Fainá is a nutty, peppery flatbread (related to the italian flatbread farinata) made with garbanzo bean (chickpea) flour. Fainá is hugely popular in both Argentina and Uruguay. It makes a great appetizer, (especially with toppings), but it's most often served as an accompaniment to pizza. In fact, it's a common practice to place a slice of fainá on top of a slice of pizza. When pizza and fainá are paired this way it's called pizza a caballo (horseback pizza).
Fainá is very quick and easy to make, and you can find garbanzo bean flour (gluten free, by the way) at many natural food stores.
Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour
Ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 7 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese (optional)
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2-2 1/2 cups water
Preparation:
- Whisk the garbanzo bean flour together with the salt, 3 tablespoons olive oil, parmesan cheese, and a generous amount of ground black pepper.
- Whisk in 1 3/4 cups of water until well mixed. Set aside for about a half hour, to let the flour absorb some of the water.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. When it is hot, place the remaining 4 tablespoons of olive oil in a 12 inch pizza pan, and heat in the oven until very hot.
- Stir more water into the batter until the batter is thin enough to pour. Remove hot pizza pan from oven, and pour batter into the pan. It should make a thin (about 1/4 inch) layer. Place in the oven and bake until fainá is golden and crispy (about 8-10 minutes).
- Cut into pieces and serve.
Note: You can use a smaller pan to make thicker faína, which will need a slightly longer baking time.
