3 domande sulla Piadina!

3 questions about Piadina!

A symbolic product of Romagna, also known as Piada.

What product is this?

The ingredients that compose it are traditionally wheat flour, water, salt and lard or olive oil and some additional ingredients such as bicarbonate. They are worked creating the dough that is rolled out giving it roundness and a certain thickness of a few millimeters that also varies based on the production area.

Once the dough is obtained, it is cut into loaves and then rolled out. Cooking takes place at about 200°C for a few minutes.

Traditionally, cooking was done on a terracotta tray, tea in Romagna, today replaced by metal plates. The dough is placed on the hot plate and during cooking it is pierced to prevent steam bubbles from forming.

Piada and poets

taken from the poem “La Piada” by Giovanni Pascoli

“But you, Maria, with your gentle hands you tame the dough and then you spread it out and flatten it;
and behold, it is smooth as a sheet of paper, and as large as the moon;

and in your open hands you bring it to me,
and you lay it softly on the warm text, and then you walk away.

I turn it over and stoke the fire underneath with the tongs,
until it creaks, invaded by the mild heat, and swells into bubbles:
and the smell of bread fills the house.”

What are its origins? 3 questions about Piadina!

The first traces date back to the times of the Etruscans, then of the Romans who we produced round flatbreads cooked on terracotta or stone trays. In 1371 a papal legate, Cardinal Anglico de Grimoard, described it for the first time in a report written on the Romandiola area. Piada has been the “poor man’s” bread for centuries. With the advent of the seventies, Piadina Romagnola experienced its moment of discovery and widespread diffusion. It was the period of the Riviera Romagnola and its kiosks on the seafront. The first steps towards the production of piadina began in the first laboratories, spreading the product even outside the territory.

How do you recognize the correct cooking of piadina?

When cooked properly, piadina should have characteristic brown spots.

How to enjoy it?

It is a product that goes with many fillings starting from the classics: with squacquerone to move on to cheeses such as pecorino or scamorza. Perfect with ham or sausage. With porchetta, with vegetable creams such as pumpkin cream, zucchini cream. With spinach or herbs, grilled zucchini with parmesan. With salmon or tuna. Have you ever tried it in a sweet version? banana and chocolate, pistachio and ricotta cream, apples and cinnamon.