Flammekuechen

Flammekuchen (German), or tarte flambée (French), is a speciality of the region of Alsace. It is composed of bread dough rolled out very thinly in the shape of a rectangle or oval, which is covered with fromage blanc or crème fraîche, thin-sliced onions and lardons.

I love this dish. I love this ever since the first time I tried it in Germany. There's one flammekuchen specialty shop in Mainz that I really love and always make an effort to go if I were in Mainz.

Since I missed Germany, I asked my friend to give me an authentic flammekuchen recipe. Here's the one that he sent, I made, and my family love these!

Tarte Flambee Alsace (For 4 persons)  

Preparation:   

Overall time        2 hrs 

Working time      20 min 

Rest period          1 hr 

Cooking time      40 min  

Ingredients for 4 persons:  

Wheat flour           400 gram 

Dry yeast               20 gram 

Lukewarm water   250 ml 

Olive oil                3 tablespoon 

Bacon                    125 gram 

Onions                   500 gram 

Sour cream            200 ml

Whipping cream   200 ml

Steps:

1. For the dough, mix the dry yeast with a little bit of the lukewarm water and let it rest for 10 minutes. 

2. Sift the flour into a bowl, add the yeast mixture, the rest of the lukewarm water, the olive oil and a little bit of salt. 

3. Knead everything to a smooth dough and cover and let rise in a warm place for around 30 minutes. 

4. In the meantime, cut the bacon into fine strips. Peel the onion, cut in half and finely slice it. 

5. Whisk the sour and whipping cream with salt and pepper.  

6. Quarter the risen dough. It is best to roll out each piece of dough on a large piece of baking paper into a wafer-thin rectangular sheet. 

7. Spread 1/4 of the cream mixture on each and sprinkle with onions and strips of bacon. (of course, I have to make a few different variations based on what I have at home)

8. Bake the tarte flambee individually in a convection oven at 220 degrees for 10-15 minutes until golden brown. (I use 200 degree C for 15 minutes)

Sine I have a few bottles of self made funghi sott’olio and pomodori secchi sott’olio, I have made totally 4 different variations of flammekuechen this round. All of them have onions and bacons as base, but the other toppings are slightly different.

preserved mushroom in olive oil and broccoli 

sweet peppers and broccoli

sun-dried tomatoes and mushrooms preserved in olive oil,
sweet peppers and cheddar cheese

mushrooms preserved in olive oil, broccoli and greek cheese

Just like pizza, you can make any flavoured flammekuechen you like. I'm glad that I will have tons of experiments to try later.

Be creative, and have fun!

Pomodori Secchi Sott’olio (Sun-drier Tomatoes Preserved in Olive Oil)

I am obsessed with making my own fermented and preserved food recently. 

A few months back, I started to make my own Chinese style fermented vegetables. 

After I had some really good Melanzane All'olio from WTF Studio, I'm crazy with verdure sott olio ever since. I have made Melanzane All'olio, and a few batches of funghi sott’olio (because I want to try the texture of different types of mushrooms). 

Here's how I have my first trial of sun-dried tomatoes preserved in olive oil:

1. Clean the tomatoes (of course)

2. Cut them in half, and clear out the seeds.

3. Sprinkle salt on the tomatoes and dry them under hot sun. (well, we have plenty. haha)

For my case, I dried them over the period of 7 days as the last few days were a bit cloudy and rainy.

4. After the tomatoes are dried, cook them in a pot for 5 minutes (I use 1:4 ratio of vinegar and water)

5. After 5 minutes, take out the tomatoes and pat dry them. Leave them under the fan for about 2 hours to dry them again.

6. Put the dried tomatoes in a jar. Add sliced garlic, peppers and dried oregano in between layers.

7. Finally, pour in the extra virgin olive oil to cover the tomatoes.

Make sure the tomatoes are fully submerged in the olive oil

8. Close the lid properly and put it in refrigerator. Now let time do the magic. (Refrigerate at least 2 days to let flavours develop.) 

2 days after I bottled the sun-dried tomatoes, I used them for my flammekueche and I love this!