Piadini

, from Issue #27. September, 2015
Photography by Vanessa Wu.
Piadini

A casual dinner for friends or family is easily achieved with this simple Italian flat-bread. Piadini is basically pizza dough, rolled out and cooked on the flat plate of your barbecue. Fold each bread in half and stuff it with your favourite Italian flavours. Best served hot, straight from the barbecue, have all the fillings arranged on a platter and let each diner choose their own.

INGREDIENTS

Dough
1 1⁄4 cups plain flour
1 1⁄4 teaspoons instant dried yeast
1⁄2 teaspoon sea salt
good grinding black pepper
1⁄2 teaspoon ground fennel seed
1⁄2 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Filling
rocket
fresh mozzarella
vine tomatoes
basil
prosciutto or salami
thinly sliced fennel
dried chorizo, sliced and sautéed
roasted capsicum
pesto or mayonnaise

METHOD

Dough: Combine all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Mix the water, olive oil and lemon juice together and stir into the flour to make a loose dough. Tip onto a lightly floured bench. Dust your hands with flour and bring the dough together then knead for a few minutes until it becomes smooth and elastic. Try not to add extra flour – the dough will become less sticky with kneading.

Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour, until doubled in size.

To cook: Break off golf ball-sized pieces of dough and roll out very thinly on a lightly floured bench to 20 cm rounds. Brush one side with olive oil and place, oiled side down, on the barbecue or in a sauté pan. Brush the top side with olive oil. Cook for about 1 minute or until puffed and golden. Turn and cook the other side. Fold in half and keep warm in a tea towel if necessary.

To serve: Spread each bread with a little pesto or mayonnaise and fill with your desired flavours. Makes about 8 piadini.