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La Cecina Toscana is a Tuscan chickpea flatbread made with only chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt. It has unbelievable flavour, a crispy top and slightly creamy middle.
This chickpea flatbread is incredibly simple and consists of only four simple ingredients yet is packed full of flavour.
The liquid batter is baked in a hot oven in a very thin pizza tray around 3-5mm thick.
The end result is a cross between a thin, crispy pizza, flatbread and a pancake and you have to try it!
When I first moved to Tuscany to saw signs for cecina or farinata di ceci outside nearly every bakery I passed.
I understood then that ceci were chickpeas but I had no idea what this chickpea flatbread was.
All I knew was that it was extremely popular and I had to try it.
Let me tell you, there is a reason it is so popular in Tuscany….it is addictively delicious.
The texture of the crispy outside and the slightly creamy middle is to die for and the chickpea flavour with salt and often rosemary is just the best!
I knew I had to make this at home and after searching for recipes I couldn’t believe how simple this was to make.
It literally consists of only chickpea flour, water, olive oil and salt.
It’s crazy simple, there’s just no excuse to make it at least once.
How to make cecina – Italian chickpea flatbread
Whisk together the chickpea flour, salt and water (add the water gradually to avoid any lumps) when the batter is nice and smooth add the olive oil and stir together.
Leave the batter to rest for 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 225°C. Pour the flatbread batter into a well oiled, thin pizza tray or baking tray no more than 0.5mm thick.
Bake the cecina in the oven for 15 minutes until it’s nice and golden on top.
Sprinkle over some coarse salt and some rosemary sprigs (optional) followed by a drizzle of olive oil. Cut into slices and serve hot.
Make sure you eat serve it immediately as it drys out quite fast and isn’t nearly as good cold.
Pro tip: Make sure your tray (even if it’s non stick) is well oiled. I use around 1 tbsp of olive oil, that way it doesn’t stick to the tray and it can be removed easily.
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- Instant Pizza Dough – No Rise No Yeast
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- Pici and Tuscan sausage ragu
If you’ve tried this or any other recipe on the blog please let me know how you got on in the comments below, I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTERESTto see more delicious food and what I’m getting up to.
La Cecina - Chickpea Flatbread
Ingredients
- 7 oz ( 2 + 1/8 cup /200g) chickpea flour (besan)
- 2.3 cups (18.5 fl oz/ 550ml) water
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pinch of salt
For topping
- 1 large sprig rosemary
- coarse salt
- olive oil
Instructions
- Add the flour and salt to a bowl. Gradually add the water whilst whisking the batter to avoid any lumps. When the batter is smooth add the olive oil and stir in.
- Cover with cling film and let the batter rest for 2 hours. It should be very liquidy.
- Preheat the oven to 225°C/425F/gas mark 7. Grease a pizza tray with 1 tbsp of olive oil. Your baking tray or pizza tray should be no more than 5mm thick.
- Pour the batter into the tray and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and crispy on the outside and slightly creamy in the middle.
- Remove from the oven and sprinkle over some salt and rosemary followed by a drizzle of olive oil. Cut into slices and serve immediately.
Nutrition
- I always use extra virgin olive oil in all of my recipes unless stated otherwise
- When I use canned or jarred tomatoes of any kind I always use this brand for the best results and flavour
- All vegetables are medium sized unless stated otherwise
- All recipes are tested and developed using a fan (convection) oven
- Find out more about how nutrition is calculated here
- Check out our must have Italian Pantry Staples here
- You can also find all our Essential Kitchen Tools for Italian Cooking here
14 Comments
Linda
March 25, 2020 at 1:44 pmGood morning. A Pizza tray is one piece of kitchen equipment I do not have. What would you suggest I use instead? Any feedback would be sincerely appreciated. thank you.
Inside the rustic kitchen
March 25, 2020 at 1:54 pmHi Linda, any flat baking sheet is fine as long as the batter is around 3mm or 1/8inch deep.
Tania
March 24, 2020 at 1:40 pmHow liquidy??? Like a cream soup? Putting in fridge now.
Inside the rustic kitchen
March 24, 2020 at 2:07 pmHi Tania, yes the batter is very liquidy much like soup.
Linda
March 26, 2020 at 1:07 amThank you for your speedy reply. I’ll let you know how it goes.
Linda
March 28, 2020 at 4:54 pmWhat size pizza pan did you use? They come in 14, 12, 8 inch pans. Thank you.
Sara
February 9, 2019 at 5:18 pmThe Farinata di Ceci is an amazing snack, especially when it’s inside a focaccia. I’m from Tuscany and I really appreciate you sharing the recipe on your website. Just two things: it’s better to use 1 part chickpeas flour and 3 parts of water and a tiny bit more oil (3/3,5 tbsp) and to be fair it’s better for it to be Extravirgin Olive oil since it’s tastier.
The second thing it’s the resting time should be from 3 to 6 hours (room temperature), but could be up to 10 (in the fridge), but again it’s because it makes it tastier!
By the way thank you for sharing and I wish you the best!
Anya Leigh
June 3, 2018 at 3:05 amI recently ate these delicious breads whilst in Lucca. I have to replicate them. Something that will live with forever, maybe because I was in Tuscany sitting in a little back street, eating the cecina off a paper plate straight from the wood fired oven. But I have never eaten something so memorable and vegan (thank goodness).
Inside the rustic kitchen
June 3, 2018 at 11:01 amHi Anya, Lucca is one of my favourite places in Tuscany, our family stay there every summer. It’s so beautiful, cycling around the walls is one of my favourite things to do. You should definitely try this recipe, the most important things are to let the batter rest for at least 2 hours and make sure you use a large enough tray so it’s very thin (no more than 5mm). Have your oven up to the highest temp and eat it straight away while still hot but not too hot ha! Hope you get to go back soon!
Sues
August 4, 2017 at 2:33 pmI’ve never actually heard of chickpea flatbread, but it sounds like something I’d go totally crazy for!
jacquee | i sugar coat it!
August 4, 2017 at 2:12 pmThese look irresistible!! I have everything on hand and will be making them this weekend!!
Marjory @ Dinner-Mom
August 4, 2017 at 1:47 pmThis is awesome! My daughter is a huge chick pea fan and would love this. I need to go look for some chick pea flour.
Jagruti
August 4, 2017 at 1:36 pmThese look so tasty and with such few ingredients! I’d love to try them out for lunch!
Silvia
August 4, 2017 at 1:29 pmI love this recipe, I really have to make it. I pinned it for later and I sent it as well to my brother in law because I’m sure he wants to make it too. Thank you for sharing it. I’m sure it tastes heavenly.