Piadina Romagnola Rapida
Colazione e Merenda: The Sweet Start and the After-School Save
Work against a fifteen-minute clock, because the smell of a piadina blistering in a hot cast-iron pan smells like toasted lard and warm flour. This thin, pliant flatbread demands only pantry staples; mixed in five minutes and rested while the kids finish their math homework, it hits a smoking cast-iron skillet until the dough blisters, yielding a hot, flaky bread that shatters slightly at the edges when folded and puts store-bought Mission tortillas to absolute shame. Fold it over melting stracchino cheese and eat it standing up.
Before you start
Whip the ricotta and cream cheese together to mimic authentic Squacquerone.
Authentic Squacquerone is a meltingly soft, tangy cow's milk cheese native to Emilia-Romagna and nearly impossible to find in the States. Vigorously mix the whole milk ricotta with the cream cheese and a pinch of salt until perfectly smooth to brilliantly replicate its lactic tang and texture.
Ingredients
- all-purpose flour3 1/3 cup
- extra virgin olive oil1/3 cup
- water1/2 cup
- whole milk1/2 cup
- fine sea salt1 1/2 tsp
- baking powder1 1/2 tsp
- baking soda1/4 tsp
- whole milk ricotta1/2 cup
- cream cheese2 tbsp
- prosciutto crudo8 oz
- fresh arugula2 cup
Method
- 01
Whisk the dry ingredients and gradually incorporate the wet components to form a shaggy dough.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Make a well in the center and pour in the olive oil, warm water, and warm milk. Use a fork to gradually pull the flour into the liquid until it comes together.
- 02
Knead the dough until perfectly smooth and let it rest at room temperature for thirty minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a clean surface and knead it with your hands for five to eight minutes until soft and no longer sticky. Form it into a ball, cover it tightly with an overturned bowl, and walk away. This crucial rest relaxes the gluten so the dough won't snap back when you try to roll it.
- 03
Divide the rested dough into equal pieces and roll them out into thin circles.
Cut the dough into four or five even pieces. On a clean, unfloured surface, use a rolling pin to stretch each ball into a circle about ten inches in diameter and an eighth of an inch thick.
- 04
Preheat a dry cast-iron skillet until it is smoking hot.
Do not add any oil to the pan. A heavy cast-iron skillet brilliantly replicates the thermal mass of a traditional Italian testo, giving the bread its signature sear.
- 05
Cook the dough in the dry skillet and immediately pierce it all over with a fork.
Drop the rolled dough into the pan and aggressively prick the surface with a fork to let the steam escape and prevent it from blowing up like a balloon. Cook for about two minutes until the bottom is spotted with dark, charred blisters, then flip and cook the other side for another minute or two.
- 06
Fill the flatbread, fold it in half, and serve it immediately.
Move the hot piadina to a plate. Smear one half with the ricotta cheese mixture, layer on the prosciutto, and top with a handful of arugula. Fold it in half like a taco so the bread's heat softens the cheese and warms the meat.
Notes
Swap the olive oil for high-quality pork lard if you want the uncompromised flavor of the Romagnolo homeland.
True authenticity demands strutto (lard). It coats the flour proteins efficiently and yields a remarkably flaky crust. Olive oil works beautifully for a fast weeknight, but lard is the genuine old-school secret.
Turn this dough into an after-school Crescione by stuffing and sealing it before cooking.
Roll out the raw dough, place mozzarella and tomato sauce on one half, fold it over, and aggressively crimp the edges shut with a fork. Cook the sealed half-moon in the skillet over medium heat for an unbelievable homemade Italian hot pocket.
Embrace the sweet start by spreading the hot flatbread with Nutella.
If serving for a sweet breakfast or snack, skip the savory fillings and smear the inside of a freshly cooked piadina with Nutella or fig jam, letting it melt beautifully into the bread.
From Cook Italian in America.