Chickpea Bread

Remember chickpea flour? When I experimented with gluten-free baking a got a few pounds of it. I didn't have much success with it. It made all my baked goods taste like hummus - and not in a good way. So now that I gave up trying to replicate wheat with non-wheat, I need to figure out what to do with all this chickpea flour.

Then I saw this: Chickpea bread at The Fresh Loaf. Genius!

I don't keep my mother starter anymore so I couldn't follow the recipe. Instead, I made this:



Beautiful, right? And tasted good too! At first it was a little weird. Again, the flour made the loaf smell like hummus but this time in a good way. It's nutty and a little sweet. The texture was dense but soft and crunchy on the outside. Perfect savory bread. It's even good toasted with honey.

I figured chickpea flour would absorb a lot of liquid so I used almost 70% liquid. The dough was very wet but easier to manage after the first rise.



Ingredients

• 200 grams all-purpose flour plus more for kneading


• 100 grams chickpea flour


• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast


• 1 teaspoon sea salt


• 200 grams warm water


• 20 grams honey


• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions

1. In a large bowl, mix all purpose flour, chickpea flour, yeast and salt together. Add warm water and honey. Stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or wet hands for a few minutes until every thing is wet and well combined. The dough will be very wet. Let rise for about half an hour. It will be a little easier to manage.


2. On a floured surface, fold the dough into itself a few times to coat. Knead (keep folding) for 4 to 5 minutes. It will still be slack but easier to shape. Don't add too much flour. Use wet hands if the dough is too sticky. After kneading, let it sit for a couple of minutes while you clean the bowl.


3. Oil a clean bowl with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Ball up the dough by stretching its surface and gather extra skin at the bottom. Place into the oiled bowl, seam side down. Roll around to coat. Let rise for about an hour or until it doubles in size.


4. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 450 degrees with a dutch oven and its cover inside for at least 30 minutes.


5. When the dough is ready, carefully take out the hot dutch oven, sprinkle flour on its floor. Flour the dough surface, slash and carefully place in the dutch oven, seam side down. Cover and bake for 30 minutes.


6. Uncover and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes or until the inside temperature is at least 180 degrees. Let cool on a cooling rack for at least an hour before cutting.