Flammekueche

Name: Flammekueche
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 55 min
Yield: 4
Ingredients: 150 g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting; ½ tsp fast action yeast; ¼ tsp caster sugar; ¼ tsp salt; 2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil, plus extra for frying if needed

Flammekueche – in French, tarte flambée – is essentially a bacon and onion flatbread. For an authentic result, skip steps 2 and 3 of Orlando Murrin's recipe and add onions and bacon raw (in which case, be sure to slice both super-fine, so they cook quickly).

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Serves4
CourseStarter
Prepare25 mins
Cook30 mins
Total time55 mins

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Ingredients

For the base

150g strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
½ tsp fast action yeast
¼ tsp caster sugar
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil, plus extra for frying if needed

For the topping

100g smoked bacon of your choice (I use streaky), cut into thin strips
1 medium or large onion, sliced as thinly as possible
125ml crème fraîche
¼ tsp nutmeg, for grating

Method

Measure 90ml lukewarm water. Put the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a food processor and mix, then gradually add most of the water and the oil. Add the remaining water as necessary to form a soft but not sticky dough. Remove the dough, knead briefly, cover with a large piece of baking parchment (which you will reuse in step 5), then set aside, or make ahead and chill for up to 24 hours.
Fry the bacon in a large frying pan, adding oil if necessary (streaky will need a drop, but bacon varies) for 3-4 minutes. When speckled brown, remove to a plate with a slotted spoon.
Add a little more oil to the pan if necessary and fry the onion and seasoning, covered, for about 7 minutes, until soft and juicy, then continue cooking for 7 minutes more, until brown at the edges.
Mix the crème fraîche, the finely grated nutmeg and plenty of seasoning. Preheat the oven to 230ºC, gas mark 8.
Put the dough on a large piece of floured baking parchment, sprinkle with flour, top with the reserved parchment and roll out as thinly as possible to a rectangle (with rounded edges) about 38x23cm. This requires patience, as the dough will want to spring back.
Spread the seasoned crème fraîche all over the base, allowing a 1cm border, then scatter over the onions and bacon. With the assistance of a baking sheet, slide the tart (still on its baking paper) directly onto the oven rack and bake for 9-12 minutes, rotating halfway, until the edges of the tart start to go brown (flambée) in places. Slice with a pizza cutter and serve.

Cook’s tip

This recipe can easily be doubled – allow extra time for frying the onions and baking. You can bake both tarts at once on separate racks, or one after the other. To save time, you can use Northern Dough Co Original Pizza Dough – one defrosted 220g ball is sufficient.