Flammkuchen-Style Pizza

Germany's answer to pizza - Flammkuchen is a thin, crisp base topped with creme fraiche instead of tomato sauce, scattered with thinly sliced onion and smoky pancetta. It is one of those dishes that proves less is more. Three toppings, no tomato, no mozzarella - just clean, simple flavours on a properly charred base.

Your wood-fired oven produces an authentic result that is hard to achieve any other way. The extreme heat crisps the base in seconds while the creme fraiche stays creamy and the pancetta renders into salty, smoky shards.

Ingredients

• 1 pizza dough ball
• 100g creme fraiche (or sour cream)
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 150g pancetta, cut into small pieces
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Method

1. Fire your pizza oven to 400 to 450 degrees.
2. Stretch the dough as thin as you can manage - Flammkuchen should be thinner than a standard pizza. Aim for about 12 inches.
3. Spread the creme fraiche evenly across the base - this replaces both the tomato sauce and the cheese.
4. Scatter the pancetta pieces and thinly sliced onion over the surface.
5. Season with salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.
6. Slide into the oven and bake for 60 to 90 seconds, turning frequently. The base should be very crisp and the pancetta beginning to render.
7. Serve immediately, cut into strips rather than slices for the authentic Alsatian experience.