Piadina is an Italian flatbread that is popular in the region of Emilia-Romagna and San Marino. There are tons of kiosks in the street (or along the beach in Rimini) that sells this bread; you can find it in either savory or sweet version. For savory, it’s often served with prosciutto, soft cheese, and some leafy greens; while for sweet, you normally have it with jam, or (guess what?) nutella! 🙂
As usual, I’ve never had piadina before I met my husband. 🙂 The first time he brought me to meet his family, I got to try this flatbread and I could not believe it when my mother-in-law (not yet, by then 🙂 ) told me how simple it is to make one at home. She used to make it at home when they were still living in New York, because she could not find good piadina in the United States back in the 70’s. But nowadays, she just buys them from the local supermarket. I am not that fortunate in Stockholm, however. 🙁 I did manage to find some imported packs of piadiana in my favorite cheese store, but I did NOT like it. I tried it once and I vowed not to buy it again. 🙁
Once my mother-in-law showed me how to make it, there was no turning back. 🙂 Initially, it takes a bit of time and I was unsure if the dough is ready or mixed enough, but it’s like when you make bread, you learn to tell if the dough is ready for resting or not – by feel. 🙂
But wait! This flatbread is not as complicated as making a loaf of bread. There is no YEAST involved in piadina, just some baking powder.
There was an instance last winter when I had no bread on a Saturday morning. It was snowing and I just could not be bothered to go through proofing and waiting. I thought I could make some pancakes, but I had no milk or eggs (I know, I know, I learned a lesson that day 😉 ). I never ran out of olive oil or flour though, and I had some baking powder on hand, so I made some piadina for breakfast instead. 🙂 I have to say, eating them with crunchy peanut butter is not that bad either. 😀
- 250 grams flour
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 125 ml water
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Combine and mix all the ingredients, until it has formed into a dough. You can do the mixing either by hand or by using a stand mixer. I have always done this recipe by hand.
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Set dough aside for at least 30 minutes. No need to put it in the refrigerator. I normally just wrap it with a plastic wrap and leave it on top of the counter.
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Divide the dough into five pieces and start rolling and flattening each piece by using a rolling pin. Roll it until it has reach 1/8 to 1/10 of an inch of thickness. Prick the dough with a fork randomly. This will prevent bubbles when cooking.
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Heat up a non-stick pan on medium-low heat and start cooking the pricked dough once the pan is ready. Turn the piadina on the other side once one side turns brown. Once both sides had turned brown, take the piadina off the pan.
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Serve.
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This recipe yields 5 small or 4 medium-sized pieces of piadina.
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