Classic Tarte Flambée (Alsatian Pizza With Fresh Cheese, Onions, and Bacon)
- Yield:Makes 4 (10- by 5-inch) flatbreads
- Active time:30 minutes
- Total time:1 hour 30 minutes
This recipe appears in:
The Art of Tarte Flambée: Alsatian Pizza With Fromage Blanc, Bacon, and OnionsAn Alsatian classic. [Photographs: Daniel Gritzer]
It looks like a pizza, it cooks like a pizza, but don't make the mistake of actually thinking it's a pizza. Tarte flambée, the Alsatian flatbread topped with fromage blanc (a fresh, tart, spreadable cheese), thinly sliced raw onions and bacon, is as Franco-Germanic in flavor as can be. This method delivers a classic tart, made on pizza dough rolled very thinly and cooked on a blazing hot Baking Steel or pizza stone right under the broiler.
Note: If you can't find fromage blanc, a tangy fresh cheese, you can substitute the fromage blanc- and crème fraîche-mixture below with either 1 1/2 cups quark, or 3/4 cup buttermilk blended with 3/4 cup cream cheese.
Ingredients
- 1 cup fromage blanc (see note above)
- 1/2 cup crème fraîche (see note above)
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Pinch freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 recipe Basic New York Pizza Dough or 2 pounds store-bought pizza dough, divided into 4 even portions, proofed, and ready to stretch and top
- Flour, for dusting
- 1 medium white or yellow onion, very thinly sliced
- 1/4 pound sliced bacon, cut crosswise into thin strips
Directions
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1.
Set Baking Steel on oven rack 6 to 8 inches from broiler and preheat oven to 550°F (or highest possible setting) for 1 hour.
-
2.
Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk fromage blanc with crème fraîche until thoroughly incorporated. Season with salt and pepper, Whisk in nutmeg.
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3.
Working with 1 piece at a time, set dough on a lightly floured work surface. Using your hands and/or a rolling pin, work dough to a thin, roughly 10- by 5- inch oval. Transfer dough to a pizza peel.
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4.
Switch broiler on to high. Spread one quarter of fromage blanc mixture over dough leaving a 1 centimeter border around the edge. Scatter a small handful of onion all over, followed by a small handful of bacon. Slide pizza onto baking stone and bake until toppings are browned spots and crust is golden brown and puffed, 3 to 5 minutes. Serve immediately, and repeat with remaining dough and toppings.