Receta Socca, the World's First Gluten Free Pancake

by Monte Mathews

Gluten-free pancakes

are now widely available, but we went to France to find the original

By

Staff Writer

Spoiler Alert:

We found the Socca.

Socca pancakes, made

with chickpea flour, may have been the world’s first gluten-free pancakes.

Although the recipe started out life in Genoa, Italy — and can still be found

all along Italy’s Ligurian coast — the French city of Nice later pinched it,

and is now famous for them… but finding the treat isn’t exactly an

easy task.

The lone Socca seller at Cours Saleya

The most obvious

place to look is Nice’s famous Cours Saleya, also known as the Flower Market.

There, in addition to a vast array of flowers of every conceivable color, there

are stalls selling fruits, vegetables, cheeses, and souvenirs. Lining the

market are open-air restaurants, cafes, and bars.

You might imagine that Socca pancakes would be everywhere

here — and not having them would be akin to being in Naples and not finding a

pizza — but checking various restaurant menus for the pancake yielded not a

one.

Oddly, Socca pancakes seem relegated to a single stand in

the market, presided over by just one woman. Her method of making them is

simple: Chickpea flour is stirred into a mixture of water and olive oil,

forming a loose batter. The mixture is then placed on a tin-plated copper

baking pan, and into an open oven it goes. After emerging, it is cut into

• irregularly shaped slices and put into a paper cone. You are asked if you would
• like the traditional pepper topping — which is a good idea, because in all
• honesty, the Socca could use some seasoning. If you want to buy some chickpea
• flour, that, too, is hard to come by at Cours Saleya. However, a source there
• offered some offbeat advice. Surprisingly, the flour can be found on

Amazon.com, where there are no less than 15 varieties.

Here is a recipe for

making Socca pancakes at home using the broiler in your home oven to create

your own ode to gluten-free.

Since the pancakes are made with chickpeas, they are naturally gluten-free!

Recipe for

Gluten-Free Socca Pancakes