Buckwheat Tarte Flambée x2
Tarte flambée originally comes from Alsace and Baden in South Germany. I've been familiar with this deliciously crispy, thin flatbread for a while, but didn't know where the name came from. So I looked into it and discovered that in the olden days, bakers used to bake tarte flambée ahead of their bread in order to utilise the initial intense heat of their wood-fired ovens. This enabled them to estimate the oven's temperature at any given time.
The normal baking time of tarte flambée was 12 to 15 minutes. If the tarte turned dark and crispy too fast, the baker had to wait before putting in the bread. If the tarte took longer than 15 minutes to bake, the temperature in the oven wasn't high enough. So the name tarte flambée, meaning "pie baked in the flames", comes from those tartes that were baked before the flames had been fully extinguished.
Traditionally, the thin pie crust is topped with raw onion, bacon and a sour cream sauce, seasoned with salt and pepper. In the meantime, several variations on the classic original recipe have popped up, from vegetarian alternatives to bacon-topped pies. For MAXIMA magazine, I've prepared two tartes flambées made from buckwheat and topped one with gorgonzola and pear and the other one with prosciutto.
Disclaimer: The recipes and pictures in this post were created specifically for the MAXIMA Gourmet Extra March 2016 issue. Image & Recipe: Eva Fischer
Buckwheat Tarte Flambée x2
2 tarte flambee
Ingredients:
Ingredients (enough for 4 people):
- 150g buckwheat flour
- 100g gluten-free flour (by Mantler, for example)
- 15g fresh yeast
- 125ml buttermilk
- 20g melted butter
- 1 pinch of sugar
- 1 pinch of salt
For the Gorgonzola and Pear Topping:
- 125g sour cream
- 60g crème fraîche
- ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
- 2 pears
- 50g gorgonzola
- ¼ bunch fresh oregano
For the Prosciutto Topping:
- 125g sour cream
- 60g crème fraîche
- ½ lemon
- salt and pepper
- 1 bunch spring onions
- ¼ bunch fresh oregano
- 200g prosciutto
Preparation:
- Stir the yeast into the lukewarm milk and add to the flour, then mix in the butter, sugar and salt. Knead vigorously until you have a springy dough. Let the dough sit in a warm place for around 45 minutes (note: it won't rise as much as regular yeast dough).
- While the dough is resting, prepare the topping for both tartes. Mix the sour cream, crème fraîche, 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice as well as salt and pepper. Cut the dough into 2 pieces and roll them out until you have a thin rectangle. Top one with chopped spring onions and the other one with finely sliced pear, gorgonzola and oregano. Season with pepper and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 250°C.
- Remove from the oven, top the spring onion tarte with prosciutto and serve both pies.
