Flammkuchen

Flammkuchen is a wafer-thin tart of bread dough spread with crème fraîche and topped with onions and bacon. It comes from Alsace and Baden, either side of the French–German border, where it is also called tarte flambée. The name recalls how it was made: farmers slid one into the wood-fired oven to test the heat before baking the week's bread.

What it actually is

A simple bread dough — flour, water, salt, a little oil — is rolled out very thin, almost translucent. It is spread with crème fraîche (or fromage blanc), then scattered with thinly sliced onions and strips of bacon (Speck), often with a grating of nutmeg or a turn of pepper.

It bakes for only a few minutes in a very hot oven. The base stays crisp and thin rather than rising, and the edges blister and char in patches.

How it's served

• Whole on a wooden board, cut into squares and shared at the table.
• Eaten with the hands — it is a sociable dish, not a plated one.
• Ordered in rounds, savoury first and a sweet one last.

Common variants: gratinée with cheese, forestière with mushrooms, a vegetarian version without bacon, and a sweet version with apple and cinnamon.

Writing it on a menu

• List each variant by its toppings — guests order by what's on it, not by the name.
• Say whether it is sold whole or by the piece, and roughly how many it feeds.
• Flag the vegetarian version clearly; the classic contains pork.