Rosemary Onion Socca - Chickpea Flatbread #BreadBakers

This rosemary onion socca aka chickpea flatbread is super easy to make and even easier to devour. The crispy edges and golden bottom are superb. This had us standing around, picking up just one more piece. And maybe just one more. All right, this really is the last one! And it's gone.

Despite living in France for three years, I had never come across socca until a couple of years ago when I was researching gluten free recipes for another edition of Bread Bakers. It sounded delightful but I didn’t have any chickpea flour (and was too lazy to go shopping) so I chose to make something else. 

It popped back into my mind when our host for this month’s Bread Baker event chose flatbreads as our theme. As you can see from the photos, bread really doesn’t get any flatter than socca! There are no leavening agents so it doesn’t rise at all. 

I checked out several recipes for this French regional bread and while all of them had varying amounts of chickpea flour, water and oil, none had baking powder so I had to conclude that this is correct. 

Rosemary Onion Socca - Chickpea Flatbread

It’s best to start ahead by several hours or even the day before you want to make this as the batter needs time to be its best. This recipe is adapted from one on New York Times Cooking. If your local grocery store doesn't carry chickpea flour, try an Asian or Indian shop where it might be labeled besan or gram flour.

Ingredients

1 cup or 118g chickpea flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 cup or 240ml lukewarm water

4 to 6 tablespoons olive oil

½ medium onion

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, small tender leaves or chopped bigger leaves

Method

Put the chickpea flour in a bowl; add the salt and pepper. Slowly add the lukewarm water, whisking to eliminate lumps. Whisk in 2 tablespoons olive oil. 

Cover or pour into a jar and let sit for 12 hours or overnight in the refrigerator. The batter should be about the consistency of heavy cream. I like using a clean pint jar which fits better in the refrigerator. It also makes mixing easier, as you’ll see later. 

When you are about ready to bake the socca, finely slice your onions. 

Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil in a large iron skillet and pan fry the onions until crispy, about 8-9 minutes. 

Add in most of the rosemary, reserving just a little for sprinkling on the socca before baking, and give it a quick stir. Fry for one minute. 

Remove the onions and rosemary from the pan and leave them to cool. 

Meanwhile, heat your oven to 450°f or 232°C. Once hot, add two more tablespoons of olive oil to the iron skillet and put it in the oven for about 5 minutes. 

Mix the onions and rosemary into your socca batter. (If you’ve also put your batter in a jar, this is super easy. Add them in, screw the lid on tight and give the jar a good shake.) 

Immediately pour the batter into the hot pan. Sprinkle on the reserved rosemary leaves. 

Bake for 10 -12 minutes, or until the socca is firm and the edges set.

Heat the broiler/grill and brush the top of the socca with 1 or 2 tablespoons of oil. 

Set the pan a few inches away from the heat source, and cook just long enough to brown it in spots. 

Cut the socca into wedges, and serve hot or warm.

Enjoy! 

Since it’s the second Tuesday of the month, it’s BreadBakers day! Many thanks to our host Kelly of Passion Kneaded who chose flatbreads as our theme. Check out all the links below. 

• Eggless Keto Naan from Sneha's Recipes
• Focaccia Bread Art from Passion Kneaded
• Magical Oreo Paratha from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Nan-e-Barbari from Ambrosia
• Rosemary Onion Socca - Chickpea Flatbread from Food Lust People Love
• Sourdough Pizza Bianca from Karen's Kitchen Stories

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Rosemary Onion Socca

– Chickpea Flatbread!

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