I have a bag of chickpea (besan) flour and was not quite sure what to do with it. Ever wonder why you make those purchases sometimes? 
In trying to do some grain-free days, breads are the things that I was surprised that can be done grain free. No, they aren’t pillowy and doughy like gluten breads, but surprisingly tasty creations can be made.
I found a recipe for something really simple (which I love) by Dave Liebovitz called socca
I did mine a little differently, but I liked the results, so that is all that counts.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (120 grams) of chickpea flour
- 1 cup of warm water
- 1 tablespoon of oil (I used coconut oil)
- 3/4 tsp salt
- A bunch of fresh ground pepper
- 1.5 more tablespoons of oil (to be used in cooking)
The only trick with this recipe is that it needs a little prep time to let the batter soak. I think you could do this the night before or in the morning and let the batter sit.
In a bowl, whisk together the water, chickpea flour, oil, salt and pepper.
Cover and let this batter sit for at least 2 hours. So setting this up in the morning would probably be good.
After sitting, the batter didn’t look all that different, so I am not really sure what the long soaking time is for.
It didn’t really thicken up that much. It is like pancake batter.
When ready to cook, take a cast iron skillet (10 inches) or probably a pie plate would work – and put it in the oven and add the remaining 1.5 tablespoons of oil. Turn the oven on to 450 degrees and let the pan get hot.
Once the pan is hot, give the socca batter a stir and pour into the pan. It will sizzle.
Bake at 450 F for 15 minutes until the socca is set.
Now turn on the broiler element to high and broil the socca for several minutes until it gets brown spots on it.
De pan and cut into wedges.
I cut this into 4 big wedges (you don’t have to be that greedy).
Nutritional stats:
Per wedge: 165 calories, 10 grams of fat, 13.5 grams of carbs, 2.5 grams of fiber, 5 grams of protein.
The verdict? Yum! It is sort of like a flat bread with a bit of soft texture to it. I think traditional socca might be thinner and crisper, but this held up it’s shape to be topped with BBQ chicken and cheese for a pizza wedge.
It did well the next day popped into the toaster oven to crisp up. This was just a basic recipe and I have seen those that put onion and rosemary into the batter, which would be pretty tasty I think (especially if the onions are precaramelized). I am thinking without salt but using honey, this could be the basis for a dessert. Thinking like a fruit pie or something.
Lot’s o’ potential with this recipe!
I have the same flour in my pantry, too, and have NO idea why I bought it initially. I’m so all over this recipe. Thank you, from your trying-to-be-good-about-healthier-carbs friend, Lynn 🙂
Interesting. Does it have a chickpea flavor to it? Does it taste “like” anything?
It has a fairly neutral flavor underneath, but I put a lot of pepper in it so it had that good flavor to it. Maybe not quite as strong as straight up chick peas.
Ooooo…I have been waiting for you to post this recipe. Now to find chickpea flour.
Jan – I found it in my grocery store in the natural foods section.
I am totally intrigued by this bread. It just looks delicious. Thanks for experimenting and sharing! (esp. the nutritionals.)
It is good. The more I eat of it, the more I like it, which is always a good thing. Toasted the next day is really good!
This looks great. I think I would add some cumin and curry and eat it with Indian food…yum!
Thanks for the recipe!
Mmmm, this definitely has possibilities. The unsalted version might work well as a crust for fruit pizza., which I haven’t made since I lost the ginormous sugar cookie crust as an ingredient. 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!
THANK YOU THANK YOU!!
Lori, thanks for sharing this. As I was reading the beginning of this post, I was thinking how great this would be for pizza. 🙂 I’ll have to give this a try.
This looks really good Lori.
Lately I’m not much into cooking but everytime I read your blog it reminds me to pick it up again. I do love to cook and bake but sometimes you have these periods you don’t feel like doing it.
I really like to cook, but sometimes I just want to grab and make easy stuff. Or pizza…
Well I love everything chickpea so this sounds like it’s right up my alley. I just bought a large cast iron skillet so now all I need to do is go get the flour!
Hope your weekend weather will be better than what is predicted for us…
We are looking at kind of cool and rainy here. Guess the bike stays parked, but it means more work on the half bath!
So interesting! I think I have some GB flour in my freezer. I’m going to give it a try.
Thank you for sharing! This looks really good and I always love a GF recipe! 🙂
You need to start your own cooking show or YouTube channel! 🙂
OH yum….I am SOOO going to try this! Thanks for sharing Lori!
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Could this be done a a griddle instead of the oven and maybe thinner. This might be my answer to something to make a sandwich wrap. I look forward to making this. Bev
I’m thinking that I would try this on my electric griddle since I don’t own any cast iron.
My mom used to make chickpea fritters that were good (though they were too thick to be used as a flatbread or wrap).
Definitely going to try this with Fava Flour <3