When we have a few hours to wait for the dough to rise, and especially when we've found sour cream or mozzarella at one of the stores, the BF and I treat ourselves to thin crusts and hot veggies.
Flammkuchen is a specialty of BF's region of Germany, right on the border with Elsass (that's Alsace, more commonly, in French!) It's made on a thin crust, spread with creme fraiche and topped with onions, bacon and nutmeg. When we find turkey bacon in the stores it's a treat for me; otherwise we make do with a veggie version and may add some other toppings to compensate. We did mushrooms this weekend and it was lovely.
Legend has it that these crispy wonders were tossed into the oven before the baker got going to check the oven temperature. If the oven was too cold they wouldn't bake quickly enough. If the oven was too hot, the thin crusts would catch fire; hence the name, which basically translates to fire-cake! They're quick to bake, and you can add anything you want to the top of them. Savory or sweet, they go down a treat. And all you need are a few ingredients.
Make sure the oven's hot before you pop them in! This is the one time I care that the oven's fully preheated because the crust needs to crisp up immediately. Sometimes (don't tell) I don't preheat the oven - is that 50-minute bread really going to care if it took 4 extra minutes to warm up to full blast?
Flammkuchen/Pizzateig (that's dough)
makes four servings, rolled thin
500g flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp yeast (or however much your yeast's instructions say for 500g of flour)
250ml/1 cup milk, at room temperature - too cold and the yeast won't wake up; too warm and you'll kill them.
1 egg
2-3 tbsp olive oil
Mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly. Stir in the wet ingredients one by one. Mix it around with your hands to get it all thoroughly blended.
Leave it in a bowl with lots of room to rise. Cover with a dishtowel and leave it somewhere warm (on a radiator, in a barely-going oven... in West Africa the balcony works perfectly!) for a minimum of 2-3 hours. Can be left overnight if you've got the time.
Flammkuchen Toppings
These measurements are for 1 pan, but rough estimates.
The Traditional:
2/3 cup creme fraiche (if you don't have creme fraiche, mix 1 part cream to 2 parts sour cream)
1/2 onion, diced
1/4 cup speck or lardons (diced turkey bacon for me, please!)
Ground nutmeg - fresh is best. Use a heavy hand here; it tastes lovely.
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 200C/390F.
Divide the dough into quarters. Dust your rolling surface with flour and roll each portion thin-thin, a quarter of an inch or so. When you're getting close, place the pan you intend to use over the rolled dough to check if size and shape are right.
Butter the pan. Place the dough inside, stretching to fit as necessary. Spread with a thin layer of creme fraiche and top with onions, bacon, nutmeg, salt and pepper. Bake for 10 minutes or so, until the toppings are sizzling and the crust is turning golden-brown.
*The instructions I have say 20 minutes, but that can't be right; we put #2 in as soon as #1 is done, and #2's always done right as we're polishing off the last slice of #1. And let's just say, we are not slow eaters.
You'll also know it's done when your kitchen fills with the tantalizing scent of baked crust and onions.
Try any of these variations:
Sliced brown mushrooms
Baby spinach
Garlic
Piri-piri or other chilis
Other meats, such as (beef) salami or (turkey) ham
Muenster cheese
For dessert:
Spread with creme fraiche; bake with sliced apples and cinnamon; drizzle with Calvados or rum. Set the booze aflame (safely!) as it reaches the table.
Spread with creme fraiche; bake with dark berries. Top with honey? Maybe some Pastis?
Spread with lemon juice; top with sugar.
Spread & bake with Nutella; top with strawberries.
Pizza? Do you really need a recipe?
Start with the same teig; add fresh or dried herbs that you have available. Let's say one tablespoon for the entire batch, or a tsp for each quarter - and yes, I know that doesn't add up!
Roll it the same way. Spread with passata (sieved tomatoes; we find it in bottles here all the time). Top with whatever your heart desires, salt and pepper, and super thin slices of fresh mozzarella.
There are two schools on how to do the mozzarella: shredded and spread(ed) or sliced and placed. BF's convinced me to go the sliced way. If you totally cover your pizza in grated fresh mozzarella, and I mean the good stuff, I'd be worried about a tastebud overload. When sliced, the slices spread a bit when they melt, and with fresh, succulent mozzarella every new bite is a revelation and every cheeseless bite is full of delicious anticipation. The flavors are balanced.
Plus, those fresh balls are fiendish to grate and spread evenly. This way, distribution is intentional and artistic. Done.
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