The Fresh Loaf

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Zwiebelkuchen

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Zwiebelkuchen

The Kansas City Star has an article in their food section that features a different at-home cook every week.  This week's featured cook, who grew up in Bavaria, shares her recipe for zwiebelkuchen, an onion tart.  She uses frozen bread dough as the base, more for convenience sake than anything else, but notes that her family made it with rye bread dough.  So, in celebration of Oktoberfest and in recognition of all of the rye bread posts recently, here is a link to the article with the recipe:

http://www.kansascity.com/819/story/839442.html

Mini, put your bib on before reading!

Paul

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

Paul,

Thanks for the link.  I love zwiebel kucken.  I was lucky enough to spend 3 1/2 years living in Wiesbaden, Germany and I still think about the great food I got to eat while living there.

I do wish I knew then what I know now and had made a greater effort to embrace the culture, my German heritage (1/2 German from my dad's side of the family) and my German neighbors.  I was stuck living in a small American enclave with a bunch of other young, single Americans that I had absolutely nothing in common.  Besides the beer they weren't interested in German food.

Anne 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Paul,
Would you have saved the copy from the Star article on zwiebelkuchen? I tried to go to the story and it has been timed out. Or do you have a recipe?

Thanks,

Eric

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

I haven't had a chance to try this yet, but it is recipe from the article.  I have to believe that it would be all that much better with a homemade dough.

Anne

Onion tart or zwiebelkuchen

Makes 28 serving

1 (1-pound) loaf from (3-pound) package frozen white bread dough, thawed

1 (16-ounce) package bacon

4 large onions, finely diced

3 eggs

1 cup whipping cream

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

2 tablespoons caraway seeds, optional

Press thawed bread dough into a buttered 11-by-17-inch jellyroll pan, making sure edges are pressed to the top of the pan. Set aside.

Over medium heat, fry bacon in a 12-inch skillet until slightly crisp. Remove bacon from pan and place on a platter lined with paper towels to absorb extra grease. Set aside.

Discard all but 2 tablespoons of bacon grease from skillet. Saute onion in skillet over medium heat until soft, about 10 minutes. Turn off heat and allow onions to cool slightly.

Whisk together eggs, cream, salt, pepper and paprika in a medium-size mixing bowl. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spoon onions evenly over top of unbaked bread dough. Crumble bacon and spread evenly on top of onions. Slowly pour egg and cream mixture over onions and bacon. If desired, sprinkle caraway seeds evenly over all.

Bake about 30 minutes, or until crust is lightly browned. Cut into 2 1/2 -inch squares and serve hot.

ehanner's picture
ehanner

Thanks Kansas Girl,

That looks interesting and delicious. I may even have to buy a Tart pan and make this with a flaky crust. I should know better than to look at these things before breakfast! 

I'll have to scale the amounts down and rework the recipe for a family size.

Eric

pmccool's picture
pmccool

David,

I don't recall saving that recipe.  Since I'm at my daughter's home in Colorado Springs just now (new granddaughter! yippee!), I can't verify.

I'll try contacting the Star when I get back home to see if they can give me the recipe.

Paul

Edit: Oops!  Bad case of ready-fire-aim here.  I read the next post and saw that Kansas Girl had the recipe at hand.

Windischgirl's picture
Windischgirl

which we enjoyed at the Christkindlmarkt in Berne last December.  In a pinch I made a lazy person's version:

1 handmade tortilla or flatbread per person (I like whole wheat)

sour cream

thinly sliced onions, sauteed until limp and pale brown

thinly sliced peppers, sauteed until limp

sliced black forest ham, cut into thin strips

shredded gruyere cheese

paprika and freshly ground black pepper

I placed the tortillas on baking sheets and spread them with sour cream.  Each family member chose the toppings of his/her choice and then I baked them at 350F until the cheese just started to brown.  Es Guete!

Windi