Tarte flambee: Cheese, onion and bacon flatbread

TIME:

2 hours +

MAKES:

3 medium-sized tarts, enough for 6 people

The classic topping for this comforting Alsace speciality is a mixture of fresh soft cheese and sour cream mixed with finely sliced onions, topped with bacon lardons. Replace the bacon with fried mushrooms and garlic to make it meat-free. If you want to add cheese, try something like Swiss emmenthal and chunks of stinky munster.

Ingredients

½ batch focaccia dough, ready after 2 hours of rising (recipe here)

250g smooth ricotta

150g creme fraiche

½ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp fine salt

1 tsp ground black pepper

2 medium white onions, peeled and thinly sliced

250g smoked bacon slivers or lardons

Method

1. Divide the dough into three 140-gram balls and leave them covered on a tray for an hour so they rise and stretch easily. Meanwhile beat the ricotta, creme fraiche, nutmeg, salt and pepper until smooth. Stir in the onions and leave for 30 minutes so they soften.

2. Heat the oven to 260C (240C fan-forced), ideally with a pizza stone on a middle rack. Tear a couple of sheets of non-stick baking paper the size of the stone and have them ready with a pizza shovel. If you don't have a pizza stone you can use baking trays though the tart base won't be as crisp.

3. Oil the outside of a dough ball and centre it on one sheet of paper, then cover it with the other sheet. Carefully roll it into an ultra-thin disc then peel off the top sheet. Spread a third of the ricotta and onion mixture on, right to the edges, sprinkle with bacon (or mushrooms) and bake on the paper either on the stone or a tray for about 10-15 minutes until crisp and sizzling. Repeat with the remaining dough and serve.

Tip: The only tricky part about making this is getting the dough paper-thin and onto the baking stone or tray. At home my trick is to roll it between two sheets of non-stick baking paper, with oil instead of flour between the dough and paper, so the dough stretches outwards with rolling.

Source: goodfood