FLAMMKUCHEN ~ I’m Flamin’ Kuchen!

Check out the crust!

Well, this was a revelation: I had seen a recipe for this in a Thermomix publication, (which I still cannot find!) but never tried it. Then of course with my recent travels to the beautiful part of Europe from which the Flammkuchen originates, how could I not try it? I LOVED it…love pizza anyhoo, and whilst not strictly pizza, they certainly attended the same culinary school and it was so tasty and soooo easy! Sometimes called Tart Flambée, it is not flambéed as such, but literally translated, means cooked in flames….no flames in my oven, but if you have a woodfired oven, please do it. It will be amazing!

I have also recently discovered the finer differences between dried yeast and its much superior counterpart, fresh yeast! Please seek out fresh yeast and give it a try at least. The beauty of using fresh yeast with a Thermo mixer is that you can warm it up to get it bubbling and all happy! In Australia fresh yeast is available at good European delicatessens (and possibly some bad ones!) but more easily found at a good health food shop.

This is my take on Flammkuchen; hopefully the traditionalists out there will not be offended.

Base;

NEED:

300g  water

1 tsp sugar

30g fresh yeast

20g EVOO

500g bakers flour

Good pinch Murray River pink salt

DO:

Place water, sugar, yeast and EVOO into Thermo bowl and blend 6 sec/speed 6. Warm 2 min/37ºC/speed 2.

Add flour and salt and knead 3 min/Interval.

Turn out onto floured bread mat and punch into a tight ball, wrap and allow to prove for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200ºC plus on a bread baking setting. (As hot as you can go; in Kleenmaid ovens, around the 220ºC mark) If you have a pizza stone, also heat at this point, on the lowest shelf in the oven.

Topping;

NEED:

100g Emmenthal, cubed

200g crème fraîche

100g thick cream (I used double cream)

1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

Sea salt and fresh cracked pepper to taste

200g speck, roughly chopped

Red onion to taste, thinly sliced (approx 1 onion for 4 Flammkuchen)

Good handful Italian flat leaf parsley, chopped

DO:

Place Emmenthal into Thermo bowl and mill 8 sec/speed 8. Remove from bowl and set aside.

Place crème fraîche, cream and seasonings into Thermo bowl and mix 5 sec/speed 6.

Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll each out into large thin rounds, or whatever shape they end up, rustic is nice!

Spread each with the crème fraîche mix, top with speck, red onion and grated Emmenthal. Cook for approximately 10 minutes or until base is crispy and top is well cooked. Remove from oven and sprinkle immediately with the parsley. Serve.

Now my little attempt at greenery was more than a styling idea. I found in Germany and Switzerland, that a lot of what they eat in one meal is all white; white potato, with white cheese, or white pasta, or white asparagus, with white sauce, etc and the Flammkuchen looked a little, well, white! So parsley not only added colour, but some fresh flavour, and texture, as well as being chock full of Vitamins C and K, with a lot of iron thrown in for good measure! The Swiss often add beautiful salads to their meals, but they are served separately, so what you see on one plate is all nearly white! I am confident the Germans do the same salad thing, but I was not there long enough to notice…looks like I will have to go back, just to check my facts! Anyway, may I present; Flammkuchen…with a little Aussie tweak…