‘The perfect winter snack’: how to make flammekueche

There are times in the year that call for snacks. Rather than embracing the various diets and other forms of self-flagellation that sweep over us at the start of the year, we need every joy we can get during endless January, with its dark, short days and cold nights. Right now, we are in such territory. Open those posh crisps, order the triple-cooked chips, invite joy in.

I have strong ideas about the platonic snack for winter: something hot, ideally, to accompany a glass of something cold as you while away the dark evenings. The ideal contrast between crisp and yielding, sweet and salty – something that can be picked up one-handed and is substantial enough to satisfy, but still leave you wanting more. Flamme-kueche fits the bill pretty well.

Flammekueche is a speciality of the Alsace region: a rectangle of dough, topped with onions, bacon and crème fraîche. Outside of the main regions, it is often known as tarte flambée – which is slightly misleading, as it is neither flambéed (set alight with alcohol) nor really a tarte. It’s more of a pizza, if we’re being honest, although I wouldn’t let either the Alsacians or the Italians hear you say that. Supposedly a flammekueche would be used to test the heat of the farmers’ wood-fired ovens, as it would cook very quickly when these were hot enough.

There are a couple of variations among flammekueche aficionados: it can be made with a leavened or unleavened base; thin and crisp, or thicker and breadier. Michel Roux makes his with puff pastry, but I agree with Felicity Cloake who thinks that this turns the flammekueche into ‘just another tart’, which it definitely is not. I’d rather have a flammekueche than not, so in a pinch, shop-bought puff will do the job, but I’d urge you to give making the dough a try.