Name: Piadina romagnola
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 1 h 20 min
Cuisine: Italian, Romagna / Emilia-Romagna
Ingredients: 500 g plain wheat flour; 250 g water, room temperature; 80 g lard, softened; 10 g fine sea salt; 240 g squacquerone or another very soft fresh cow’s-milk cheese; 180 g prosciutto crudo, thinly sliced; 90 g arugula, washed and thoroughly dried

Piadina romagnola with prosciutto, squacquerone-style cheese and arugula

Prep30 minutes

Cook20 minutes

Total1 h 20 min

Yield6 piadine, about 25 cm each

Jump to recipe ↓

The dish

About Piadina romagnola

Piadina Romagnola is the griddled flatbread most closely identified with Romagna. The PGI consortium defines a dough based on wheat or spelt flour, water, fat and salt, with two recognised finished styles: a thicker, more friable piadina and a thinner, softer Riminese type.

The supplied photographs show flexible folded piadine, so this recipe selects the thinner style while keeping within the logic of the protected specification. The dough itself remains simple: flour, water, lard and salt, with no long fermentation. It rests only to relax the gluten enough for clean rolling.

Each ball is rolled to a round roughly 25 cm across and about 2–3 mm thick. A hot griddle creates the irregular toasted blisters associated with the thinner style. Cooking should be fast—roughly a few minutes total—so the bread stays pliable instead of becoming cracker-dry.

The filling shown in the images also fits common Romagna service: prosciutto, a soft fresh cheese such as squacquerone and arugula. These ingredients are included here so the visible hero and the recipe describe the same finished food rather than presenting an empty flatbread while the photograph shows a filled one.

The bread is filled while warm, when steam and residual heat soften the cheese slightly without wilting the greens completely. It is folded once and eaten promptly, while the browned surface remains tender at the fold and lightly crisp at the edges.

Technique

Three things that matter

Rest before rolling. A short covered rest relaxes gluten and keeps the discs from shrinking back.
Use a genuinely hot griddle. Quick contact creates browned blisters before the thin bread dries out.
Fill while warm. Warm piadina folds cleanly and softens fresh cheese without turning arugula limp.

Cook the dish

Ingredients

Everything needed to prepare the dish, arranged for fast scanning before cooking.

Piadina dough

500 gplain wheat flour
250 gwaterroom temperature
80 glardsoftened
10 gfine sea salt

Classic filling for the photographed version

240 gsquacquerone or another very soft fresh cow’s-milk cheese
180 gprosciutto crudothinly sliced
90 garugulawashed and thoroughly dried

Step by step

Method

Mix and rest the dough

Knead until smooth. Mix flour and salt. Work in the soft lard, then add the water gradually and knead 7–8 minutes until smooth and supple.
The dough should feel firm but flexible, with no dry cracks.
Divide and rest. Divide into six equal balls, cover and rest for 30 minutes at room temperature.
A rested ball should flatten without snapping back sharply.

Roll and cook

Heat the griddle. Preheat a dry heavy griddle to about 220–250 °C over medium-high heat.
A drop of water should dance and evaporate rapidly rather than sit on the surface.
Roll one disc. Roll one dough ball to roughly 25 cm and 2–3 mm thick, keeping the other balls covered. Prick a few oversized air pockets if needed.
The disc should be even enough to cook before thin edges burn.
Cook both sides. Lay the disc on the dry griddle for about 60–90 seconds, until amber spots form; turn and cook the second side, then turn once more briefly if needed.
The piadina should show toasted blisters but remain soft enough to fold without cracking.

Fill and fold

Add cheese and prosciutto. Spread about 40 g squacquerone over one half of each warm piadina and layer with about 30 g prosciutto.
The cheese should soften but not liquefy onto the griddle.
Finish with arugula. Add a handful of dry arugula, fold the piadina in half and serve immediately.
The fold should stay flexible and the greens should remain fresh and peppery.

Practical guidance

PGI context

Homemade piadina outside the designated production area is not automatically a certified PGI product; the consortium specification is used here as a technical reference.

Lard or olive oil

Both fats are associated with the protected specification. Lard is selected for this flexible, savoury version; olive oil makes a different but legitimate style.

Filling

Prosciutto, soft cheese and arugula match the supplied photographs and a familiar Romagna serving pattern. Other fillings are variations.

Troubleshooting

The dough shrinks while rolling. It needs more covered rest. Give the ball another 10 minutes before forcing it thinner.
The piadina cracks when folded. It was rolled too thick and cooked too long, or cooled before filling.
The surface stays pale. The griddle is not hot enough. Increase heat before lengthening the cook.
Large raw bubbles form. Press or prick only the largest pockets; small blistering is desirable.

Nutrition per serving

Serving size: 1 filled piadina
Calories: approximately 600 kcal
Carbohydrates: 72 g
Protein: 20 g
Fat: 25 g
Fibre: 4 g
Sodium: approximately 1,050 mg

Estimate includes one-sixth of the dough, squacquerone, prosciutto and arugula; cured-ham and cheese sodium vary by producer.

Allergens and food safety

Contains wheat/gluten and milk.

Keep squacquerone and prosciutto refrigerated until shortly before filling.

Do not leave filled piadine at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

FAQ

Is piadina a yeast bread?

The simple traditional formula used here does not rely on a long yeast fermentation; it is mixed, rested, rolled and griddled.

How thin should it be?

This selected flexible style is rolled to roughly 2–3 mm, consistent with the thinner Riminese end of the PGI specification.

Can olive oil replace lard?

Yes. The protected specification permits fats including lard or olive oil, though flavour and tenderness change.

Final note

What matters most

Result: A warm, blistered flatbread that folds without cracking around creamy squacquerone, savoury prosciutto and peppery arugula.
Key: Rest the dough, roll evenly and cook quickly on a hot dry griddle.