Piadina

It seems that most cultures have a flatbread of sorts. I thought the Italian versions were pizza and focaccia – and then I learned about piadina. Piadina hails from the north of Italy – Emilia-Romagna – more or less between Florence and Venice. It is a simple bread of flour, water, lard, and often a bit of dairy – from milk to yogurt to sour cream – and dates from the 1300s. I used sour cream today, because that’s what I had in the ‘fridge.

Right out of the skillet, it is soft and feathery-light. I have no idea what it’s like after it has set for an hour – we didn’t let it sit for 10 minutes!

I had seen a sandwich on La Cucina Italiana made with piadina and thin slices of fried eggplant and even thinner slices of swordfish. My first thought was to fry up an eggplant, but then I thought of using Little Gram’s Eggplant Appetizer that I made, yesterday, along with some lettuce and hot peppers from the yard.

It worked. Really worked!

piadina

I cut the recipe in half because I only wanted two.

Piadina

adapted from Milk Street

  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 cup sour cream
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/3 cup lard, room temperature

Directions

In a food processor, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Process 5 seconds. Add the lard and process until combined, about 10 seconds. With the processor running, add the yogurt and then the water. Process until the dough forms a smooth ball, about 1 minute.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each into a ball, then cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare your toppings.

Roll each dough ball into a 10-inch round. Poke the surfaces all over with a fork.

Heat a 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium until a drop of water sizzles immediately, 4 to 6 minutes. One at a time, place a dough round in the skillet and cook until the bottom is charred in spots, 1 to 2 minutes. Using tongs, flip and cook for 30 seconds.

Transfer to a plate and cover loosely with foil.

This is another really quick and easy bread that really surpassed all expectations! I pretty much figured it would be good – but I had no idea how good it was going to be! The eggplant and the peppers really made for a spicy and flavorful sandwich – something I can see us having, again.