Flammekueche — Alsace's paper-thin cream, onion, and lardon flatbread

Dough spec

Flour

All-purpose flour

Hydration

50%

Salt

1.8%

Oil

3%

Scale this guide

Use the dough calculator with this hydration/salt/oil and a 180g portion weight for any number of flatbreads. Open the full dough calculator for more control, or the fermentation schedule builder to work backwards from a target bake time using this guide’s same day direct approach.

Related techniques

Steps

1. MixHand or machine mix flour, water, salt, and oil to a firm, low-hydration dough, closer to a pastry or cracker dough than any leavened pizza dough.
2. Divide and ballDivide into roughly 180g portions and rest, covered, for 20-30 minutes to relax the gluten before rolling — this style is not fermentation-driven the way most pizza doughs are.
3. ShapeRoll each portion paper-thin with a rolling pin into a long rectangle or oval — thinner than even St Louis's cracker-thin round, with no raised rim at all.
4. TopSpread thinly with crème fraîche or fromage blanc rather than tomato sauce, all the way to the edges.
5. TopScatter thinly sliced onions and lardons (bacon) over the cream base — no cheese is used at all.
6. BakeBake as hot as the oven allows (ideally 280-320C) with a preheated stone or steel, for 4-7 minutes — the shortest oven bake of any guide on this site outside Neapolitan's.
7. ServeCut into strips and serve immediately, traditionally as a shared starter rather than a main course.

Bake notes

Rolling the dough too thick is the most common way to lose this style's identity — it should read as a thin, crisp, cracker-like sheet, not a soft, bread-like base.