Crispy Piadina
Serve a dramatic, oversized, crispy piadina alongside your favorite dips and spreads. They’re better (and cheaper!) than most crackers you buy, the dough is a breeze to make, and you can accent them with all sorts of seeds, herbs, or spices.
I’m writing about these crispy piadina (thin Italian flatbread) because of a favorite parking space. Whenever we drive to San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood we park in the tower next to the police station. If you drive up to the roof you can enjoy an amazing view of the city, so we always park there. When you walk out of the garage, make a left, walk a short distance, and you’ll likely see what I saw. In the front window of Toscano Brothers there are stacks of gorgeous flatbreads. The first time I saw them, I walked straight in and bought both flavors. One had garlic oil, black and white sesame seeds, orange blossom honey, and salt. There other had garlic, rosemary, and salt. The car on the way home smelled like a bakery.
Quite honestly I’m not sure what to call these. Toscano Brothers calls theirs Piattina and in parentheses (Italian Flats). They have a lot in common with certain piadina (thin Italian flatbread), but there are notable departures with this version. Traditional piadina are cooked in a skillet (or round clay comal-like pan). These are baked. Most piadina retain their softness and foldability. These, in contrast, have a range of textures - the thick parts retain some softness while the thin parts are baked long enough to snap and shatter.
I love them. They’re large and dramatic, rustic and imperfectly perfect. You can see (below) where I served the Toscano Brothers piattina with smoked labneh. A few weeks back, instead of driving across the city, I started baking my own version. I make my favorite pizza dough late in the afternoon, let it rest overnight in the refrigerator, then roll out and bake the piadina the next day when convenient. So simple, so good!
Crispy Piadina: Variations
As you can imagine, the opportunity for variations here is immense. I did a version with 2 teaspoons of herbes de Provence, and that was really good. I think these are going to be a staple around here, so there are ideas for a lot of variations to try swimming around in my head. I also noticed a big cracker / flatbread recipe in Mariana Velasquez’s beautiful new book Revel (bought it yesterday) - she calls them Long Seedy Crackers. Her take uses an egg wash across the dough before sprinkling with seeds which I’m sure gives nice sheen and color. Her dough is also interesting in that it is a blend of all-purpose flour and brown rice flour, no leavener, and a good amount of olive oil. Excited to try it! I’ll update here with variations over time. In the meantime, enjoy!
A Little Too Thin, A Little Too Hot
I wanted to show one of the pitfalls you can run into with these. The first few rounds I made I ran the oven hotter, pulled each piadina thinner, and made them extra large. See below. Sometimes I'd add a few decorative slashes as well.
The thin portions were getting too dark too fast, and the edges stayed too light. This round pictured below was baked at 450°F, and the dough ball was about 170g spread across a large baking sheet. See how dark it got? I started having much more reliable results dialing the oven back to 400°F, and working with slightly smaller dough balls - 125g.
With that approach (pictured below), I got more even coloring, and it was an easier, less intense bake overall. You can also, certainly, cook these in a large skillet.
Have fun with these and let me know if you give them a try!
More Crackers and Flatbread Recipes
- Pizza Dough
- Grilled Pizza
- Grissini
- Oatmeal Crackers
- Buckwheat Cheese Straws
- Homemade Cheese Crackers
- Olive Oil Crackers
More Italian Recipes
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Crispy Piadina
If you have bread flour, use it. If not, unbleached all-purpose flour works just fine. Please note, I call for instant yeast here, not active dry yeast which allows you to proceed without proofing the dough. To double the recipe, double all ingredients including the yeast. This recipe makes enough dough for four flatbreads.
- 300 g bread flour (or unbleached all-purpose flour), plus more for dusting
- 1.5 g instant yeast (~1/2 teaspoon)
- 7 g fine grain sea salt (scant 1 teaspoon)
- 200 g ice-cold water
- 4 g extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the pans
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
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Whisk the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl.
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Add the cold water and olive oil and stir to combine.
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Turn the dough out onto a counter, and knead for about three minutes. Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes. Knead for another 3 minutes and then cut the dough in half, and then half again. You should have 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a ball pulling the ball toward you to develop a bit of surface tension. Rub a small amount of olive oil on each ball then transfer each to a small container or plastic sandwich bag. Refrigerate overnight. The dough can be used after the overnight rest and kept up to three days.
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A couple hours before you’re ready to make piadine, bring the dough to room temperature, this usually takes about 2 hours. I look for bubbles and loftiness in the dough.
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Heat your oven to 400°F with a racks in the top and bottom thirds. Rub two baking sheets with a bit of olive oil. Take one of your dough balls, lightly dust with flour. On a lightly floured counter, press and pull the dough into a thin oval - about 8 inches long. If your dough shrinks back, allow it to rest for a few minutes and try again. Place on the oiled baking sheet, then flip the dough so the oiled side is up. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and press them gently in using fingertips - so they stick. Bake until everything is nice and golden, 7-10 minutes, rotating from bottom rack to top rack roughly half way through. Don’t let the thin parts of the dough get too dark.
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Remove from oven, and allow to cool completely. Break into large shards and serve with your favorite dips and spreads.
Makes four.
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