Socca (Italian Chickpea Flatbread)

Ingredients

• 300 g (2 cups) chickpea flour
• 500 ml (2 cups) water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• Black pepper to taste; 2–3 decent grinds of a grinder should do

Method

1. Heat oven as high as it can go—around 300°C / 570°F is traditional, but do whatever your oven can manage that gets close to this. If using a cast-iron pan, get it into the oven at the start so that it is hot when the batter goes into it.
2. Whisk all the ingredients together well, ensuring there are no lumps. This should make a very thin, easy-to-pour batter.
3. Once the oven is up to temperature, pour some of the batter into the hot pan or onto the plaque, and put into the oven for 8–9 minutes at 300°C / 570°F, or 13–15 minutes at 250°C / 480°F. With a 50 cm plaque or pan, cook half the batter at a time—the batter should cover the plaque or pan very thinly.
4. Remove from the oven and cut into triangular wedges. Serve hot.
5. Repeat for the rest of the batter.