Ingredients

Servings 8

• 2 lb all-purpose flour
• ¾ oz salt
• 1 oz baking soda
• 7 oz lard
• 1 ½ cups milk
• ½ cup water

Preparation

30 minutes preparation + 5 minutes cooking

Pour the flour out on a pastry board and form a well. Dissolve the baking soda in the milk at room temperature. Work it into the flour, together with the other ingredients.

Knead the dough well with your hands until you have a smooth, dense dough. Divide the dough into 8 balls (called “panett” in the local dialect), cover with a dishcloth and let rise for about 30 minutes.

Then, the balls should be kneaded briefly and rolled out with a rolling pin to obtain disks of about 6 inches in diameter and 1/10 inch thick.

Place a flat baking sheet on the stove-top. When hot, put a disk of dough on top.
Keep an eye on the piadina while cooking, using a fork to poke the dough so that air bubbles do not form.

The whole should be evenly distributed so that the piadina remains flat and has its characteristic light and dark spots on the surface.

Chef's tips

A piadina is typically filled with cheese like squacquerone, sheep’s or goat’s milk cheeses, mixed-milk cheese or aged cow’s milk cheese. Piadine are also eaten with lardo, pancetta (Italian-bacon), ciccioli (fried pork meat) or saba (cooked grape must).
It is also an great accompaniment to vegetables like cabbage, nettles, and radicchio or other sautéed with garlic, onion, shallots, pancetta, lard and natural flavorings.

Food History

Filled with local culinary specialties and sold in the food stalls along the coast, the piadina is without a doubt the most famous food from Romagna.
Already known and prepared back in the 16th century when it was considered to be a bread-substitute and baked from one week to the next, the piadina is the focus of many fun anecdotes. The original story, told by Filippo Gandi, is similar to the one told in the film I soliti ignoti (Big Deal on Madonna Street) with Maistroianni and Totò. Gandi recounts how six robbers enter into the house in the countryside one September night in 1839. They searched for something valuable to steal and couldn’t find a thing. Instead they ate the piadine that were left in the kitchen and washed them down with wine.
All stories and jokes aside, there is no doubt that the piadina has earned its place in the gastronomic hall of fame, becoming one of the most loved and enjoyable Italian foods.

Other suggested recipes

• Crescentina
• Savillum – Roman cheese cake
• Bruschetta