Flammkuchen--Tarte Flambée--Flame Cake from Essen & Trinken Magazine

I've gotten into using this dough because it is just so incredible! The first time I made, we were in absolute ecstasies! The second time was a big disappointment. So... a word of warning--follow the directions exactly. You'll think the dough is too dry, but just keep working it. Do NOT add part of the flour and then add more till it seems like a normal dough.This crust is delectably thin--almost like a cracker. I also prefer this combination of faux-schmand and crème fraîche with cumin and salt and pepper mixed in, but I don't bother with red onions.

From the magazine Essen & Trinken (Eating and Drinking)

Serves 4

Dough 15 g fresh yeast (2 tsp active dry) 50 ml lukewarm water 375 g flour 150 ml buttermilk 1 ½ tsp salt 4 T olive oil	Topping 70 g red onion 70 g onion 120 g bacon, sliced in 3-5 mm “sticks” 150 g crème fraîche (cream, slightly warmed, mixed with a bit of buttermilk and left on the counter, loosely covered, till thickened) 200 g schmand (2 parts cottage cheese to 1 part cream cheese in food processor) Salt, pepper 1/2 tsp ground cumin
Time: 55 minutes topping prep, 25 minutes baking, and 2 hours rising	Nutrition: per portion 760 cal 18 g protein 43 g fat

Preparation:

1. If using fresh yeast, break it up before adding it to 50 ml lukewarm water. Put the flour in a bowl and make an indentation in the middle. When the yeast mixture has bubbled up, put it in the indentation in the flour and pull a bit of the flour from the edge over on top of it. Add the buttermilk, 1 1⁄2 tsp salt and the olive oil and mix and then knead on the work surface till the dough is smooth and of the correct consistency. Form dough to a ball. Put it in a bowl and let rise, covered with a damp cloth, in a warm place for 2 hours.

2. Put the oven rack in the lowest position and preheat the oven with the cookie sheet to 250C (500F).

3. Prepare 4 pieces of parchment paper and 1 piece of plastic wrap in the same size as the baking sheet (ca. 40 x 30 cm). Knead the risen dough and form it into a roll. Cut it into 4 equal portions. (Cover the portions which are not being rolled out so they don’t dry out.) Lay one portion of dough on one piece of parchment paper and roll out to ca. 2 mm thick. You may put the parchment paper on something to keep it from sliding away or hold onto one edge with your abdomen against the work surface or have someone hold it out for you, as it will want to slide away or roll up. (It’s a frustrating process but well worth the effort!) You may want to work each portion of dough, coming back to them for another round of rolling. Resting will help the gluten to relax and make the rolling easier. Keep them covered with the plastic wrap at all times when not being worked so that they don’t dry out. Don’t worry about the shape of your dough!

4. While the dough is resting, cut up the onions into very thin rings (or grate it). Cut the bacon into very thin strips. (I recommend frying the bacon till it is halfway done.) Mix the crème fraîche with the Schmand, some salt, pepper and cumin.

5. Spread ¼ of the crème fraîche mixture on each portion of dough (prepare one, put it in the oven, prepare the next, and so on), leaving about 1 cm around the edge free, and then sprinkle with ¼ of the onion and bacon. Put the dough on the parchment paper in the oven onto the hot cookie sheet and bake 7-8 minutes.