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Hope everyone is enjoying the winter. Overnight frost, and clear
sunny days here. Very nice. Good pizza oven weather.
This is a flatbread that we made with some California friends. They
have a cousin who owns a nice Pasticceria in Lucca who give us the
recipe and technique, and our samples (which were great). The bread
is simple, though finding chickpea flour might not be. :-) It is very
similar to a French Socca, from Provence. I have heard Cecina called
Chickpea Pizza as well.
We have used Cecina as part of a vegetarian meal of risotto, grilled
peppers, and baked eggplant -- all made in a hot brick oven. It also
makes a great appetizer. You can get it to-go for lunch throughout
Tuscany.
Cecina
1 cup chickpea flour
2 cups water (I have seen recipes with a 1:1, 1:1 1/2, and 1:3 but
this works well.)
2 TSP olive oil
Dash salt
Mix the batter (it is very watery) and let set for 2-4 hours.
Fire your oven so that is is hot and ready for fire-in-the-oven
cooking. Maybe two Mississippi's. This is a good brick oven recipe
because it cooks best with top and bottom heat.
Pour a liberal amount of oil in a baking sheet with 1" (or so) sides.
Add enough batter to make a 1/4" - 1/2" thick flatbread, and bake for
10 minutes. It should be brown on top. Cut and drizzle with olive
oil, and serve immediately. The commercial bakery has seasoned cast
iron pans, so that Cecina does not stick to the bottom, but we did OK
with steel pans as well.
Chickpea flour is both healthy (a good source of protein) and tasty. Enjoy!
James
sunny days here. Very nice. Good pizza oven weather.
This is a flatbread that we made with some California friends. They
have a cousin who owns a nice Pasticceria in Lucca who give us the
recipe and technique, and our samples (which were great). The bread
is simple, though finding chickpea flour might not be. :-) It is very
similar to a French Socca, from Provence. I have heard Cecina called
Chickpea Pizza as well.
We have used Cecina as part of a vegetarian meal of risotto, grilled
peppers, and baked eggplant -- all made in a hot brick oven. It also
makes a great appetizer. You can get it to-go for lunch throughout
Tuscany.
Cecina
1 cup chickpea flour
2 cups water (I have seen recipes with a 1:1, 1:1 1/2, and 1:3 but
this works well.)
2 TSP olive oil
Dash salt
Mix the batter (it is very watery) and let set for 2-4 hours.
Fire your oven so that is is hot and ready for fire-in-the-oven
cooking. Maybe two Mississippi's. This is a good brick oven recipe
because it cooks best with top and bottom heat.
Pour a liberal amount of oil in a baking sheet with 1" (or so) sides.
Add enough batter to make a 1/4" - 1/2" thick flatbread, and bake for
10 minutes. It should be brown on top. Cut and drizzle with olive
oil, and serve immediately. The commercial bakery has seasoned cast
iron pans, so that Cecina does not stick to the bottom, but we did OK
with steel pans as well.
Chickpea flour is both healthy (a good source of protein) and tasty. Enjoy!
James