Onion Cake (German Allgau Zwiebelkuchen)

The region Allgäu of the South is a popular vacation destination for all seasons. The region is known for their good food specialties and milk products as well. Popular is the Allgäuer Bergkäse" a cheese that is made in the mountains. Today learn how to make the Allgau Specialty Onion Cake it's a flat tart topped with onions, bacon (Speck) and cream. The original recipe is using the popular cheese from the Allgäu Mountains and it is called "Bergkäse". Unfortunately this cheese is not available in the USA or if any, you can find it in special cheese stores. We recommend to use cheese like Emmenthaler, Gruyère or a flavourful hard cheese; we don't recommend to use American cheese.

Dough:
all-purpose flour, unbleached (350 g)
½ cube fresh yeast or dry yeast (depending on the yeast you use see instruction on pkg, normally it is 1 pkg yeast for 500 g flour)
1 dash sugar
½ tsp. kosher salt
150 mL warm water or 100 mL water and 50 mL light beer

Topping:
onions (1 kg)
clarified butter
smoked bacon, preferably German speck (100 g)
pepper, caraway seeds, salt to taste
2 eggs
crème fraîche (200 g)
cheese, grated (75 g)

Make the Dough:
Place flour in a bowl, make a mold, add salt around the edges, yeast in the middle.

Add sugar and the liquid, mix with yeast.

Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.

Mix yeast-dough with all-purpose flour, unbleached. Knead well.

Cover and let rise for 15 minutes.

Make the Topping:
Peel onions, cut in fine stripes. Cut Speck in small cubes.

Heat clarified butter, add Speck, fry for 1-2 minutes. Add onions.

Sauté for about 25 minutes. Spice to taste.

On a floured baking board knead dough and roll to a rectangle form.

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C/180°C fan, Gas Mark 6). Layer a baking tray or 2 round spring forms (10") with parchment paper.

Roll the dough so it will fit onto the tray or into the form make edges all along with the dough too.

Spread onions evenly on the dough.

Mix eggs with crème fraîche, salt and pepper to taste. Place on top of onions. Sprinkle with cheese.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Reduce heat to 375°F (190°C/170°C fan, Gas Mark 5) and bake for another 10 minutes.

Let sit for 5 minutes before you cut the onion cake.