouth-wateringly good and the best thing is it’s much quicker to make than a regular pizza as the dough is unleavened. No yeast means no proofing, and no proofing means the oh-so delicious flammekueche will be in your belly in no time!
Flammekueche
🍴 Servings: 2 (or up to 6 *)
🕒 Hands-on: ~ 25 minutes
🎛 Cooking time: 12 – 15 minutes
INGREDIENTS
Dough
- 130g (2dl) flour
- 60ml water
- 1.5 tbsp olive/vegetable oil
- ½ tsp salt
Toppings
- 1 brown onion, thinly sliced
- 4 – 5 streaky bacon rashers, cut into thin strips
- 4 – 5 baby plum/cherry tomatoes, sliced (optional)
- 100g gruyère cheese, finely grated
- 100ml crème fraîche
- ¼ – ½ tsp nutmeg
- ⅛ – ¼ tsp salt
- ⅛ – ¼ tsp black pepper
Plus
- ½ – 1 tbsp oil, for frying
- rocket, to serve (optional)
STEPS
1 Place the flour, oil and salt into a mixing bowl and stir to combine. Add the water in two batches, mixing the dough between.
2 Turn the shaggy dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until all flour is incorporated and the dough becomes smooth and elastic, for about 2-3 minutes. Put the dough back into the bowl and loosely cover while preparing the toppings.
3 For the onions, heat a glug of oil in a medium frying pan. Once hot, add the thinly sliced onions and cook on a medium-low heat for 5-10 minutes until softened. Set aside (you can leave them in the pan).
4 Meanwhile, prep the remaining toppings: cut the raw bacon rashers into thin, 5cm long strips, slice the tomatoes (if using) and grate the gruyère. Then in a small bowl, combine the crème fraîche with the nutmeg, salt and pepper.
Turn the oven on now, preheat it to 230℃. Also cut the baking paper!
5 Once the toppings are ready, roll out the dough. To do this, place the dough onto a lightly floured work top and shape into a small rectangular. Then using a rolling pin, start rolling it out. When the dough is about half the size, lift it on top of a baking paper and keep rolling it out until it’s very thin rectangular (about 37cm x 25cm). Then simply transfer onto the oven tray.
6 To assemble, spread the crème fraîche mixture evenly on top, leaving around 1cm border. Then add the bacon, pre-cooked onions, tomatoes and gruyère.
7 Cook the flammekueche in 230℃ (fan) for 12-15 minutes, until the edges are crisp and well browned. Serve straight from the oven with rocket on top!
Notes:
- Water — When you start kneading the dough, its texture will change and it should get smooth pretty fast. If it still feels dry after some kneading, add a splash more water. One teaspoon should do the trick!
- Dough quantity — The amount of dough looks very little, but it will be enough once rolled out as the base is supposed to be super thin
- Rolling dough — I think rolling out the dough is the trickiest bit when making flammekueche as it needs to be so thin. For me, the best method is to start on a lightly floured surface, and then transfer the dough onto baking paper and finish rolling it there. I do this because if you try to roll the dough directly on the work surface to its full size, it can get stuck when trying to lift it (been there and it’s so frustrating). On the other hand, if you start rolling it out on baking paper, the paper tends to move and it also greases pretty easily… So half table, half baking paper method seems to work the best!
- Toppings order — Start with the bacon when topping the flammekueche. Putting bacon before onions makes the base even crispier
- Onions — You don’t necessarily have to pre-cook the onions, but I’d recommend doing that as they’ll have much sweeter flavour
- Cheese — Gruyère can be replaced with comté, I’ve made flammekueche with both and couldn’t tell the difference
- Toppings — Flammekueche is traditionally topped with crème fraîche (or fromage frais), onions and lardons. Less is more in this dish, but I find the addition of tomatoes and gruyère (plus rocket) complement the other flavours beautifully! However, if you are experimenting with other toppings try to keep them relatively light as otherwise the base won’t crisp up that well and it can even get soggy
- Final note: if you have a baking steel or pizza stone, use that for extra crispy base! Just remember to adjust the cooking time, I cook my flammekueche on baking steel for about 10 minutes
* If the dish is served as a main, then it’s perfect for 2 people. But if it’s enjoyed as a snack or starter, you can get up to 6 slivers!
Main equipment:
Small mixing bowl → dough
Medium frying pan → onions
Small bowl/ramekin → crème fraîche
Chopping board + knife
Rolling pin
Baking paper
Large oven tray (38cm x 26cm)
