Piadina

Let’s talk about Piadina romagnola today, one of the greatest treasures of our land of Romagna!
 
​The piadina from Romagna, also called piada or pida in our dialect, was our bread, the bread of the poor, precisely because its ingredients were, and still are, poor.
 
Today it has become a symbol of Romagna, of our culture, our way of life but also of Italy.
 
Certified IGP (Protected Origin), it is known and appreciated all over the world, genuine more than ever and tasty, especially if filled with Carpegna ham, local salami, Squacquerone cheese with rocket salad or simply with sardines from our Adriatic Sea.
 
There are several variations, thicker towards the town of Bertinoro, thinner towards the city of Rimini: the correct thickness?
 
Obviously for us it is the one from Santarcangelo di Romagna, the one made by Nonna Violante, the Azdora (the mistress of the home, mother and best cook in the world) of the Eliseo family, here in Bellaria Igea Marina!
 
During the cooking lessons with Nonna Violante, it is nice to see our friends knead the piadina, roll it with a rolling pin on a cutting board, strictly made in wood, and learn the art of cooking it on the special cast iron pan.
 
Do you want to try it too at home?
 

Nonna Violante’s Piadina Recipe - Hotel Eliseo
 
Preparation 40 minutes
Cooking 5 minutes
Portions 5 people
 
Ingredients
500 g of soft plain white flour 0
75 g lard or extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch of salt
1 teaspoon of baking soda or baking powder 
Enough warm water to knead
 
Instructions
Pour the flour onto the cutting board and create a hollow in the middle. Add the soft, but not hot, lard, the baking soda, the salt and the warm water, just enough to obtain a soft and elastic dough. 
Divide the dough into 5 small balls, roll them out with a rolling pin and then cook them on the hot pan. Don't forget to pierce the surface to avoid creating bubbles. 
The piadina cooks very quickly, so take care to keep an eye on it and turn it over often. The temperature of the pan should be initially rather hot, so that the dough creates an external crispy crust. Inside the dough should be cooked but soft.
 
Once cooked, fill them to taste and ... Enjoy them!!!
 
Always with the piadina dough it is also possible to make cassoni, a kind of piadina with a softer dough, folded in half (it looks like a calzone), stuffed with wild forage herbs, spinach, mozzarella and tomatoes and many other ingredients, cooked directly on the pan.
 
But this is another story that we will tell you soon...