Flammkeuche

Every time we go to Crust here in Chicago we have to get the Flammekeuche pizza. It is a delicious combination of caramelized onions, bacon, and either creme fraiche or quark. After Sarah figured out how easy pizza crust was to make - we KNEW we had to try our hand at Flammekeuche. Who doesn't like bacon? We were going to see Dean and Britta at the MCA and invited some friends over to join us for homemade pizza. The pizza turned out great and it was so easy. Sarah was adamant about getting the creme fraiche - so we biked all the way to Whole Foods in the rain to get it. I am glad she was being stubborn about it, because the pizza was darn tasty! On with the recipe.

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tablespoon olive oil

Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Then add the water and olive oil. Now you want to try and mix this up into a ball. Then knead it on a floured surface for a few minutes and keep working it into a ball. If you get frustrated, just put it down and let it rest for a couple of minutes.

Pour a little olive oil into the bowl you were using. Then roll the ball of dough around to get a nice coating of olive oil all over.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 1-2 hours. I only did 1 hour, my dough didn't rise a ton, that is why I was worried, but it turned out just fine. Don't stress if it doesn't get huge.

Open it up after the hour and roll it around a little to get some air out and then reshape into a ball. Place it back in the bowl for another 20 minutes.

Now you can roll out the crust. Sarah used a wine bottle this time instead of the coffee tin. She didn't think it worked as well. I thought it turned out O.K. After rolling out the crust, add a very thin layer of olive oil to the top and lightly sprinkle with parmesan.

Toppings:

2-3 pieces thick cut bacon (we used apple wood smoked)
1 medium sized onion chopped or sliced
1 tub creme fraiche (you won't use it all)

Preheat the oven to 550 degrees.

Cook the bacon in a frying pan over medium heat until it is slightly crisp and then remove from the frying pan while leaving the bacon grease in the pan. Add the chopped onion to the pan and cook until soft. You can add the cooked onion to the crust at this time. Cut the bacon into bite-size pieces and add to the crust.


Now you can spoon the creme fraiche over the bacon and onions. Place the pizza into the oven and cook for about 10 minutes. No leftovers.