Farinata Genovese Ligurian Chickpea Pancakeflatbread Recipes

LIGURIAN CHICKPEA PANCAKE (FARINATA)

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Put the water in a bowl. Use a whisk to beat the chickpea flour into the water, stirring briskly to keep lumps from forming.
• Whisk in a healthy pinch of salt too, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 4 hours in a warm but not hot place.
• When the time is up, preheat your oven to 440 F / 220 C. Use a slotted spoon to remove the foam that will have formed on the surface of the batter, and then mix in half of the oil, using the other half to oil your pans.
• Pour the batter into the pans-it should be between 1/4 and 1/2 inch thick or 5 and 10 millimeters.
• Bake the farinata for 20 minutes, until it has firmed up and become golden. Slice it up and serve it hot, with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

FARINATA (ITALIAN FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Brush a 9-inch tart pan with 2 tablespoons olive oil and place in the oven to warm up.
• Melt 1 tablespoon butter in a medium skillet over medium heat. Add green onion and garlic. Cook and stir until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
• Mix chickpea flour with lukewarm water until smooth. Set aside for 20 minutes at room temperature.
• Skim foam from the top of chickpea-water mixture. Add remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Mix in onion-garlic mixture. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Add Gruyere cheese and mix well. Remove tart tin from oven and pour in chickpea mixture.
• Bake it in the preheated oven until crispy, about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cut into triangles before serving.

LIGURIAN FARINATA (SAVORY ITALIAN PANCAKE OR FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• In a large bowl, add the flour to the water, a little at a time, mixing and seasoning with salt until all of the flour and water has been absorbed; Add Optional Rosemary at this point.
• Let it rest for 4 hours (Or even better overnight).
• After this time, a layer of foam will have developed on the surface - Scrape it off with a spoon.
• Add the olive oil and remove the Rosemary (Optional) - Stir until all the Oil is absorbed.
• Pour into an olive oil well greased baking pan - the right one is called testo, made of "tinned copper" It should be about an eighth of an inch thick, perhaps a little more - a small deep dish Pizza pan will do (We used an iron skillet).
• Preheat the oven to 400°F.
• Remove from the oven when one of the corners (or the edge) starts to appear dark and has turned a golden color.
• Sprinkle plenty of pepper and eat immediately.
• ***It is of paramount importance that the pan is perfectly flat and level when in the oven, otherwise one of the corners will be thicker and will be undercooked when the opposite corner starts to darken. It tends to stick if you do not use enough oil. Also use parchment paper.

FARINATA GENOVESE

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together chickpea flour and salt.
• Place water in another large mixing bowl.
• Slowly incorporate chickpea flour mixture into water with whisk. The final batter should have the consistency of heavy cream.
• Stir in rosemary leaves.
• Let the batter sit at room temperature, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• When ready to bake, first skim the scum off of the top of the batter with a large spoon.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil. Then cover with parchment paper and grease the paper too. Be sure to grease up the sides of the pan too, trust me on this!
• Remove the rosemary if you like. Stir in the olive oil. Note: If you use 1/2 cup, this is actually 1/2 the amount of the traditional recipe, and it was too oily for me! So depending on how oily you'd like to make it, use anywhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup.
• Carefully pour into prepared cookie sheet.
• Sprinkle with freshly-ground black pepper.
• Carefully place in oven, ensuring pan is perfectly flat.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges start to pull away from the cookie sheet, and the top is bubbly and slightly browned.
• Slice and eat immediately. Good hot or at room temperature. However, it lasts up to 10 days in the fridge, just needs to be reheated.
• Notes: You can also use the slices as a base for pizza or flatbreads. Enjoy!