German Onion Tart with Bacon and Savory Sour Cream Custard
shared by Nibblore Deutsch
This savory German onion tart pairs a crisp yeast crust with slowly cooked onions, smoky bacon, and a creamy caraway-spiced custard. Gently cooking the onions first mellows their bite and helps keep the crust from becoming soggy. Serve it warm or at room temperature for an autumn dinner or hearty brunch. • Avoid cooking the onions over high heat: slow, gentle cooking makes them sweet and tender without turning them bitter. • Let the onion mixture cool before adding it to the crust so the egg custard does not curdle prematurely and the yeast dough does not become gummy. • A dark metal pan produces a crisper base than a ceramic or glass pan. • Use 21 g fresh yeast instead of active dry yeast; dissolve it in the lukewarm milk with the sugar before mixing the dough. • Replace the sour cream with crème fraîche for a slightly richer custard. • For a milder smoky flavor, replace the smoked bacon with unsmoked streaky bacon. Let leftovers cool completely, then refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Reheat individual slices in a 175°C conventional oven for 10 to 12 minutes. The baked tart can be frozen in portions for up to 2 months; thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat in the oven.
- Total time
- 100 min
- Servings
- 8
- Difficulty
- Intermediate
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Save to my cookbook — freeIngredients
- 350 gbread flour
- 7 gactive dry yeast
- 1 tspsugar
- 1 tspsalt
- 180 mlwhole milk, lukewarm
- 50 gbutter, melted and cooled
- 1 tbspbutter, for greasing the pan
- 1.2 kgyellow onions, halved and thinly sliced into 3 mm strips
- 180 gsmoked streaky bacon, cut into 5 mm dice
- 1 tbspbutter
- 1 tspcaraway seeds
- ½ tspsalt
- ¼ tspblack pepper, freshly ground
- 3medium eggs
- 200 gsour cream
- 100 mlheavy cream
- ¼ tspnutmeg, freshly grated
- 2 tbspchives, finely sliced
Instructions
- 1Combine the flour, active dry yeast, sugar, and 1 tsp salt in a large bowl. Add the lukewarm milk and 50 g melted butter, then knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with a dough hook. Cover and leave in a warm place for 45 to 60 minutes, until nearly doubled in size.
- 2While the dough rises, cook the bacon in a large, heavy skillet over medium heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until lightly browned and the fat has rendered. Transfer the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving about 2 tbsp bacon fat in the skillet.
- 3Add 1 tbsp butter, the onions, caraway seeds, and 0.5 tsp salt to the skillet. Cook over medium heat for 5 minutes, then reduce the heat and cook gently for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring regularly, until the onions are soft, translucent, and pale golden in places but not deeply caramelized. Remove from the heat, stir in the bacon and pepper, and let cool for 10 minutes.
- 4Preheat the oven to 200°C conventional. Grease a 28 cm springform pan with 1 tbsp butter and line the base with parchment paper.
- 5Gently deflate the risen dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface into a circle about 34 cm in diameter. Fit it into the pan, forming a 3 to 4 cm rim. Prick the base several times with a fork and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- 6Whisk the eggs, sour cream, heavy cream, and nutmeg in a bowl until smooth. Spread the cooled onion and bacon mixture evenly over the dough, then slowly pour the custard over the filling.
- 7Bake on the lower oven rack for 32 to 38 minutes, until the crust is deep golden brown and the custard is just set in the center; it should wobble only slightly when the pan is gently moved. If the crust browns too quickly, loosely cover the edge with aluminum foil for the final 10 minutes.
- 8Let the tart rest in the pan for 15 minutes. Release the sides, sprinkle with the chives, and cut into 8 slices while warm or at room temperature.