Quick Flatbread

Ok, so this started out as a specific quest. My bishop, being a baker (and formerly Baptist, so originally from the Stale Chicklet School) asked the parishes in the diocese to look at doing real bread for communion. Preferably baked in the parish, but grocery store pita was acceptable. 

Not acceptable in my parish, dang it. At this point, not only was I GF, but we had someone who was Celiac in the congregation and two children with egg allergies, and one should not have to fear cross contamination and hospitalization from Eucharist. It abrogates the point of being open and welcoming, if the choice presented is regularly send people to the hospital or deny them the grace of communion.* 

So I started with one of my gf baking cookbooks with a recipe for flatbread, using brown rice flour. It also works just fine with sorghum or buckwheat, but I decided to use a very common flour from the middle east - chickpea. If you can't do legumes, sub out another high protein flour. This is the vegan version, because see above - egg allergy. Replace the 4T water + psyllium husk with 2 eggs if you don't want to go into exotics. Flax eggs also work. 

This is version 3.5, having gone through a number of different options on the way, trying to find a gf bread that was not gummy, did not fall apart when it came in contact with wine, and could be made in batches ahead and frozen, and thawed in the microwave prior to the service.

The nice thing about this is that it makes a pretty good flatbread for dips, which, if you've been GF for long, is Really Hard. And yes, I have been known to do hummus with the chickpea bread. (also, the single round makes a nice flatbread base for pizza-like objects.) 

4 T olive oil

2 c chickpea flour

2 t sugar

1t salt

1 c + 4T water

2 T psyllium husk

1/2 t baking soda

5 t xanthan gum

2 t distilled vinegar

x

Preheat oven to 400. Mix flour & oil until well combined. Mix 2 T water & psyllium husk, then add into flour mix. Add & mix remaining ingredients in the order given, being sure to sprinkle the xanthan gum evenly to avoid lumps. Mix until well blended. Divide dough in half. On a greased baking sheet (or, by preference, greased aluminum foil lining the baking sheet) spread into two even rounds about 1/2" thick (about 8" across). (Optional: Drizzle with oil & sprinkle with salt.) Bake for 20-25 min

*I have opinions about the choices around how we celebrate communion in the Episcopal church, but not on the recipe blog.