German Onion Tart – Onion Cake Zwiebelkuchen

Posted on September 21, 2023 by admin

The German Onion Tart or “Zwiebelkuchen” is a popular dish of the South. This local specialty is often served with “first wine” in October. This wine is called “Süsser” or “Suser” , or in the Rhineland it’s “Federweisser”. In the region around Freiburg in the Black Forest (Kaiserstuhl) you can enjoy a piece of German onion tart with a glass of wine in the so called “Besenwirtschaft”. These inns are just open during the fall season and you get the first wine and other local specialities.
These small country inns are mostly producing their own wine, and they are allowed to serve the wine together with some little appetizers such as the German onion tart.
Just across the border, in the region Alsace (France), they make a similar cake which is called “Flammkuchen” or “Speckkuchen”. The French version consists of a thinner crust, and it is topped also with smoked bacon and heavy cream. Happy Baking!

CLICK here to go to the recipe for “Flammkuchen
“

Ingredients German Onion Tart

Yeast Dough (Hefeteig)
250 g flour
20 g yeast (fresh as a cube or dry yeast of half a package)
1 dash sugar
1/8 l milk
1 egg
50 g soft butter
1 dash salt

Oktoberfest Box available SEPT 5- OCT 30

Topping
1 kg onions
5 tbsp sunflower or canola oil (neutral taste oil)
50 g smoked bacon (German Speck)
200 g sour cream
caraway seeds to taste
sweet paprika powder and fresh ground pepper to taste

Baking Instructions German Onion Tart

1. To make the dough sieve the flour into a bowl and in the middle create a cavity in which you place the
yeast. Sprinkle the sugar over the yeast, warm the milk, pour it over the yeast, then stir it to a dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth, let it sit at a warm place for 30 minutes.

2. Then add the egg, the butter and some salt, and knead until you get a smooth dough. Form a ball and let it sit covered for another 30 minutes.

3. Meanwhile peel onions and cut them in very thin slices.

4. In a skillet heat the oil and fry the onion rings in low heat until transparent. Cut bacon in small cubes and add it to the onions, fry it for another 2 minutes.

5. Mix the onion-bacon mix with the sour cream, spice it with caraway seeds, paprika and pepper.

6. Sprinkle some flour on a wooden surface (baking board), roll the dough to the size of the baking tray. Place it on the greased tray or layered with parchment paper, press is lightly, with a fork stab is several times. Let rise for another 30 minutes.

7. Spread the onion mixture evenly over the dough and bake it in the pre-heated oven for 45 minutes on 200 degrees C or 425 F.

Enjoy a piece with a glass of chilled white wine or preferably new wine (Suser, Federweisser)

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Category: Local German Food, Local German Specialties, Onion Tart Zwiebelkuchen, Party Food, Zwiebelkuchen Onion Tart Tags: german, local specialty, onion recipe, onion tart, zwiebelkuchen

One Comment on “German Onion Tart – Onion Cake Zwiebelkuchen”

Tony
September 4, 2015, 12:08 am

As the word says: FLAMM (Flame) and Kuchen (Cake) suggests, this is not an FRENCH speciality! The elsace is an german-speaking, been part of the german Empire, then back to France, etc., so are multi-cultural, “ALL COMBINE: THEY ARE ALEMANS (Name for Germany in many countries in local loguage then Alemania…etc., The Aleman culture and tungue, süpreads The South of Germany bordering the Switzerland, includes the german speaking part of Switzerland, and the the Elsace and the Lorraine area. Flammkuchen is a speciality in all these 3 countries as a geeneral Aleman Culture. 🙂