Flammkuchen

Name: Flammkuchen
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 6 servings
Cuisine: German
Ingredients: Plain flour; Half-fat creme fraiche; Chicken breast; Onion; Olive oil; Salt; Black pepper

406 kcal a serving, against 516 for the traditional version. That is 110 kcal off, or 21%, with 21.4g of protein. Serves 6. 1 hour.

What the traditional version is

The proper version is a crisp base rolled paper-thin, spread with full-fat creme fraiche, then topped with softened onions and cubes of smoky bacon. Everything goes into a roaring-hot oven until the base blisters, the bacon goes crisp at the edges, and the kitchen smells like happiness and danger.

What changed, and what each change costs

300g of full-fat creme fraiche down to 300g of half-fat creme fraiche

Anyone who tells you you can't taste the difference between half-fat and full-fat hasn't tried eating them side by side. The lower-fat version is still creamy, but it doesn't coat your mouth with quite the same luxury.

What it costs you. You lose that silky richness. When it comes out hot, though, and the onions melt a bit into the sauce, you might not notice if you eat it fast. Don't linger.

200g of bacon swapped for 350g of chicken breast, poached and shredded

Bacon is the other biggest thing to go. It's there for salt, smoke and fat, but it's fierce on the numbers. Shredded poached chicken brings protein without all the saturated fat.

What it costs you. No smoky kick, and the topping is gentler. It's not a bacon tart any more, it's more of a creamy chicken flatbread pretending to be posh.

Dough kept thin, but trimmed to 350g flour and a bit more onion

Thinning out the base and upping the topping means you get more from the same bite. You might even feel like you're getting away with something.

What it costs you. The base is a bit less carby, a bit more snap, but it still does the essential job of shovelling sauce and onions into your mouth.

What goes in it

The ingredients, without the quantities. The weights are what the figures below are computed from, and they are in the book.

Plain flour
Half-fat creme fraiche
Chicken breast
Onion
Olive oil
Salt
Black pepper

How it starts

Start with the chicken.
Slice your onions as thinly as you can stand.
For the dough, mix the flour with 200ml of lukewarm water, 6g of salt, and knead it until smooth and slightly elastic, about 5 minutes by hand.

The rest of the method, and every weight, is in Authentic-ish German.

The numbers

Per serving	Traditional	Lightened
Calories	516	406
Protein	14.9g	21.4g
Fat	24.6g	11g
Saturated fat	14.7g	5.7g
Carbohydrate	57.7g	53.9g
Protein per 100 kcal	2.9g	5.3g

Every figure is computed from the recipe's own weighed ingredient list against public food composition databases. The appendix in Authentic-ish German prints the exact database row used for each ingredient, so any number here can be checked. How every number is computed sets out the method.

Allergens. gluten, milk.

The method is in the book

Is it better than the original? No. The original is one of those dishes that lives for fat and smoke. Losing the bacon turns it into something milder, and the half-fat creme fraiche can't quite fake it. But you get a proper crunch, plenty of creaminess, and a topping that pulls its weight in the numbers - all without feeling like you're chewing on a gym membership. If anyone complains, just tell them you're saving up for the next proper one.

The quantities and the method for this dish are in Authentic-ish German, along with 54 more. Buy the paperback