in

4 Tips to Make Your Most Delicious Socca

How to Make Your Own Delicious Socca

Socca is such a fantastic, healthy snack!  Use my tips below to perfect your socca recipe.

I made my first batch of socca in 2011, and it was likely not even a little bit like what those good French folks have in mind when they talk (and eat) socca.  Socca is a lovely, unleavened, garbanzo-bean flour-based flatbread of sorts.  It’s served as street food in the sea coast region (it’s “farinata in Italy,” where it originated) and is vegan and gluten-free.  Although it fell a little short, my first attempt was still an attempt and it was followed by several more and now I feel like I have a good feel for the recipe and technique.  Chat with David Lebovitz and he’ll tell you that socca is never quite the same made in your home oven, but, well, it’s all I have and it’s still always a tasty dish.

4 Tips for Tastier Socca

I’ve done the dirty work for you on this one.  Here are my tips for the some seriously delicious socca:

1) Do like David says and let your batter sit.  I typically make socca batter in the morning, cover with a non-terry kitchen towel, and let it sit while I’m at work.  I use cumin in my socca batter and I vacillate between using oil in the batter and leaving it out of the batter entirely (knowing that I will use it in the skillet).

2) Use a well-seasoned, well-loved cast iron skillet to make your socca.  Let it get nice and hot, pull the skillet out of the oven, ladle your batter on, and get it back under your broiler as quickly as you can.

3) Don’t sweat an ingredient with which you’re not familiar.  Garbanzo bean flour can be found in the health food section of your grocery store, or in your local Indian grocery as “besan.”  Bob’s Red Mill makes a great garbanzo bean flour, and they also make a garbanzo | fava flour combo, which is totally acceptable, although it will not be quite as garbanzo-beany as it could be.

4) Regardless of these tried-and-true tips, please don’t be afraid to play around with your recipe.  For me, cumin is 4-eva in my socca, but maybe it’s not for you.  Perhaps you’d like to try for a thicker, less crepe-y approach to your socca.  Do it!   Let’s say you don’t have a cast iron skillet…but maybe you do have a tart pan or a even a pie plate.  Take care of business and try ’em out.

I must take this opportunity to mention Clotilde Dusoulier’s socca tart topped with jammy-tart cooked apricots and thinly sliced seasonal zucchini (recipe in The French Market Cookbook), because it allows for a thicker batter appropriate for use as a crust.  And that allows for a little more room in the socca universe.  You might also like this simple socca recipe from Eat Drink Better.

I’ve always made my socca a little thicker than is called for, and have always felt that giving it a little heft makes for a delicious vehicle for sliced veggies, some salty roughly chopped olives, or a little mashed avocado.  I know, I know…blasphemy, but it’s sooooo good.

There is an affiliate link in this post. It is one of the ways we make money around here. Please know we only recommend things we truly believe in.

Written by Leah Gehlsen Morlan

lives and works in Iowa City, Iowa. She has a film degree from the University of Iowa, and her interests include: watching & writing about film, chasing her kids around, childbirth, healthy cooking & living, and DIY body & baby products. Find me on Google+.

ModCloth Takes Pledge Against Photoshopping

ModCloth Takes Pledge Against Photoshopping

Google Search Just Got Healthier

Google Search Just Got Healthier