This is a recipe close to my heart, as used to eat cecina every summer at Il Castagnacciao, Portoferraio (LI). The below recipe is taken and translated from this video by the great IlBocca, a cook from Livorno specialising in local recipes.
Ingredients
- 250g of besan or chickpea flour – get the best you can
- 10-15g of salt
- 1 shot of great extra virgin olive oil – Rosto mellow from Harris Farm if you are in Australia
- 750ml of water
Steps
- Soak all the flour in all the water for at least 5 hours (the more time, the easier to digest it later). To mix them, start with a bowl, put the flour in, and then gradually pour the water in, mixing it with a whisk as you pour. Finally, add salt and mix. Cover it and let it rest on the kitchen bench (a fresh spot, but not in the fridge).
- Further mix this resulting liquid dough every hour.
- After 5 hours, add the olive oil and whisk.
- Preheat your oven to the maximum temperature in static mode.
- Grease up the tray you are going to use either with a heat-resistant oil, such as sunflower oil (safer choice), or with some more of the same e.v.o. oil you used before (riskier choice, as it might burn). The choice of the size of the tray should be made so that the liquid dough, once poured, will be about 0.5 cm thick.
- Put the greased-up tray in the preheated oven for about 2-5 minutes, i.e. until the oil is hot (but before it starts smoking).
- Now pour the liquid dough in.
- Let it cook for about 25 minutes on static at maximum temperature.
- For the last 5-10 minutes put the oven on grill mode for a final browning touch. Don’t overdo it though, if the cecina already looks like in the picture, or even a bit darker, just take it out.
It is finally ready! Enjoy it, possibly with a generous amount of pepper on top.
Italo's Kitchen 