Quick and Easy Italian Flatbreads

Making bread, whether it’s crusty baguettes or plush, buttery brioche, is incredibly rewarding. But it almost always takes a long time—and, depending on the loaf, a lot of finesse. That’s why I love making flatbreads. With little to no yeast, these thin, rustic rounds come together fast and cook up even faster, sometimes right on the stovetop. And piadina, the centuries-old Italian flatbread, might be the easiest and fastest to make of all.

Originally from the northern region of Emilia-Romagna but now popular all over Italy, piadina (“little plate”) delivers a moist, tender chew that falls somewhere between the texture of a flour tortilla and that of an unpuffed pita. Traditionally, the dough was made from flour, salt, lard (Emilia-Romagna is pig country), and water and the breads were baked on earthenware disks over an open fire. Contemporary recipes often call for leavening the dough with baking powder and cooking the rounds in a cast-iron