This recipe originally comes from Alsace , a region between France and Germany.
Flammen Kuchen ( which literally means flame cake) was created during the time when a whole village would use a communal wood fired oven to bake their bread. To make sure the temperature was right they would roll out a very thin piece of dough and put it in the oven. If it crisped quickly and became crunchy the temperature was right to put the bread in.
After a while the villagers, instead of just eating the plain crust, experimented with different toppings. The classic Flammen Kuchen topping is made from crème fraiche, onion rings and crisped small lardons. It is an unusual combination and quite delicious. Flammen Kuchen is now becoming increasingly popular ( you heard it here first ! ) and the toppings are becoming very varied. Like its distant cousin the pizza you can have the classic topping or you can make many different variations. The unusual feature of the Flamen Kuchen is its very light and crispy crust which makes it less filling than a pizza. It is something you should definitely try.
- Ingredients
- pre heat oven to 240 ˚
- 500 gr plain four
- 4 tablespoons olive oil ( 35 ml)
- 300 ml warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 medium Spanish onion thinly sliced
- 150 ml crème fraiche
- 50 gr diced lardons, or bacon
- 1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes and ground black pepper
in a bowl, mix together the four, salt, oil and water ( Samson was my sous chef)
kneed the dough mixture well
once the dough is shiny and feels elastic, roll into ball and set aside until needed
in a little butter and oil, fry the sliced onions with the chilli flakes until soft
take some of the dough and roll it out as thin as possible
put some grease proof paper on an oven tray and spread the dough over it
add the toppings of your choice, as you can see Samson and Griffin did
bake in a super hot oven for about 15 minutes until crisp and golden
waiting for the Flammenkuchen to bake, a difficult wait!!
