Flammkuchen - the other type of pizza

After baking and eating many traditional pizzas, it was time for Flammkuchen again.
It's extremly delicious and quick and easy to make.

Step 1 History and definition

Tarte flambée is an Alsatian dish composed of thin bread dough rolled out in a circle or a rectangle, which is covered with crème fraîche, onions, and lardons. It is one of the most famous gastronomical specialties of the region.

Depending on the region, this dish can be called in Alsatian flammekueche, in German Flammkuchen, or in French tarte flambée. There are many variations of the original recipe, in terms both of the dough and of the garniture.

Legend says that the creators of this dish were Alemannic farmers from Alsace, Baden or the Palatinate who used to bake bread once a week. In fact, the tarte was originally a homemade dish which did not make its urban debut until the "pizza craze" of the 1960's. A tarte flambée would be used to test the heat of their wood-fired ovens. At the peak of its temperature, the oven would also have the ideal conditions in which to bake a tarte flambée. The embers would be pushed aside to make room for the tarte in the middle of the oven, and the intense heat would be able to bake it in 1 or 2 minutes. The crust that forms the border of the tarte flambée would be nearly burned by the flames.

The name itself comes from this method of baking, the English translation of the original Alsatian name being "baked in the flames."

In some parts of Alsace, the Palatinate and Baden, the crème fraîche may be replaced by fromage blanc (similar to Quark), or by a mixture of half fromage blanc and half crème fraîche. The result resembles a thin pizza.

Comments

[bobbatt]

Creme fraiche is really easy to make. Here's a recipe: 1 cup whipping cream mixed with 2 tablespoons buttermilk. Combine well in glass jar and cover. Let stand at room temperature (about 70 degrees F.) for 8 to 24 hours, or until thickened. Stir well and refrigerate. Use within 10 days.

[t.rohner]

That's cool. I only wonder that commercial buttermilk has live lactic bacteria in it. To be honest, i never tried it

[broden1]

Thanks for the great recipe!

I became obsessed with Flammkuchen while living in Baden a few years ago, and I've made a bunch of different versions. This one is excellent!

Here's a few things of learned -

1) It might upset purists, but I've found that if you're short on time, uncooked flour tortillas are a good solution for the crust. Because they're so thin, they get nice and crispy, and cook time is very short.

2) It can be very hard to get Quark, and to a lesser extent, Creme Fraiche in my area. I've experimented to find a good replacement using more readily available ingredients - Greek Yogurt, Creme Cheese, Sour Cream, etc.

I've been really pleased with a "base" using 2 parts Philadelphia Cooking Creme (it's a sort of thin cream-cheese variation) and 1 part Sour Cream, to give it a more "quarky" vibe.

Maybe not totally authentic, but nice if you need to scratch that Flammkuchen itch.

Viel Spass!

[t.rohner]

Hello in Utah...
It's quite a while, that i was there. (Salt Lake to work, Park City to ski...)

Last week i drove through Flammkuchen-country. From Basel through the Elsass over the Vosges and on to Brussels.

Regarding the recipe, it's almost too simple to mention. (But thanks, anyway)
Sometimes, the simple things are the best.
Try some thyme, besides salt and pepper.

For the crust, i really invested some time into enhancing it, since i wrote this ible.
I'm finally making it with a very mild (french) sourdough culture, that i ordered in the U.S.
I gave that a try, after reading this page:

http://varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm

It really knocks your socks off, and the dough is much easier to form/stretch.

There certainly are substitutes for the dairy ingredients i use. (Switzerland is somewhat of a dairy-heaven..) I live in a small town of only 11k, but i can buy that stuff in at least 6 shops.
There are other things, that are harder to obtain locally...

As for a puristic or authentic Flammkuchen, i don't think there is such a thing. There are many variants. (Try one in Baden ,Ulm or Colmar, they will almost certainly be different, but yummy nonetheless.)
There is no right or wrong, only your taste should decide.

Keep on baking!

[farmette]

This is almost identical and reminds me of the best memory I have of my german Oma. She carefully taught me to make "speckkuchen" in her kitchen in Kassel. The only difference was she did not use cheese. Instead the "filling" was a layer made of moistened day old white bread squeezed out and mixed with beaten eggs seasoned with nutmeg. This filling went on before the toppings of green onions and "speck" or bacon cubes. She made it for my mother and her siblings in the morning and they would get a piece to eat on the way to the market. It was a breakfast treat in 1935 or so. At the time, "creme fraiche" "quark" or any dairy products were scarce so they must have improvised. You could also buy it from a vendor at the open air market.

[t.rohner]

Hello farmette
I wouldn't call this identical, it's much more refined and therefore more "complicated" to make.
But after looking it up, i definitely have to try it.
It has it's roots in the process of bread baking as well. (using dough leftovers)
In one of the recipes i have seen, they breaded the bacon cubes, before topping the kuchen with them.
I can see it how crunchy they come out of the oven. (gives me a Homer-like drool...)

