Piadina Romagnola

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Piadina (or piada) is the unleavened flatbread of Romagna — cooked on a testo (terracotta or cast iron disc) over a fire or gas flame, and as fundamental to Romagnol identity as baguette is to French or naan to Indian cooking. The dough is flour, lard (strutto), salt, water, and traditionally a pinch of bicarbonate of soda (not yeast — piadina is not a risen bread). The disc is rolled thin — 2-4mm — and cooked on the hot testo for 1-2 minutes per side until blistered and lightly charred in spots, remaining pliable rather than crisp. The thickness varies by sub-region: in Rimini and the southern Romagna coast, piadina is thin and crackly; in Ravenna and Forlì, it is thicker and softer. This is not a trivial distinction — it is a matter of fierce local pride. Piadina is split open while warm and filled: the canonical fillings are squacquerone cheese with rocket (rucola), prosciutto crudo, or sausage and rapini. The combination of warm, lard-enriched flatbread with cool, creamy squacquerone and peppery rocket is one of the great simple food combinations of Italy. Piadina was historically poverty food — the bread of share-croppers and agricultural workers who could not afford oven-baked bread. It was cooked on the fireplace and eaten immediately, filled with whatever was available. The Romagnol poet Giovanni Pascoli called it 'the bread, indeed the national food, of the Romagnoli.' Today it is Romagna's most recognized export after Sangiovese wine, and piadinerie (piadina shops) are as common in Romagna as pizzerias elsewhere in Italy. Piadina Romagnola has held IGP (Indicazione Geografica Protetta) status since 2014.

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