The piedina 

If you don't know piadina, raise your hand. Here, see? Nobody. Piadina is one of the very few street foods that has been able to make itself known all over the world, thanks to its fragrance, its simplicity, its taste, its reproducibility. Of course, we who are not from Romagna are all used to it badly and maybe we had the unfortunate idea of buying those already cooked vacuum-packed that make us sad. But the piadina, the real one, fragrant, freshly cooked on the tegie can only be found here. And - be careful - "here" means Romagna, with its epicenter in Cesena and then sloping down to the sea (did you know? The farther you go towards Rimini, the thinner the piadina becomes). The object, as I said, needs no introduction: a disc of water, flour, salt and then it depends on the place, maybe lard, maybe oil, maybe yeast, maybe baking soda. In the past, it was cooked on the fireplace, today it is more trivial on a griddle. Then, of course, you stuff it with raw ham, cheese, all the cured meats, cheeses and vegetables that God sent to earth, you go out and bite. If you then close them, seal them, then they are called cress (in Rimini they become caissons). Foreigners like me, be careful: eating a piadina in Cesena, after biting into so many, it can hurt. 

INGREDIENTS

500 g flour 

80 g of lard (or alternatively 50 ml of extra virgin olive oil)

250 g water

1/2 tbsp salt

TO FILL

cheese

Ham

arugula

PREPARATION

To prepare the piadina, collect the flour, lard (or oil) and salt in the mixing bowl. Knead for 4 minutes at ear speed, adding the water flush through the hole in the lid. You will have to obtain a soft and well-blended dough. Divide the dough into 16 pieces of the same weight to shape them into balls. Take them one at a time, keeping the others covered with a cloth, and roll them out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured pastry board. You have to obtain a thin sheet, about 2-3 millimeters thick. Heat a non-stick frying pan, without adding oil or other fats, and when it is very hot, put the disc of dough in it. As soon as bubbles begin to form, prick them with the tines of a fork. Then cook for a couple of minutes on each side. Continue like this until each one is cooked, stacking the wraps one on top of the other as they are ready. Fill the piadina with your favorite or traditional ingredients such as cheese, prosciutto crudo and arugula.