We pit-stopped in Livorno, on the west coast of Tuscany, on our way back from a wedding a few weeks ago; just long enough to fill the car with petrol, drive twice around Piazza della Repubblica, unfold our bodies, then fill them with 5 e 5 bun from the Da Gagarin bakery.
Just behind the handsome mercato centrale, the full name of this historic Livornese joint is Antica Torteria Al Mercato Da Gagarin. A torteria (probably a Livornese word) is the place that makes torte – that is, round, flat, baked things – while a tortiera is an object: the round tray used for baking the round, flat, baked things. The tortiere in Da Gagarin are brass and the size of crash cymbals; they have a low lip and are used to bake torta di ceci. Making just one thing means there is a continual flow. As we arrive, chickpea flour and water batter is being poured into tortiere on a work surface set back from the counter. At the same time, just-cooked torte are being paddled from the narrow mouth of the wood oven.
Torta di ceci is part of a chickpea flour and water family of torte whose various members inhabit coastal towns, suggesting seafaring migration. There are the panelle of Palermo, which I have mentioned before and which might be a legacy of ninth-century Arab domination in Sicily. They are made by cooking up a thick, polenta-like batter of chickpea flour and water, sometimes parsley, which, when sufficiently solid, is cut into squares and deep-fried. The preparation is similar for the panissa (paniccia or panizza) of Liguria and especially La Spezia, while its cousins from Nice (socca) and Genova (farinata) are simply a chickpea flour and water batter, whisked, rested, poured and baked with lots of olive oil until golden. Fainè is also made from batter and is typical of the city of Sassari in north-western Sardinia; as is cecina, which sometimes contains rosemary and is what you should ask for in Pisa – yet in Livorno, only 19 km from Pisa, you ask for torta di ceci!
Made from milling raw or roasted chickpeas (a coffee grinder works, too), chickpea flour is straw-yellow and rather like talcum and cocoa powders, in that it has an incredible fineness: stick a finger in and the finger seems to disappear. It smells like chickpeas and grass stems, both of which are exaggerated when it meets water. Often involved in the most satisfying recipes is an ordinary miracle, usually accompanied by an inevitable moment of doubt. The batter is far too thin, you will think; nothing good will come of this … But have faith.
Back at Da Gagarin, the name may be torta di ceci, but the order is “5 e 5”, a name that dates back to a time and a price. That is cinque (five) lire of torta sandwiched in cinque lire of bread – the price has changed, but the habit hasn’t. The cymbal-sized, yolk-yellow, flaky-topped torta crisps underneath and has a custard-like softness inside. It is cut into smallish curved pieces, arcs or moons that are piled on to rolls (which remind me very much of the oven-bottom cakes we used to have in Oldham in the late 1970s). “Would you like black pepper?’’ we are asked. “Yes,” we reply. So on goes a shower of black flecks before we take the warm bundles. The tiles that line the wall are the exact same colour as the torta di ceci, as is the string curtain we push through to go back to the car.
Torta di ceci, or chickpea flour pancakes (in a sandwich)
Serves 4
200g chickpea (or gram) flour
Salt
6-8 tbsp olive oil
4 soft bread rolls
Black pepper
Whisk the flour and 600ml water until you have a smooth, lump-free batter. Add a big pinch of salt and leave to sit for 15 minutes to an hour (and up to 24 hours, if you wish; just cover and put in the fridge).
Pour the oil into a 27cm x 22cm nonstick tin (or a pizza-sized tin with a low lip). Pour in the batter (it should be about 5mm deep) and the oil will swirl in like a lava lamp.
Bake at 200C (180C fan)/390F/gas 6 for 30-40 minutes, until the tip is firm and flaky, the edges crisp, but the inside still creamy.
Use a spatula or fish slice to cut a square or circular section to fill a soft roll – and don’t forget the black pepper.
• This article was amended on 14 August 2023 because the suggested 27cm x 22cm baking tin is not round, as an earlier version said.
