Piadina Romagnola

The piadina traces its roots to the cereal flatbreads cooked on hot stones already known to the Etruscan and Roman populations settled in the Po Valley. Over the centuries, the peasants of Romagna made it their daily bread, shaped with the simplest means: flour, water, salt, and the heat of a terracotta plate placed over embers. Each family kept its own way of measuring the fat and kneading the dough, passed down from mother to daughter without ever being truly written. Long considered subsistence food of the poor countryside, it accompanied field work and replaced leavened bread, which was longer and more costly to prepare. Its very name, piadina, evokes this rustic simplicity that has remained intact to this day in Romagnol households.

• 500 g soft wheat flour type 00
• 200 ml warm water
• 80 g lard or olive oil
• 10 g fine salt
• 5 g baking soda (optional, according to local traditions)

1. Pour the flour in a fountain shape on the work surface and hollow out a well in the center.
2. Add the salt, fat, and warm water gradually, mixing with your fingertips.
3. Knead the dough for about ten minutes until it becomes smooth and supple, then let it rest under a cloth for approximately thirty minutes.
4. Divide the dough into regular balls and roll them out thinly into discs.
5. Cook each disc on the testo or a very hot cast-iron griddle, without added fat, turning it as soon as small browned bubbles appear.
6. Serve hot, folded or filled according to tradition, immediately after removing from the griddle.

The piadina offers a texture that is both soft and slightly crispy around the edges, with small golden marks left by cooking on the griddle. Its taste is simple and rustic, carried by the subtle richness of the fat and a hint of salt, without any bitterness. When hot, it releases an aroma of toasted wheat that immediately recalls the wood fires of old peasant kitchens.