Make an impression with ‘flame cake’

FLAMMKUCHEN

INGREDIENTS: Flammkuchen dough recipe (makes 4) 500g white bread flour 7g salt 7g dried yeast 320g warm water A little olive oil

Flammkuchen sauce and toppings (for 4) 12 strips of bacon, cut into small squares or cubes 2 onions, finely sliced into rings 250g crème fraiche (or sour cream) 230g natural Greek yoghurt 1 tsp nutmeg

tsp salt Freshly ground black pepper Fresh thyme (optional)

METHOD: Combine all dough ingredients in a large bowl to form a rough dough. Knead for 10 minutes until it is smooth, elastic, stretchy and velvety. Place the dough back in your bowl and cover with a lid. Leave to rest for 2-4 hours at room temperature (or overnight in the fridge). Preheat the oven and a baking tray to 250ºC (the highest temperature possible) 30 minutes before the bake. If you have a pizza stone, preheat the oven and the pizza stone 1 hour before. Divide the dough into 4 parts (8 parts for smaller sized Flammkuchen). I use a dough scraper to do this. Shape each part into a ball and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Combine the crème fraiche and yoghurt in a small bowl, add the nutmeg, salt and pepper and mix well. Roll out the dough pieces (2-3 mm) and transfer to baking sheets. Leave to rest for 15 minutes. Fry the bacon strips briefly until almost cooked; don’t let them get crispy. Fry the onion rings in the same pan until slightly browned. If you are making all 4 Flammkuchen but baking only one at a time, don’t add the topping to all of them at once. One by one works better as the topping doesn’t melt into the dough that way. Evenly and generously spread the cream mixture on to the dough (you want a really thick coating in order for the finished product not to be too dry), leave a small border around the edge (this will turn golden brown and crispy). Scatter the onion rings and bacon on top and sprinkle with thyme. Bake for about 12 minutes or until the edges are nicely browned and the bottom is crisp. Serve immediately.