Flammkuchen

One of my favorite places in Europe is the area of France named Alsace Lorraine.  It sits right on the German border, and this darling section of Europe has changed leadership from French to German to French more times than should be allowed.  However, during this exchange, recipes also exchanged hands and Flammkuchen is one of those that survived to treat both the French and German citizens alike.  Being of German descent, I will admit that I feel this has more German than French exuding through the flavors.  I mean, bacon and onions.....doesn't that just scream German?

The above photo is just before entering the oven.  Even in this stage, I find it irresitible. 

It could be called a German pizza, and that makes me happy.  We were served this in a bed and breakfast we stayed at last year in Alsace. 

I baked bread a couple of days ago and saved half the dough in the refrigerator to make the crust for this kuchen.  It worked out perfectly.  Very crispy and crackly at the edges.  The smell...well, you can only imagine.

And, once again, a very favorite wine.  We served this last month with scallops and it was very fitting to go with the onions and bacon and crème frâiche.  It is a Spanish wine, chenin blanc-like, 2009.

My recipe comes from a combination of resources.  A blogger friend sent me to a German site and once again, Ann from Thibeault's Table  blogged about it also.  Here is my version which I like a lot.  I have tried recipes that actually add sugar and it turned me off.  Personally, I do not like to add sugar to any savory foods, even salad dressings.  It is just a taste "thing" with me.  After all these years, I am pretty persnickety about flavors.

Flammkuchen

Any bread dough that works to make a pizza-like crust, crispy and thin

For the toppings:

1 cup crème frâiche
1 onion sliced thinly
1 Tbsp. butter
1/4 pound bacon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 clove garlic

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Roll dough very thinly and place on baking sheet, pizza pan or stone.
Thinly slice onions and sauté in butter until clear...not caramelized.
Cook bacon until crisp.  Finely chop garlic and add with the salt and pepper to the cream.

Spread the crème frâiche over the rolled out dough and top with the bacon and onions. 

Bake for around 10-15 minutes, or until the dough has begun to create bubbles and you see nice browning.