Flammkuchen

Flammkuchen or Tarte Flambée is a dish I fell in love with while travelling this past summer. It is something like pizza, but don't call it pizza, because it is so much better. It is a bread dough rolled really thinly and baked to be really crisp. Regular pizza dough recipes rolled extra thinly may be used, but this easy recipe does not even contain any yeast or leavening agent. Restaurants serving flammkuchen usually have special boards and cutting implements to bake and serve them, but a really hot oven will do the trick at home. The crust must be thinner than a cracker, and crispier to. Mine turned out a tad too thick because I made too much dough and didn't have the baking sheet, oven space, or fridge room to bake a separate batch. 

Flammkuchen
3 cups flour (all-purpose, or half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup oil
1 cup water

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Stir in the oil and water. Knead if needed, just until dough forms a smooth ball. Set aside to rest.
Roll dough as thin as possible, almost paper thin. Flammkuchen does not have an outside crust like pizza, but mine has a bit of one to keep the toppings on and use the extra dough.
At this point the dough can be placed aside to rest again, or topped and baked, or topped and refrigerated until baking time.
Preheat oven to the highest temperature possible. Heat a baking sheet or wooden board in the oven to heat.
Place crust on the prepared tray and bake for 10-20 minutes until crisp and golden.

Toppings: traditional flammkuchen toppings are crème fraiche, onions, and ham, but there are a variety of different flavors just like pizzas, Mediterranean, artisan, Mexican, etc.
I topped mine with a homemade tahini-Greek yogurt and spice mixture to imitate crème fresh, caramelized onions and mushrooms, and parsley. 

To read more about flammkuchen, look here: {Flammkuchen}.