Would be a nice first instructable for you...

[vincent7520]

This is fantastic … 
How can we befriend so I can be invited ?…
:)

Actually seeing all these feisty and yummy pictures in the middle of january makes me long for the summer to come and the nice parties we have on my backyard in Le Havre !!!…

[t.rohner]

In fact, i was "close" to you in Decembre.(Oostende) On my way home, i had a rough driving in the Ardennes with the snow... In those "lowlands", not everyone uses winter tires... For us, it's normal to have some snow on the road, but many of the truck drivers were just caught off guard. (I had 5 hours for 3km in Luxenburg on my way home...)
We sometimes fire up the oven in January, so call me while in the vicinity...

[vincent7520]

How nice of you ! … 

The Ardennes are a wonderful country especially in the summer with their great dark forests. In fact I used to spend some vacations int the French Ardennes 30 km from Verdun !…

Be sure that if I happen to pass by your area I'll let you know simply to have a look at you oven.

Actually my fathers best friend was a famous Greek sculptor and he made hi a quick oven (Greek fashion, I guess) in about one morning using fire resistant brick and cement with a door made of a simple sheet of stainless steel sheet with a handle.

I know it took him so little time because I was there and helped him. It was back in 1969 or 1970 and it still worked flawlessly 10 years ago. The house was then sold and I can see it when peeking over the fence, but I don't know if the new owners use it.

I know I have some photos, I'll post them here. But please wait before I find them in my mess ! … 

Have a good day.

[t.rohner]

Building a oven with firebricks and refractory cement was also on my mind. But i decided for clay, because the material is much cheaper around here. Firebricks and refractory cement are quite expensive, if you build something "big".
When you dig your own loam/clay or get it from a construction site (this shiny grey or yellow stuff when they dig a foundation, about 1.5m below the topsoil), it would cost next to nothing.

[instructablesrestaurant]

Nice product, fresh good combination of tastes, simple but surprising! Great concept this is.

[instructablesrestaurant]

Very nice taste juicy and not too fat. And it will keep my hunger away! Like it a lot!

[instructablesrestaurant]

Little to salty for my taste. but just as good as a standart Magherita!

[instructablesrestaurant]

Nice and sharp taste! The sour note does it.

[instructablesrestaurant]

Frigging delicious. Never thought of Creme Fraiche on pizza. winner! Mx

[frac]

Congratulations!

I've learned this dish as Zwibelkuchen which is pretty much the same: Onions, bacon and kummel seeds. Wonderful instructable

[nutellamonster]

Great variation on a great theme: Use smoked salmon instead of bacon, a little less onions (well, to be honest, about half as much), and stir some dill into the crème fraiche. Deeeelicious!

Thanks for the 'ible! And Gruezi!

[t.rohner]

Do you add the smoked salmon before, or after baking? I'd add some horse radish into the cream mix...

[przemek]

@bobbatt and @t.rohner: buttermilk is indeed the most reliable dairy culture; I had best luck with the brand Giant carries on the US East Coast, as opposed to various "live" or 'active' kefir/yoghurt products that never seemed to breed. I also had inconsistent results from other buttermilk brands---just try them out using a cup of milk for testing. I make yoghurt and farmer's cheese from our household staple 2% milk---they come out tastier when some half-and-half or whipping cream is added. I use something like 100ml buttermilk per gallon of milk, and stand it covered at room temperature for a day or two, like @bobbat says. Covering prevents stray bacteria and mold from entering, but don't close off the oxygen---I just use paper or aluminum foil sheet on top of the jar. I put it in the fridge when the milk visibly thickens and curdles. It's a delicious drink, and a base for fruit and vegetable based shakes (mango+sugar for mango lassie, garlic and cucumbers for tzatziki, etc etc). The natural acidity of yoghurt seems to calm heartburn and the active culture is good for digestion. To make cheese, put it in the warm (160 degrees) oven for an hour or two, until the yellowish whey separates from the white cheese on top. To firm it up a little bit, you can pour it over the cheesecloth in a strainer, and drain off the whey for few hours. Such cheese holds amazingly well in the fridge---at least a week.

[t.rohner]

Although it's very easy to take the creme fraiche just off the shelve in the supermarket, i will test this buttermilk approach. Maybe not on cream but on standard bio milk, which has around 4% fat here. By the way, reducing fat in the milk isn't healthy per se. They also reduce vitamins, omega 3 and so on. I have read a couple of books about cheese making. They almost always recommend to take untreated milk fresh from the cow. Packaged milk is almost always homogenised, besides heat or ultra high heat treated and some of the fat taken away. Homogenising destroys the structure of milk proteins, which would help separate the curd from the whey.(It still works, but it's harder to press out the whey.) And the best cheeses i tasted are made from unpasteurized milk.

[mcgtr]

> annibelle only yer tounge ?

[thepelton]

Pardon an unschooled Amerikaner for asking, but what is a "lardon"?

[Dr Qui]

Posh bacon.

Lardon is one of those words that allows a posh restaurant to sell you a slice of bacon for the price of a pig.

[t.rohner]

Haha, this is a question of frenchising, not franchising ;-)))

[Dr Qui]

Yeah but you also got to remember anything you order in a restaurant that contains "Avec" is very expensive.

You will also pay a fortune for Pomme frites but a plate of chips does not break the bank. lol

I spent 3 months in Nantes back in 1995 with a group of exchange students.  We all found it funny that even the most basic street food sounded posh, Pulp Fiction had just come out at the time and we often went to McDonald's for a Royale with cheese.

Pan fried is another posh foodie thing that gets on my wick. :-)

Good post by the way it looks lovley I would love to try it but alas my system could not handle so much cheese, onion and bacon at once.

[t.rohner]

Bacon in sticks(like small fries) or cubes. (i prefer cubes of a 6th of a inch size) True to the word, it's porc belly. Could be fat only...

[s_heidenreich]

i am a big flammkuchen-eater myself. pretty neat 'ible, but i prefer living yeast...but i think that's just a retail problem. also i use what in germany is calles "Sauerrahm" instead of crème fraîche, the difference is that Sauerrahm has only 10% fat, crème fraîche has about 30%-35%. (don't confuse it with sour cream!) nice thing is that it is pretty liquid, so easy to spread on the dough, but gets more "solid" after baking. (i prefer normal onions, too ;) but enough of criticism.) this indeed is a nice ible and a nice variety for those pizza-fanatic americans :) (how they can call it pizza is a mistery to me...)

[t.rohner]

With living yeast, you mean those pressed fresh yeast cubes? My dry yeast is also alive, after it's rehydrated. I used to bake with these fresh yeast cubes for many years, because i thought there is a difference.(There is none in terms of fermentation) But dry yeast is much more convenient and the shelf life is way way longer.(I use very little yeast, 4g fresh for 500g flour) I often had to throw away the rest of the 42g cube, because it went bad.

[e.m.kaiser]

Find a creme fraiche recipe here: http://foodwishes.blogspot.com/2008/12/how-to-make-crme-frache-check-out-those.html

[t.rohner]

Very nice, thanks.

[SCKStef]

Great, it remebers me of home ! As alternative of the traditional Fammekuchen, we have: - Forestière: With mushrooms. - Royale: With Munster Chese. - Sucrée ( Sweet ): With apples and calvados and of course without onions and bacon. BTW: I did never see it in Alsace with spring onions, only with normal oignons or red oignons.

[t.rohner]

As you tell here, everyone makes it a little different, depending on what's available. We also make it with our homemade sauerkraut, instead of onions.(http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-make-Sauerkraut/) I definitely have to try a sucrée version with apples and cinnamon.(McDudes hot apple pie flattened out....)

[parisbill]

My business partner and i worked in the Alsace Our French client took us to a village (37 letters) to enjoy the best Alsatian flammekueche ever It was love at first bite!!!!

[GVDub]

If you're in the US and having trouble finding creme fraiche, check nearby markets that cater to the Mexican or Central American communities for the different cremas. Crema Mexicana is more like clotted cream, and some of the Salvadoran and Nicaraguan cremas are very like creme fraiche.

[osirisbrackhaus]

Very neat instructable! We use smetana instead of créme fraîche, as it is easier to get by (in Germany) and doesn't curdle when heated as créme fraîche sometimes does.

[t.rohner]

Smetana seems to be soured heavy cream, from what i read. It seems to have a higher fat content, than sour cream. I will look for it here and give it a try. I don't remember seeing it around here, but maybe only, because i wasn't looking for it.

[RonnnL]

Looks great, going to try this one. I am concerned about the amount of salt however, especially since you use bacon in the recipe, which is quite salty already. 16 grammes of salt seems way too much for my taste.

[t.rohner]

16 g of salt is ok for 500 g of flour. This is about 3% (bakers percentage) and that's the way i like it. (It's the same amount, i use for bread) I don't salt the cream mix too heavy, to compensate for the salt in the bacon. But if you like it less salty, by all means use what you prefer.

[Ninzerbean]

I was wondering about the salt as well, an ounce is about 28 grammes, can this be a weight or a space measurement? It seems to be a huge amount of salt.

[t.rohner]

Well, 28 g is a weight measurment. It's about the amount i'd use for a 1000g / 2.2 lb flour dough. And yes you can convert volume measurments to weight measurments and vice versa. But chances are, that it's not very precise. Take salt, it can be coarse or finely ground, this makes a huge difference in the conversion factor. But for cooking and baking, the precision should be enough. I have found a handy online conversion tool: http://pantsblazing.com/convert/vol_weight.php Personally i like to work with weight measurments, i get a better repeatability.