Piadina Romagnola

A symbol of Romagna, it is the true passion of the Romagnoli and of anyone who visits this land. Simple ingredients such as water and flour produce a unique dish with countless variations and fillings, both sweet and savoury. It is Romagna's bread par excellence, and today it is even more popular as the region's street food par excellence.

Ingredients [for 8 to 10 piadas, depending on the desired thickness]

1 kg plain white flour
100 g lard (can be replaced with extra virgin olive oil for a lighter version)
2 pinches of salt
2 pinches of bicarbonate of soda
warm water, as needed

Method

Knead the flour with the lard, salt, bicarbonate of soda and water until you get a soft, smooth dough
Work the dough for about 10 minutes and shape it into balls the size of a fist
Leave to rest for about 20 minutes
Roll out with a rolling pin until you get discs 15-20 cm in diameter and a few millimetres thick
Cook as described below

For cooking, it is best to use a cast-iron or terracotta griddle, or a non-stick pan. The heat should be fairly high; cook for a few minutes on one side, prick with the tines of a fork, then turn and cook the other side in the same way.

At this point, the piping-hot piadina is ready to be filled with cheese, cold cuts or any other topping. The most traditional fillings are: cured ham/stracchino/rocket, small sardines/mixed salad leaves, sausage/onion, and oven-gratinated vegetables.

I cassoni, instead, are a closed variant of the piadina, filled with tomato and mozzarella (called "rosso", red), or with cooked field greens dressed with oil and garlic (called "verde", green).

Every place has its own piada

It is the thickness of the piada that makes the difference: it is thicker (raised) in the Cesena and Ravenna areas; it becomes thinner in Rimini and Santarcangelo, right down to the layered, lard-rich piada sfogliata found in the southernmost parts of Romagna.

In the area between Ravenna and Forlì it is sold from kiosks (known as baracchini) with their distinctive white-and-red or white-and-blue striped awnings; while in the province of Rimini, besides being sold in sit-down piadina restaurants, it is also sold in small "Piada e cassoni" takeaway outlets, popular with people picking up a piada to eat at home.

Cooking the piada the traditional way

The piada should be cooked on the "testo", a round terracotta griddle placed over glowing embers: this method of cooking gives the piadina a truly distinctive aroma. Today, cast-iron or steel griddles are used, or even non-stick pans.
The most famous terracotta griddles are those from Montetiffi (a small hill village in the Montefeltro area, near Sogliano al Rubicone), where they are still made according to tradition. Owning a Montetiffi griddle makes all the difference!

Piadina with ciccioli

This is a variant of the classic Romagna piadina, typical of the Ravenna area, in which the dough, in addition to the basic ingredients, also contains ciccioli: small pieces of pork fat flavoured with cinnamon, pepper, nutmeg and other spices.

Ingredients

350 g flour
60 g fresh pork ciccioli
25 g fresh yeast
40 g lard
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
warm water, as needed
1 pinch of salt

Method
Follow the method for classic piadina, making a well with the flour and adding and incorporating all the ingredients. Once the dough has been worked for about 15 minutes, leave it to rest for about 30 minutes in a dry, warm place.

After proving, work the dough for a further 5 minutes and then roll it out into discs that are not too thin, 15 cm in diameter. Piadina with ciccioli should be cooked for 5 minutes per side on a hot testo, or in a non-stick pan, with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. It should be served very hot, and is not filled, but eaten alongside meals like bread.

Fried cassoni

These are a variant of the classic cassoni (cooked on the testo), although they are made with a tagliatelle-style dough rather than a piadina dough.
They do not have many fillings, but a single "green" filling of spinach, or better still mixed greens (chard, wild field greens). They are generally made in summer, perhaps because the Romagnoli like to pair them with a chilled white wine.

Ingredients

1 kg spinach (or mixed wild field greens)
300 g flour
3 eggs
a pinch of salt
lard or oil, for frying

Method
Boil the greens in salted water and leave to rest. They can then be sautéed in a pan with olive oil and a little garlic, salt and pepper (but only if you want a stronger flavour).

To make the pastry, knead the eggs and flour until you get a smooth ball, which should be covered with cling film and left to rest for about an hour.
Once ready, roll out the pastry with a rolling pin; you then need to shape half-moons of pastry with a small mound of greens in the centre. The pastry must be well sealed to stop it opening during frying: you can use a fork or a fluted pastry wheel.

Cassoni should be fried in lard, though a classic frying oil can also be used. Once cooked, drain on kitchen paper and serve hot.