Woodfired Socca

Woodfired Socca are a delicious chickpea pancake from the South of France and as a bonus are a fabulous pizza alternative for those who are gluten-free. Much better than a fake-bread pizza base and actually delicious for everyone. Check out what we did on this week’s #woodfiredweekly

Woodfired Socca

This week’s #woodfiredweekly

The socca are made with gram flour which is another name for chickpea flour, widely used in Indian and Asian cooking – it has a great nutty flavour and is gluten free. You can buy it in most supermarkets now as well as Asian supermarkets.

You can eat the socca very simply with some olive oil drizzled over and some freshly ground black pepper sprinkled on top which is the traditional way but we make it into more of a meal with the addition of fresh salad leaves, chilli jam from our friends at the South Devon Chilli Farm and some cream cheese or as in this case with pizza-style toppings – tomatoes, ham and cheese and we’ve added a little bit of off-piste apple chutney. Really delicious! The recipe makes 4 socca.

Woodfired Socca – Ingredients

250g gram/chickpea flour, sieved

Good pinch of salt and pepper

1tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground turmeric

2tbsp olive oil

330ml water

Olive oil for frying

Woodfired Socca – Toppings

4tbsp San Marzano tomatoes – about half a tin, whizzed until smooth

4tbsp apple chutney

120g pulled ham

80g grated Cheddar cheese

Woodfired Socca – Oven Set Up

Oven temperature 1-2 Mississippi with the fire flaming

Between 300C and 400C

Door Off

1 Mississippi

Woodfired Socca – Method

Mix the first 5 ingredients together to form a batter (the thickness of single/pouring cream) and leave it for 30 minutes to stand.
Heat a further 2tbsp of the olive oil in a wide, heavy, frying pan in the oven until the oil is really hot and just beginning to smoke.
Swirl around a quarter of the batter to cover the surface of the pan and cook in the oven for 3 minutes until golden brown and crispy at the edges. Halfway through cooking turn the pan 180 degrees so that both sides get equal grilling from the flames.
Spread 1/4 of the San Marzano tomatoes over the surface of the socca, then 1/4 of the apple chutney and sprinkle over a quarter of the ham and a quarter of the cheese.
Put the socca back in the oven and cook until the cheese has melted and grilled on top and the socca is crispy at the edges.
Use a flexible spatula to take the socca out of the pan and put it on a plate.
Cut into wedges and serve at once and continue to cook the rest of the batter as above.