Piadina Romagnola

A lard flatbread cooked dry on a hot plate and kept pliable, never crisp.

Not vegetarian — contains lard.

Ingredients

• 500 g plain flour
• 100 g lard, soft
• 200 ml whole milk, warm
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 10 g salt

Method

1. LARD, NOT OLIVE OIL. It is what makes the dough short and keeps the finished bread soft enough to fold, and oil gives something closer to a thin pizza base.
2. Rub the lard into the flour, salt and bicarbonate, then add the warm milk and knead 8 minutes to a smooth firm dough.
3. NO YEAST. The bicarbonate gives a little lift and that is all it needs — there is no prove, so the whole thing takes half an hour.
4. Rest it 30 minutes under a cloth, then divide into six and roll each to a 3 mm disc about 25 cm across.
5. Heat a dry cast-iron plate or heavy pan until a drop of water skips on it. NO FAT IN THE PAN.
6. Cook 90 seconds a side, pricking any big bubbles with a fork and pressing the disc down. It should be freckled brown and still FLEXIBLE.
7. STACK THEM UNDER A CLOTH AS THEY COME OFF. A piadina left out goes crisp within minutes and then cracks when you fold it — it is meant to wrap round prosciutto and squacquerone, not to snap.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under Italy · All recipes