Piadina Romagnola

The piadina is the everyday bread of Romagna, an unleavened flatbread of the cucina povera baked when raised bread was a luxury. It became a regional emblem after the poet Giovanni Pascoli, a son of Romagna, wrote of it around the turn of the 20th century, calling it «the bread, indeed the national food of the Romagnoli». Piadina Romagnola was recognised as a European Protected Geographical Indication in 2014, with the registration published in the EU Official Journal that October; the certified zone covers the provinces of Rimini, Forlì-Cesena and Ravenna and part of Bologna. The product specification names just flour, water, salt and fat, and recognises two forms — a thicker inland piadina and the thinner, wider piadina alla riminese of the coast.

Hot off the griddle it is soft and pliable, just dry enough to fold without cracking, freckled with brown-black blisters that taste faintly of toast. The inland version is thicker (about 4 to 8 mm) and a touch crumbly from the lard; the Rimini version is thin (up to 3 mm), wide and more supple, usually made with olive oil. The classic filling plays warm bread against cool, milky-tart squacquerone, salty prosciutto and peppery rocket. A good piadina is tender and faintly chewy; left too long it stiffens to a cracker, and underbaked it tastes of raw flour.

This is a flatbread with no leavening — no yeast, at most a little baking soda or baking powder in some recipes — so it stays thin and dense rather than rising, and is cooked fast and dry on a very hot surface. The fat, traditionally rendered lard (strutto) and on the coast olive oil, coats the flour's proteins and shortens the gluten, which is why the dough rolls out without snapping back and why a lard piadina eats more tender and crumbly while an oil one is more pliable. On the hot testo the surface dehydrates and browns through the Maillard reaction, giving the toasted flavour and the dark blisters, while steam trapped inside keeps the crumb soft for the brief cooking time. It must be eaten quickly: as it cools the starch firms and it loses its suppleness.