Last year's trip to France and Italy

[horrocks007]

I was in France last year and saw many wood fired ovens cooking a dish called socco - a chickpea flour flatbead - at many markets.

If you want to experiment making it, it doesn't seem that difficult. I would imagine you can make the batter by pureeing chickpea's in a blender with water until a thin pancake batter consistency it achieved, then add a good slug of olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Would go great with a tapenade.





When we went to Italy, it seemed everyone had a Tuscan Grille:



But we saw a few wood fired ovens too:



I would include more, but I am limited to how many images are in 1 post

Ohh well, enjoy.

[horrocks007]

Here are a few more images:

[texassourdough]

Socca is also known as cecina in areas of Tuscany. Very tasty!

Basic recipe is:
- 500 grams of chickpea flour. You can make your own from dried chickpeas in a food processor.
- 1 liter of water
- 2 t salt
Mix it up and let it sit and soak for 4 hours to a day.
Put olive oil in a large, shallow pan - enough to float the cecina batter
Pour in the cecina batter - fill it but only barely - you want it THIN - maybe 1/16 inch thick.
Bake in a 400 degree oven or hotter - up to a WFO.
Sprinkle with some coarse sea salt (such as fleur de sel or Maldons).

I prefer home ground garbanzo flour for its uneven grind. Commercial garbanzo flour is IMO too fine and smooth.

Enjoy!
Jay