Piadina Romagnola

But you, Maria, with your gentle hands

tame the dough and then stretch and flatten it;

and behold it is smooth as paper and

as big as the moon; and then you spread it

on my outstretched hands, and I lay it softly

on the hot surface, and you stand back.

Then I flip it, and with the poker

rouse up the fire beneath so that strident heat

makes it swell with blisters;

and the smell of bread fills the house.

With these words from the early 1900s, Italian poet Giovanni Pascoli brought to life the making of the piada, or as it now more commonly known, the piadina. Once upon a time, this unleavened flatbread, hailing from Pascoli's home region of Romagna, was made by household arzdore or matriarchs much like the one immortalised in the poem above. These days though, you're more likely find it being made and sold as a snack in one of the region's many piadinerie or roadside piadina kiosks.

So, how did this humble, once entirely homemade flatbread become one of Italy's most popular street foods? Basically, during the post-war period, Romagnol coastal towns such as Rimini became popular seaside resorts. And beachgoers' demands for a cheap and satisfying meal were met by filling hot-off-the-pan piadine with the wonderfully creamy local Squacquerone cheese and rocket; prosciutto and fontina ; or summery tomato and mozzarella.

In past, less abundant times, an arzdora would make her piadine with whatever ingredients were on hand, such as acorn, chestnut and polenta flour. Today, piadine are almost exclusively made with wheat flour (an all-purpose one works fine for the recipe below). You'll also find that many health conscious people now like to replace the more traditional pork-based lard with olive oil. By all means, do the same if you don't care for the lard I've indicated below, but I personally found the texture of my flatbreads to be vastly superior when using the strutto that was once so common in Italian households before the country's post war economic boom. As for the bicarbonate of soda that is now often added in many recipes, it's really not necessary, let alone true to the piadina's origins as an unleavened bread. Flour, water, lard and salt are really all you need.

Another note on preparing the recipe below. The test of a good Rimini-style piadina is its pliability. If you can fold your cooked bread without it tearing, bravo! The trick to obtaining this consistency is kneading your dough into 5 smooth and elastic balls, leaving these to rest and taking care not to overcook them in your flat, non-stick or cast iron skillet.  A couple of minutes on each side or until bubbles begin to form at their surface is enough.  You can use a simple dinner fork from your kitchen draw to deflate these!

As for serving, piadine are at their best when filled and eaten immediately. If you do wish to make these ahead of time though, leave them to cool to room temperature and store in an airtight container or covered in plastic wrap in the refrigerator for at most two days. 

Ingredients (makes 5 piadine)