Socca also known as farinata is one of the easy and quick homemade gluten free flatbread that’s great as sides for soups, salads, as snack, a new canvas for any kind of toppings. This vegan bread needs just 2 main ingredient – chickpea flour and water!

one ingredients socca flatbread cooked in cast iron skillet

What Is Socca/Farinata?

Socca is one of the most popular choice for gluten free, healthy flatbread. A flatbread made from chickpea flour or garbanzo flour, olive oil and water.

Socca is essentially a street food from Southern France, authentically it’s made thin and crisp. It’s called farinata in Italy and it’s made slightly thick, and it’s usually used as pizza base. It’s usually cooked in wood ovens just like the way pizza is cooked. Specially cooked in copper pans these flatbreads are great served hot or warm.

There are so many ways to serve socca, – an be used alongside salads like bread. Serve it as snack with pesto spread on it and dizzle of olive oil. Make a sandwich out of it. Arrange you favorite pizza toppings on it and serve it as pizza!

Why Should You Try Socca Recipe?

If you are a vegan and on gluten free diet, you must be struggling to make a good bread that falls under you dietary requirements. Socca is great for YOU – if you are vegan and looking for gluten free bread!
If you aren’t a vegan or on gluten free diet, you still need to try this flatbread. It’s healthy, and has considerably more proteins than your regular all-purpose flour! Chickpea flour also known as garbanzo flour has comparatively less calories and carbs. It’s all healthy for you!
This flatbread recipe is so simple to make, it’ll be ready in a matter of minutes. And all you need is two main ingredients – chickpea flour and water! Season with just salt or add other spices and seasonings like Italian seasonings or curry powder or cayenne pepper or cumin powder, garlic powder, shallots. Use olive oil to cook the bread. Oil will help crisp up the bread.
It’s essentially a large pancake! A nutritionally dense savory breakfast or as a snack! It’s very comforting!
It’s baked until tender and you can customize it. Spice up the flatbread with herbs (Italian herbs), spices like red chili flakes, curry powder, cayenne pepper!

Ingredients Needs

All you’ll need is chickpea flour and water to make the best vegan and gluten free flatbread. The picture below shows all things needed to socca recipe:

ingredients needed to make socca flatbread

For extra flavorings:

Plain socca has salt added for seasoning. You can customize the flavors as needed.

To add extra flavors to the flatbread use one or mix of herbs and spices mentioned below:

Cumin powder

Red chili flakes

Garlic powder

Cayenne pepper

Italian seasoning

Basil

Thyme and oregano

Curry powder

Zaatar spice

How To Make Socca?

Socca is prepared with a base of 1:1 – chickpea flour : water.

Into a bowl add chickpea flour, water, salt. Note: you can add additional flavors to the bread by adding spices and herbs. Italian herbs, basil, cayenne pepper, pepper powder, garlic powder, cumin powder, shallots, red chili flakes, rosemary & thyme. Use which ever is your favorite spice or herbs.
Whisk together all ingredients into a smooth batter.
Cover the batter with cloth and rest it at room temperature for minimum 1 hour at room temperature. The batter can rest up to 8 hours at room temperature if you want to make it in advance. As the flour is made of raw garbanzo beans and not roasted beans, resting is mandatory which will let the gases out of the beans. Pro-Tip: don’t skip resting the flour.
Take the batter and give it a good mix. Don’t worry if the batter is runny.
But if you do feel it’s too runny, add one or two teaspoons of flour again and mix well. Remember: batter consistency should be thin, not thick like regular pancake batter.
When ready to make bread, adjust rack at top third of the oven, place an 10-inch cast iron skillet on it and pre-heat oven at 450 degree Fahrenheit. Remove skillet from oven (remember how hot the skillet handle can be, be careful and stay aware- talking from personal experience). Pour olive oil in the skillet and swirl to spread oil evenly around the skillet.
Add it to preheated skillet, swirling the skillet as you add in the batter to spread evenly all around the skillet.
Place the skillet back into the oven and cook it for 12 to 15 minutes. Note: if the flatbread puffs up, pierce with fork around gently and put it back into oven to keep it flat and cook even. Once socca is done, remove skillet from the oven. Let it sit for 2 minutes. Gently lift the edges of the bread with spatula and remove it from skillet.
Spread pesto over the flatbread for snacking option, or bread it up and serve it with salad or soup, use it as pizza base and fix up your fixing on top and bake for 5 to 8 minutes in oven.
You can tear the flatbread apart or slice it up. Serve immediately.

step by step pictures for making homemade socca

Ways To Serve Socca

Soon it comes out of oven, bread it up and eat it straight up. Trust me, it’s delicious just like that.
To make fancy snack, spread pesto, slice it up and serve.
Make it thin and crispy and enjoy it with dips and spreads.
Load it with cheese and fixing of your favorite pizza toppings and enjoy it for pizza night!
Break it up and serve it with salads or soups.
Add you sandwich toppings over thick socca bread and serve it as open sandwich.
To make a meal out of it, pair socca with sauted vegetables, and a mash or sauce to go with it. It serves as a healthy source of carbohydrate instead or rice or regular bread!

Tips To Make BEST Socca

Though you can cook the flatbread soon as you make the batter, I recommend you to rest the flour for at least 30 minutes up to 8 hours. Arguably there is no much difference with cooking the flatbread immediately; it’s believed that it’s better option to rest the batter. Resting will let the gases out of the beans which is better. You also skim off the top if you notice to many bubbles.
Make sure the skillet is heated before you pour batter into it.
Best way to spread batter around the skillet is to simultaneously swirl the pan and pour the batter with other hand. Since skillet it hot, soon as you pour the batter it will start cooking and stick to the pan.
If you want to make thin and crisp flatbread, pour just one or two ladle full batter (depending on the size of your skillet) into the skillet and swirl it to spread evenly. If you want to make thick flatbread, pour the entire batch of it into the skillet and swirl to spread.
If the flatbread puffs up, pierce with fork around gently and put it back into oven to keep it flat and cook even.
When the edges begin to brown, remove skillet from oven, flip the bread and place it back into oven to cook.
Note: you can skip flipping socca if you want. Once edges begin to brown, reduce oven temperature to 300 F and continue to cook until the center is cooked through.

CHECK OUT OTHER POPULAR BREAD RECIPES:

Low-Carb Cheesy Cauliflower Breadsticks

Savory Pull Apart Bread

Naan Or Indian Flatbread

Methi Tepla (Fengugreek Flatbread)

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