Piadina is a thin, crumbly flatbread ready in minutes and filled with something tasty. It is a classic Italian street food that you can find filled with everything from meats and cheeses to greens or even something sweet.
The flavors in the flatbread pair well with many different sweet or savory ingredients, but my favorite way to fill piadina is with fresh mozzarella, salty prosciutto and peppery arugula. One of my all time favorite trios and after one bite of this piadina, it will probably be one of your favorites too.
Let’s get started…
Begin by gathering the ingredients to make your piadina dough. You will need 375 grams of all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, 2 teaspoon of baking powder, 50 grams of shortening and 230 grams of warm whole milk.
I do recommend weighing the ingredients to ensure your dough turns out as fabulous as possible, but if you do not have a kitchen scale, the cup measurements are included in the recipe below. Be sure to spoon fluffy flour into your measuring cups and level them off with the back of a butter knife. Scooping flour out of the bag or container will compress the flour adding too much into the dough and this may cause it to be too dry or even too brittle to roll out.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt and baking powder and then add the shortening. There are several ways that you can incorporate the shortening into the flour. The OG method is by pressing small pieces of shortening into the flour with your fingers, but you can also do this with a stiff fork or dough cutter similar to woking butter into biscuit dough.
If you are not confident with these choices, you can also melt the shortening down in the microwave and drizzle it over the flour as evenly as possible.
Once the shortening has been added, add the warm milk and mix until a dough forms. This dough is tighter than traditional bread dough. Piadina is a bit more cracker like in texture, still flexible and soft, but more on the crumbly side than the puffy side like naan or other flatbreads usually are.
Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and knead until it comes together and can be formed into a round ball, about 2 minutes or so. This dough does not need to be kneaded very much, just enough to ensure the flour is incorporated.
Divide the ball of dough into 6 equal portions and form each portion into a ball. Place the portions of dough onto a lightly floured surface, cover them with a kitchen towel and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Place a flat skillet or griddle over medium heat and begin shaping your first portion of dough…
Start by using the palm of your hand to gently press the ball of dough out into a round disk. Use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough out to less than 1/4 inch thickness. You can roll them out round or into an oval or more like a rectangle, depending on how you plan to fold them once they are filled.
I am never too particular on their shape, as I always fold them in half like a taco, so as long as their two sides are similar, I am happy.
Use a fork to poke holes all over the surface of the dough and transfer the piadina onto a warm, dry skillet.
Cook for 60-90 seconds on the first side and once lightly charred, flip it over and cook for about the same amount of time on the other side.
Once your first piadina is cooked, wrap it in a large kitchen towel to stay warm and repeat the process with the remaining portions of dough.
You want to keep the dough and the cooked piadinas covered during the entire process. The unshaped dough will dry out if left uncovered and the cooked piadina will cool and become too flaky to fold if not kept warmly wrapped in a towel.
Continue to stack the warm, freshly cooked piadina on top of each other in the towel until all of the dough has been cooked.
So, technically you can fill your piadina with anything, but I highly suggest some thinly sliced fresh mozzarella, prosciutto and arugula. It is such a delicious combination…
Start by placing a thin layer of mozzarella over one half of a piece of piadina. I always turn my ovens high broiler on and lightly melt the mozzarella before adding the other filling, but this is optional. If your piadina is still really warm from cooking, it will start to soften the mozzarella as you add it.
Add a layer of thinly sliced prosciutto and a big handful of arugula and fold the piadina in half. Gently press down and slice the folded piadina in half. If you are not a fan of plain arugula, I suggest either tossing it in some olive oil and a squeeze of lemon or adding leafy greens or wilted kale instead. Any green will work, cool or wilted.
This is one of my favorite lunches and they travel nicely too. Simply make the piadina, fill them and wrap them tightly in foil for your work lunch or a trip to the beach. They are good warm, at room temperature or even chilled. The piadina flatbread is softest and most flexible warm, but still tastes great when filled, folded and chilled.
Buon Appetito!
Piadina - Italian Flatbread Sandwich
Ingredients
Piadina Flatbread
- 375 grams of all purpose flour (about 3 cups)
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- 50 grams of shortening or olive oil (1/4 cup)
- 230 grams whole milk, warm (just under 1 cup around 100 degrees)
Piadina Filling
- fresh mozzarella
- prosciutto
- arugula
Instructions
- In a large bowl, whisk 375 grams of all purpose flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of baking powder
- Use a stiff fork to work 50 grams of shortening into the flour mixture until no large pieces remain (alternatively, melt the shortening and drizzle over the flour)
- Form a well in the flour mixture and add 200 grams of warm milk into the well
- Begin working the flour into the warm milk until a soft dough begins to form
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and knead the dough for about 3 minutes, adding a pinch of flour if the dough feels sticky
- Divide the dough into 6 equal portions and gently form into round balls
- Cover the dough with a kitchen towel and let the dough rest for 10 minutes on the floured surface
- Place a flat skillet or griddle over medium heat
- Working with one portion of dough at a time, roll the dough out to a large circle approximately 8-9 inches across and less than 1/4 inch thick
- Use a fork to poke holes in the dough
- Transfer the dough onto a dry, preheated skillet
- Cook for a minute or two on the first side and once the bottom is lightly charred, flip and cook for another minute or two on the other side
- Transfer the cooked piadina into a large kitchen towel and wrap it to keep it warm while you work with the other portions of dough
- Repeat the process with the other portions of dough and stack them all in the towel
- To fill the piadina, line one half of a warm piadina with thinly sliced fresh mozzarella
- Top with thinly sliced prosciutto and arugula
- Fold the piadina in half, slice in half and enjoy!
- Store left over piadina wrapped tightly at room temperature
