Piada is an unleavened flatbread typical of Romagna (Italy). It is currently produced with wheat flour, lard or olive oil, salt and water mixed together and spread to form a thin pastry round, then cooked on a terracotta dish (called Teggia) or on a metal plate or stone (called Testo).
Piada roots in Ancient Rome, where you can find the first traces of this bread, but the first written recipe is much more recent and is attributable to Anglico de Grimoard who, in Descriptio provinciae Romandiolae (October 9 1371), writes that «It is made with wheat flour soaked with water and seasoned with salt. It can also be mixed with milk and seasoned with a little lard.»
The recipe has been adapted several times throughout history, especially when wars, famine or other disasters struck the region; due to expensive and low availability of wheat flour, it was very common to use other poorer flours (such as bran or acorn flour, beans, spelt, corn).
The exclusive use of wheat flour has been consolidated only in the past few decades; also recent is the consolidation in the recipe of the "fat" component, represented by lard or olive oil, which makes Piada much more tasty.
Piada is often used during the meal instead of bread to accompany various dishes, but it is more frequently folded in half and stuffed with many kinds of ingredients. Some of there are: grilled sausage, onion, any kind of salumi (especially cured ham), baked ham, fresh and semi-soft cheese (especially Stracchino and Squacquerone), vegetables and wild herbs (mainly rocket and garden cress, but also vegetables au gratin). Sweet fillings are very popular too; the most common are nutella and fruit jams.
Cassone is a kind of Piada that is stuffed before cooking. Its folded and sealed at the edges to prevent the escape of filling and cooked as a normal Piada. Cassone can be filled with any kind of ingredients, there isnt an official one, but the most popular are: wild herbs, tomato sauce, mozzarella, potatoes, sausages, mushrooms and cooked ham.
This App was born from the desire to enhance these important craft products and to give a useful tool to find all Piada & Cassoni shops in Romagna and in the world.
We decided to catalog all the delis and restaurants where you can enjoy craft and freshly prepared Piade & Cassoni, take-away or sit-down. Initially we collected only Piada & Cassoni in Romagna, but we are working hard to complete the offer with all the shops around the world.
You can search shops in your city, mark your favorites, contact them directly via the "Call" function, create the route from your location and add them as a contact to the address book.