Flammkuchen (Crisp Bacon and Onion Tart)

Ingredients

• 250 g wheat flour
• 1¼ dl water, lukewarm
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt
• 200 g crème fraîche
• 2 onion, very thinly sliced
• 150 g bacon, cut into lardons
• ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp fresh chives, snipped

Method

1. 1.

   Heat the stone screaming hot — Slide a heavy baking tray or a pizza stone onto the top shelf and heat the oven to its maximum, at least 250 °C, for 30 minutes. Flammkuchen lives or dies on a screaming hot surface.

2. 2.

   Knead a yeast-free dough — Knead the flour, water, olive oil and salt into a smooth, supple dough, about 5 minutes. There is no yeast — you want a thin, snappy base, not bread. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.

3. 3.

   Roll the bases paper-thin — Halve the dough and roll each piece out on a sheet of baking paper into a thin oval — thin enough to see the paper through it. Trim nothing; the ragged edges are part of the look.

4. 4.

   Spread and top sparingly — Season the crème fraîche with the nutmeg, pepper and a pinch of salt and spread it thinly over the bases, leaving a 1 cm rim. Scatter the onion evenly, then the bacon — the topping stays sparse or the base steams instead of crisping.

5. 5.

   Bake until the edges char — Slide each tart, still on its paper, onto the hot tray and bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are blistered and darkly charred in places, the bacon is crisp and the crème fraîche has set.

6. 6.

   Cut and eat straight away — Snip the chives over the hot tarts, cut them into squares with a wheel or a large knife and eat immediately, standing up, before the base loses its crunch.