Flammkuchen (Tarte Flambée) 3 ways

Well what's not to love about bacon, onions and bread! On their own, or all together. It's all good! Flammkuchen also called Tarte Flambée and Flammkueche is an Alsation dish. Alsace is a small region in France with German and French History.This "pizza" was a big hit at our last family gathering. Of course, I am a bit of a scientist and had to experiment and figure out which version I liked best.

 So, the 3 ways are:

1.  yeast dough or pizza dough
2. dough with no yeast
3. puff pastry dough

Traditionally, it is made with either a yeast or non yeast dough and baked in a stone fired oven.
Unfortunately I haven't been able to convince my husband to build a stone oven in our backyard, so a pizza stone in a regular oven it was!

I made two versions of flammkuchen for a recent family get together at my sister's (only 27 people)
What was the occasion? We are still not quite sure. I think the guest list just kind of grew. We live fairly close so this happens occasionally. Anyway, the flammkuchen got kind of hoovered before everyone got there, so it must have been good.

The most difficult part of making this, is getting the dough off your peel or whatever you are using to slide the dough onto the pizza stone. I used a rimless baking sheet.  Lay out your dough on lots of flour and a little cornmeal to get it to slide off easier.  Give it a little shake before you attempt. If it is still sticking, carefully lift some edges and put a little flour underneath.

I used pancetta, which is a tasty form of bacon in a cubed shape. I fried it up just a little and added sliced onions to soften a little.

Lay your dough out on your peel or rimless baking sheet. Or you can turn a cookie sheet upside down and that would work too.

Spread Crème Fraîche all over. If you can't find Crème Fraîche, use sour cream mixed with a little cream. 

 Roll your dough out very thin. Half a regular size pizza dough is good for one. It doesn't have to be perfectly square or round. That is part of its rustic charm. Although in the case of puff pastry, It comes perfectly square and rolled out already. I used PC puff pastry which is super easy. Just leave it on the parchment paper it comes on.

Sprinkle your onions and bacon over your crème fraîche and bake at 500 degrees. Your stone should be preheated in your oven for about 15 min to a half hour before you put the pizza in. Turn the oven on when you start frying the bacon and that should work out with timing.

Here is a picture of the non yeast dough after coming out of the oven.

I love the way it bubbled up! It was crispy and delicious!

Ok, so what was the verdict on the 3 different versions? I loved them all! Seriously, they each worked out great. And each has its advantages. The regular pizza yeast dough is probably the most filling. The puff pastry is the easiest. (pre-made, pre-rolled) Just thaw it out. The last non yeast dough is very quick to put together and doesn't need to rise. But.... if I have to choose one, it would be the last one. It was sooo good. One dough makes four smaller pizzas. I didn't make four but I kept the dough and made crackers with the rest.

Here is another look at all three after baking:

Puff pastry version

Regular Pizza dough version

No yeast dough version

To make this you will need:

• Crème Fraîche or sour cream 
• Pancetta or bacon
• onion

Your choice of dough:

• Regular pizza dough
• Ready made puff pastry

or 

• No yeast dough. (Recipe below)

This recipe comes from a web site I found called Maitre Pierre Cuisinier. I believe they sell frozen flammkuchens although not here in Markham.

No yeast Flammkuchen dough

• 250 grams of flour (about 2 1/4 cups)
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup of room temperature water
• 100  ml of oil

Mix flour and salt, then add water and oil and knead together to make a dough that doesn't stick to the counter. It is ready to use or you can let it sit under a bowl for 15 min. Divide into 3 or 4 little balls and roll out very thin to about 10 inches diameter.