Best Farinata Genovese Recipes

FARINATA GENOVESE : LIGURIAN CHICKPEA PANCAKE/FLATBREAD

Steps:

• Sift the chickpea flour in a bowl. Add salt and mix. Slowly add water to start mixing it to eliminate lumps. Add in 1 tablespoon of oil and mix everything.
• Cover, and let sit for one hour, or overnight. The chickpea will absorb the batter and and will thicken.
• Adjust the consistency of the batter by adding a bit of water if required. We do not need to runny or too thick batter. Something similar to dosa or crepe batter.
• I let the cake tin first get heated in the oven for 5 minutes. Then I added about 1 tablespoon of Oil.
• Added the Onion to it and let it again cook in the oven for a minute.
• I added Rosemary to it (leaving about 1/2 teaspoon). and gently poured the batter on top of it.
• Sprinkle the remaining rosemary on top of it and let it bake for 20-40 minutes. Mine was done in 20 minutes. Baking time will vary based on type of pan used.
• Turn on broiler and broil for a minute or two until the top gets browned.
• Allow to set for a few minutes and then carefully remove from pan.
• Allow to cool a bit. Cut into wedges and serve. We enjoyed this as a breakfast with a cup of tea.

HOW TO MAKE FARINATA

Steps:

• Combine garbanzo flour and water in a bowl; whisk until batter is smooth. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or a plate and let stand at room temperature for 2 hours. Skim as much foam as possible from top of batter. Whisk salt, rosemary, and 3 tablespoons olive oil into batter.
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
• Place a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat and heat until smoking hot. Pour 2 tablespoons olive oil in skillet and swirl to coat bottom of skillet with oil. Continue to heat until oil shimmers and a wisp of smoke rises from oil.
• Quickly pour batter into hot oil; carefully transfer skillet to preheated oven.
• Bake in the preheated oven until cake is browned and crusty, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer immediately to a plate, cut into wedges, and serve hot. Garnish with freshly ground black pepper.

FARINATA GENOVESE (GENOVESE CHICKPEA FLATBREAD)

Steps:

• Place the flour and salt in a large bowl, then slowly whisk in the water until you have perfectly smooth, rather thin batter, similar to a crepe batter. Let the batter rest for at least three hours or (better) overnight. When you are ready to make your farinata, mix in the oil.
• Now pour the batter into a greased baking sheet. It should just cover the bottom by no more than 2 or 3 cm (1/2 inch) at most, thinner if you like. Sprinkle one of more of the optional flavorings, if you like.
• Bake the batter in a hot oven (200C/400F) for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Cut into serving pieces and serve hot.

FARINATA GENOVESE

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, whisk together chickpea flour and salt.
• Place water in another large mixing bowl.
• Slowly incorporate chickpea flour mixture into water with whisk. The final batter should have the consistency of heavy cream.
• Stir in rosemary leaves.
• Let the batter sit at room temperature, covered, for at least 4 hours or overnight.
• When ready to bake, first skim the scum off of the top of the batter with a large spoon.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
• Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil. Then cover with parchment paper and grease the paper too. Be sure to grease up the sides of the pan too, trust me on this!
• Remove the rosemary if you like. Stir in the olive oil. Note: If you use 1/2 cup, this is actually 1/2 the amount of the traditional recipe, and it was too oily for me! So depending on how oily you'd like to make it, use anywhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup.
• Carefully pour into prepared cookie sheet.
• Sprinkle with freshly-ground black pepper.
• Carefully place in oven, ensuring pan is perfectly flat.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the edges start to pull away from the cookie sheet, and the top is bubbly and slightly browned.
• Slice and eat immediately. Good hot or at room temperature. However, it lasts up to 10 days in the fridge, just needs to be reheated.
• Notes: You can also use the slices as a base for pizza or flatbreads. Enjoy!

FAINá (CHICKPEA FLOUR PANCAKE)

Steps:

• Double-mill the dried chickpeas, once very coarse and a second time fine. You can also use store bought chickpea flour.
• Mix in the water and the optional sourdough starter. Cover and let the batter sit a minimum of 2 hours and ideally overnight.
• For a not-sour pancake, don't add the sourdough starter and limit the rest time to 12 hours. For a mildly sour/fermented pancake, add the sourdough starter but refrigerate the batter overnight, or skip the sourdough starter and rest the batter for about 24 hours. For a very sour pancake, add the sourdough starter and leave the batter at room temperature overnight, or skip the sourdough starter and leave the batter at room temperature for 3-4 days.
• After the rest, add the salt and pepper to the batter and mix thoroughly.
• Preheat your oven to 450F, with one shelf below the middle and another shelf higher than the middle of your oven.
• Put the olive oil into a cold 10-inch skillet, cast iron or stainless steel, and heat it on the stove. Don't let the oil get to the point of smoking. I have an infrared thermometer and found 360F worked well.
• Add the batter to the skillet and let it cook until the edges curl in a bit, 1-3 minutes.
• Carefully transfer the skillet to the lower shelf of your hot oven.
• Bake for about 25 minutes (10 minutes on the lower shelf and another 10-15 minutes on the higher shelf).
• Use a metal spatula to separate the fainá from the base of the skillet; then leave it in the skillet to cool for about 10 minutes.
• Transfer to a cutting board and serve. Fainá reheats well in a toaster oven or on a fry pan, but is also tasty cold.