Flammkuchen mit Speck und Zwiebeln
A very thin, cracker-crisp flatbread spread with crème fraîche and topped with bacon and onion, baked fast and hot. Not a pizza, whatever it looks like.
- prep
- 20 min
- cook
- 10 min
- total
- 30 min
- serves
- 4
- level
- easy
Flammkuchen, literally "flame cake," comes from the border region between southwest Germany and Alsace, and it only looks like pizza from a distance. The dough has no yeast, the topping is crème fraîche instead of tomato, and it bakes blisteringly fast in a very hot oven.
Roll the dough thinner than feels comfortable. The whole appeal is a base so thin it crackles, and most home attempts end up a little too thick because that thinness feels wrong the first time you try it.
Part of our 20 best German recipes list.
method
Mix the flour, water, oil and salt into a smooth, firm dough, with no yeast involved. Knead briefly for 2 to 3 minutes, then rest, covered, for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven as high as it will go, ideally 250°C (480°F) or higher, with a pizza stone or an upturned baking sheet inside to heat up.
Divide the dough into 2 pieces and roll each out as thin as you possibly can, almost translucent, into a rough rectangle or oval.
Spread each base with a thin, even layer of crème fraîche, right to the edges, and season with a little nutmeg and black pepper.
Scatter the bacon and sliced onion evenly over the top.
Slide onto the hot stone or sheet and bake for 7 to 10 minutes, until the edges are deeply browned and blistered and the base is cracker-crisp.
Scatter with chives if using, and cut into pieces to serve immediately.
chef's tips
- The dough has no yeast, which is the single biggest thing that separates this from pizza, despite how similar it looks. It should be thin enough to see light through before it goes in the oven.
- Crème fraîche, not tomato sauce, is the base here. The tang and richness are part of what makes this its own dish rather than a German pizza.
- As hot an oven as you can get is genuinely important. Traditional Flammkuchen bakes in a wood-fired oven for just a couple of minutes; a very hot home oven and a preheated stone gets you reasonably close.
- Roll it thinner than feels right the first time. Most home cooks leave it too thick, which gives you something closer to a soft flatbread than the crisp, blistered original.