Method

• Put the chickpeas in a large bow and cover them with cold water at least twice their volume. Leave to soak overnight.

• The next day, drain the chickpeas. Place a saucepan over high heat and add the drained chickpeas and baking soda. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the water and bring to a boil. Cook, skimming off any foam and any skins that float to the surface. The chickpeas will need to cook for 20 to 40 minutes, and sometimes even longer, depending on the type and freshness. Once done, they should be very tender, breaking up easily when pressed between your thumb and finger, almost but not quite mushy.

• Drain the chickpeas. You should have roughly 3 2/3 cups (600g) now. Place the chickpeas in a food processor and process until you get a stiff paste. Then, with the machine still running, add the tahini paste, lemon juice, garlic, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt. Finally, slowly drizzle in the ice water and allow it to mix for about 5 minutes, until you get a very smooth and creamy paste.

• Transfer the hummus to a bowl, cover the surface with plastic wrap, and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. Use straightaway or refrigerate until needed, taking it out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving. To serve, top with a layer of good-quality olive oil. This hummus will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

• NOTES: Most from-scratch hummus recipes call for simmering dried, soaked chickpeas for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Some even ask you to peel each chickpea for optimum smoothness. Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi, cookbook authors and the team behind the Otoolenghi restaurants in London, cook theirs in 20 to 30 minutes. And no peeling. How, you ask?

  The answer is baking soda, but not in the way you might think. Plenty of hummus recipes call for soaking or simmering the chickpeas with a little baking soda shaken into the water. It's all about the pH: Alkaline environments soften legumes more quickly by weakening bonds between pectic molecules, while acidic environments keep them stubborn and stiff. This is why you never want to simmer beans with vinegar.

  Ottolenghi and Tamimi go one step further in their recipe: After soaking, they saute the drained chickpeas with baking soda for a few minutes before dumping in the water to simmer - a technique learned from Tamimi's grandmother. "We chose Sami's grandomther's way because we believe the friction helps the breaking down of the skins and gets the baking soda to penetrate the skin better," Ottolenghi told me. This brief, direct contact allows them to cook much faster and puree smoother. Without peeling.

  A couple of final clever tricks seal the deal: You'll loosen the hummus with ice water at the end to cool it down quickly, keeping the flavors sharp. And then you'll rest it for 30 minutes, to let the flavors and textures settle in. And then you'll pour olive oil over it and scoop it up with torn bread in heavy, spilt-over measures.