Ruby Tandoh, a former contestant of The Great British Bakeoff, shares her savory and sweet creations from the oven in Crumb.

These French chickpea flour flatbreads are arguably more pancake than bread, but I don’t feel too conflicted about including them here. They’re nutty, intensely savory, and versatile: think improvised pizza bases, wraps, and even—if cooked for a little longer—dipping chips and crackers. But I prefer them, partly in the name of simplicity and minimal washing up, eaten straight from the sizzling pan with just a grind of pepper.

In Nice and along stretches of the south coast of France, they are socca; further east and curving down the coastline into Italy, they’re farinata. They’re usually found on street corners at vendors’ stalls, to be bought cheaply and eaten greedily while on the move. You may not have the pleasure of having a local socca vendor (although who knows where the street food movement will take us), but luckily these are easy, cheap, and quick to make at home. This is a simplified stove-top version, although thicker, more substantial oven-baked socca are also popular.

You can find gram flour (sometimes labeled chickpea or garbanzo bean flour) in the international sections of some larger supermarkets, at natural food stores, or in most Indian or Pakistani markets. Raw gram flour can have a bitter, astringent aftertaste, but this is remedied by toasting the flour first, which is what I’ve suggested here.