Piadina Romagnola

Piadina Romagnola is a thin, unleavened flatbread, cooked on a griddle and folded around a filling of cheese or cured meat. It is eaten in San Marino and in Romagna, an area of northern Italy, and both places share it as an everyday food. The dough is simple, so the bread is quick to make and cook, and the filling is what changes from one piadina to the next.

What it really is

Flour, water, salt and baking soda are mixed with lard into a soft dough, rolled out thin and cooked on a hot flat griddle until pale with brown spots on both sides. With no yeast, the bread stays flat and tender rather than rising. Lard is the traditional fat, so the classic bread is not vegetarian, although some kitchens now use oil instead.

The bread is plain, and the filling makes the dish. The usual choices are soft cheese such as squacquerone, a fresh cheese from Romagna, often with rocket, or cured meat such as prosciutto or salami.

How it's served

• Hot from the griddle, folded or rolled around the filling while the bread is still soft.
• Cut into halves or quarters, or eaten whole in the hand.
• Filled as the guest orders, and eaten without cutlery.

How to write it on the menu

• Name the filling plainly, for example "piadina with squacquerone and rocket" or "piadina with cured pork", since the filling is what the guest chooses.
• Flag wheat in the bread. Add milk when cheese is in the filling, and flag any other allergen in the filling separately.
• Say that the bread is made with lard, and that cured meat is pork, so guests who avoid pork or animal fat can ask before they order.
• Say whether the bread is made with lard or with oil, since recipes differ.