Italian Chickpea, Sun-Dried Tomato, Pesto and Olive Flatbread

If you are looking for a healthy appetizer, lunch or side dish, this Italian chickpea, sun-dried tomato, pesto and olive flatbread is a great substitute for bread :: pane; it’s also gluten-free, making it perfect for entertaining guests who have celiac disease. You can also serve this recipe to people who follow a vegan diet, just make sure that you use vegan pesto as traditional Genovese pesto contains cheese.

I am always on the look-out for interesting healthy recipes :: ricette sane, and when I saw this on Passion and Cooking, a blog by Paola Lovisetti Scamihorn, I wanted to give it a try.

Get creative with the ingredients. You may opt for the classic water, chickpea flour, extra virgin olive oil and salt; or, you could spice it up with rosemary :: rosmarino and pepper like Paola did. In my recipe I loaded it with pitted taggiasche olives, sun-dried tomatoes and Genovese pesto.

After having mixed the chickpea flour and water together, let it rest for 12 hours. It seems time consuming, right? In reality, this is one of the easiest recipes ever, you just need to organize yourself in advance. You could prepare the mixture :: miscela before going to bed so it will be ready to be cooked at lunch, or you could prepare it in the morning before leaving for work so it’s ready for dinner. Prep time is 2 minutes. To finish the recipe, just load it with whatever you have on hand: fresh herbs, sauce/pesto, nuts, cheese or vegetables in oil, then just pop it in the oven and in 15-25 minutes it is ready. Buon appetito!

Italian Chickpea, Sun-Dried Tomato, Pesto and Olive Flatbread

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

12 hours 25 mins

This Italian chickpea, sun-dried tomato, pesto and olive flatbread is a great substitute for bread; it’s also gluten-free, and vegan friendly.

Serves: 8-10 (The bake time is only 15-25 minutes, 12 hours is how long the mixture needs to rest. The initial prep time is 2 minutes, then when you add ingredients to the chickpea flour/water mixture before baking, it will take another few minutes.)

Ingredients

12 oz (330g) chickpea flour (also called gram flour)
4 cups (950 ml) water at room temperature
⅓ cup (80ml) extra virgin olive oil
½ cup (100g) taggiasche olives, pitted
½ cup (80g) chopped sun-dried tomatoes
2 teaspoons pesto (or vegan pesto)
Salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Instructions

Add chickpea flour and water to a large bowl and whisk until the mixture is homogeneous. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for 12 hours.
When you are ready to cook the flatbread, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C). Remove any foam from the top of the surface with a spoon and discard.
Add half of the extra virgin olive oil, taggiasche olives, sun-dried tomatoes, pesto, salt and pepper; stir.
Pour the other half of the extra virgin olive oil into a round metal 15-inch (38 cm) diameter or rectangular 10 x 18 inch (25 x 45cm) baking pan with raised lips. Distribute the oil on the bottom and sides. If you don’t have a pan this large, simple use two pans. The important thing is that when poured into the pan, the liquid is only about ⅛ to ¼ of an inch high.
Add the batter to the baking dish and bake for roughly 15-25 minutes or until the surface is golden brown.
Recipe adapted from: Passion and Cooking