Chickpea flour has the ability to morph into amazing things, like socca, panisse and soccatatta. Depending on the prep, it can be light and airy, with a faux-eggy quality or dense and rich, which a texture similar to polenta. Here I’ve combined chickpea flour and water to create a slurry, which I then drizzled into a super-hot preheated cast iron skillet, then baked to produce a pizza crust.
This idea certainly isn’t mine, so what makes the pizza slice you see above and below unique are the toppings. I’ve caramelized shallots with sprinkles of vinegar for about 25 minutes, then finished with a squirt of raw agave to balance out the bitterness. I spread that onto the almost fully baked socca crust, layered it with lacinato kale cut this way, then finished with some Daiya and oil cured olives. I finished it in the oven for a few minutes more to produce a perfect sized pizza that was a snap to make and delicious to eat.
SOCCA PIZZA CRUST WITH CARAMELIZED SHALLOTS AND KALE
- Yield: 2 8-inch pizzas
Ingredients
for the crust
- 1/2 cup chickpea flour
- 3/4 cup water
- a few dashes of salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme, finely chopped
- 1 TB olive oil
for the toppings
- 1 TB olive oil
- 2 1/4 cups shallots, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 TB rice vinegar
- 1 TB raw agave syrup
- 1/2 cup lacinato kale, sliced chiffonade
- Daiya shreds, mozzarella style
- 6–8 oil cured olives, pitted and roughly chopped
Instructions
- Whisk all of the crust ingredient together in a bowl. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 450. Place a clean and empty cast iron pan into the oven to preheat as well.
- To caramelize the shallots, heat the oil over medium heat. Add in the shallots, then distribute them evenly across the surface of the pan. Do not touch or stir them for about 5 minutes.
- Reduce the heat to medium low, then stir the shallots. Sprinkle with a little rice vinegar, then allow the caramelize a bit more for about 10 minutes. Drizzle the raw agave over the top, then stir a bit more to distribute. Add the rest of the vinegar and allow to caramelize a bit longer, until a nice deep golden color is achieved. Remove from the heat.
- Once your oven is preheated, remove the cast iron pan using a thick potholder. Add about 1/2 TB of oil to it, then tilt to distribute. Pour half of the chickpea slurry into the pan and tilt again to distribute. Place back into the oven to bake for about 8 minutes. Remove it again with a pot holder, and sprinkle half of the shallots on top, then the half of the kale, then the Daiya, and top it off with the olives.
- Bake for an additional 4-5 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately.
Caitlin says
this is perfection! i'm such a sucker for anything chickpea flour and i love making it into pizza. i haven't tried your technique yet, or your toppings, so this is on my must make list. i'm such a sucker for caramelized shallots. they're one of my most favorite things, especially when combined with olives.
erinwyso says
I have been wanting to make this for a while, and once I made it, I was like "that's it?" Seems like there would be more steps. I ate it right out of the pan, and Jeff really liked it too!
Elizabeth says
You mention that it's possible to make a chickpea flour mixture have a light texture with the right prep – what do I need to do?
I once ate wonderful thing called a 'farinata' (it tasted and looked like a fritatta) from a veggie deli once that was made with chickpea flour but every time I've tried to do something similar it comes out far too dense and heavy.
Any advice would be fantastic.
erinwyso says
Elizabeth, I've made panisse with chickpea flour, which resulted in a souffle-like texture. It involves cooking the slurry, cooling it, then deep-frying or sauteing it. Here's what I did to get that airy texture:
https://olivesfordinner.com/2013/01/chickpea-panisse-with-roasted-garlic.html
I would also say that the soccatata I've made: https://olivesfordinner.com/2011/09/spinach-and-olive-soccattata.html
is more dense than the panisse, but it does have a light quality to it as well.
Elizabeth says
Thanks for the tips. I shall give it another go!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
This looks so simple, but so good!
Kristina @ spabettie says
a friend asked me just yesterday if I have ever heard of socca… which got me thinking about it again, it has been too long since I made it. and now this… with your amazing shallot spread… I cannot wait to try that, I can already imagine the flavors. this looks so good, now I want pizza for breakfast 🙂
erinwyso says
Thanks Kristina! I ate the leftovers for breakfast! ; )
Kyleigh says
I LOVE Socca! and Socca pizza is so delicious and so easy! I make this kind of thing a lot! So yum! Yours looks delicious!
LittleMonsterx14 says
this looks amazing!
Rebecca says
I just happen to have all of the ingredients in the house for this! This look delicious. Thank you.
Kittee Bee Berns says
wow!!!!!!
Anonymous says
I tried this recipe last night and it was amazing! I didn't have any daiya cheese, so I used your cheese recipe from your Grilled cheese & Tomato soup post, it was perfect!
Can't wait to make it again 🙂
erinwyso says
glad you enjoyed, I'll have to try that next time!
joellen says
we made a version of this for an easter brunch – it was a perfect gluten-free, dairy-free treat. we used cashew ricotta instead of the daiya and topped with sauteed mushrooms. the caramelized shallot spread we put under the ricotta was amazing! thank you for the inspiration.
erinwyso says
Sounds lovely — love your adaption, and so glad you enjoyed!
Anonymous says
I tried this recipe the other night. I loved it. I do want to mention that if you are using Bob's Red Mill chickpea flour, a 1/2 cu. is not enough. Mine came out too thin.
erinwyso says
Glad you enjoyed! Thanks for the feedback. I plan to make this again soon, and will re-test the amount to see what happens, and update the recipe accordingly if needed.