UNLEAVENED BREAD, A SHARED TRADITION

Bread, in Italy, is as popular as pasta and pizza. It is the first thing that gets served in restaurants, without even asking for it. We eat bread together with almost any dish except pasta, rice and – of course – dessert, but when a delicious layer of sauce remains on the plate, we can’t help but making scarpetta, that is using a piece of bread to collect it and enjoy it.

Even though more than 250 different types of bread are baked all over the country, including regional varieties, not many people know that unleavened bread is the most ancient one. 

Dating back to prehistoric times, when man began to grind cereals to make an edible dough but had neither the knowledge nor the means of leavening it, unleavened bread is made only with flour and water, without yeast. Regarded as “poor food”, it is made all over the world. Unleavened bread plays a central role in Jewish culture, especially during Passover or Pesach as, during this feast, leavened bread is banned from Jewish homes for a week, in memory of the Exodus.

Under the name of lavash or matzah, unleavened bread is a staple ingredient in many meals in the Middle East. Intangible heritage of humanity for UNESCO since 2014, lavash is a flat bread made with water, flour and salt. Rather popular in Armenia and Artsakh, it also eaten in Iran, