Flammkuchen Recipe - Alsatian Tarte Flambée Pizza [+Video] | Masala Herb (2024)

Flammkuchen or Tarte Flambée is a delicious flat pizza-like dish, topped with fresh cream, bacon, and onions.

📕 What is Flammkuchen aka Tarte Flambée?

Flammkuchen is a Pizza-like dish with cream bacon and onions as the main original topping ingredients.

Flammkuchen is also known as Tarte Flambée/Flammekuechen and is primarily an Alsatian French pizza dish.

The region of Alsace is touching the GermanRheinland and Baden Würtemberg regions to the east and the Swiss Basel Aargau and Bernese Oberland regions to the South.

Therefore Flammkuchen is a traditional French, German and Swiss dish.

If you ever travel to these regions, you will see that the Flammekuechen can be commonly found in restaurant menus in the French, German and Swiss Corner of Europe.

🌍 Historical facts about Alsace and the Flammkuchen dish

These regions have been thought over a lot in the history of Europe.

Alsace, for example, was switching between French and German rule (or the previous kingdoms back then) countless times.

My great-grandfather, for example, was born in a German-ruled Alsace (way before WW2).

The Alsace region counts as one of the richest regions in France with itswine culture and a booming tourism industry today.

Therefore you can understand easily why this region was so sought after between the two countries and how the Flammkuchen can be called a traditional French, German and Swiss dish.

Originallythe tarteflambée was a home meal, baked in a bread oven in the village in North Alsace.

When the bread oven was started, the heat would be too high for the regular bread.

At that point, the Flammkuchen would be quickly baked in high heat for a few minutes only.

The name Flammkuchen comes from the words Flamme (flame) and Kuchen (cake).

The French word Tarte Flambée reflects the same meaning.

A Flammkuchen was square and would be eaten rolled up with the finger.

Years ago in a restaurant in Mulhouse(South Alsace), I was eating my Flammekuechen with a fork and knife when the lady of the house came over and explained that it was eaten by hand.

Yet, this is something I will leave up to you.

💡 Topping ideas

While the Alsatian Tarte Flambée with bacon and onions is known to be the authentic Flammkuchen, it is of course not a rarity to see other versions emerging in Alsace itself and the neighboring German and Swiss regions.

In Basel Switzerland, I came across Flammkuchen with sausages and GruyereCheese.

Besides the original bacon (French Lardon) and onion Tarte Flambée, I enjoyed the Sausage version a lot with a glass of cold beer.

Traditional variations:

• Strassbourg Tarte Flambée - With Sauerkraut & sliced Strassbourg sausage topped (another favorite of mine)
• Salmon Tarte Flambée
• Variation with Leek and Onions
• Variation with Cheese only such as Emmenthal, Münster, and Gruyere
• Sweet Flammkuchen with apple, pears, and eventually Calvados
• Würtemberg version topped with potato mash and onions
• Forestière Tarte Flambée with Mushrooms

The way you top your Flammkuchen is up to you. I tend to enjoy a topping which is rather light but with small pieces of meat added. You can get super creative with your Tart Flambée topping!

Progressive topping ideas:

• Ruccola and Gorgonzola Cheese
• Dates and Fetta Cheese
• Pear, Gorgonzola, and Chanterelle Mushrooms
• Zucchini and Pumpkin Seeds
• Apple, Goat Cheese and Walnuts
• Mushroom, Potato slices and Vegan Cream to make a Vegan Flammkuchen
• Hokkaido Pumpkin and Pumpkin
• Chocolate Banana for a sweet dessert Flammkuchen
• Strawberry and Vanilla Ice cream Flammkuchen

🔪 How to make Flammkuchen?

The Flammkuchen is a simple dough that resembles a Tortilla/Chapati/Roti dough.

It's made of flour, salt, oil, and water.

Eventually, some people like to use pizza dough because they can buy a roll and don't need to make a dough from scratch that way.

While this is always an option, I suggest you try to make your own plain flammkuchen dough.

A Flammekuchen with pizza dough is just not the same, it tastes yeasty, which is not right.

You can also use this no yeast pizza dough to make Flammkuchen!

Use a kitchen machine if you want to simplify the dough making for you.

That way it's as if you bought a ready-made dough.

Once you have prepared the dough, you can move on to roll it out and the topping and bake it.

That's it!

🥣 How to serve it?

You can serve your Flammkuchen with a simple green salad topped with vinaigrette.

I like my salad mixed with common green and red salad lettuce and Romain lettuce or Ice Berg salad.

You can also enjoy a plain clear soup as a starter before serving up the Flammkuchen.

I love a slice of my tarte flambée with a glass of white wine such as a Pinot Blanc or a Riesling in a Riedel wine glass.

The Alsace region is known for its white wine but also for the beer they prepare, so you can also serve your flammkuchen with a Wheat beer.

💭 FAQs

More Recipes from my ancestors in North France:

• Quiche Lorraine - The traditional Quiche with lard from the region of Lorraine. Lorraine is the neighboring region to Alsace, this is my other great-grandfather's birthplace.
• Tarte a l'onion - Onion Tart from Picardie. My mum's region, north to Paris.
• French Apple Cake with Calvados - This apple cake comes from the Normandie, my grandmother's birth region.

Dear Reader, Which topping are you planning to try first for your Flammkuchen?

📖 Recipe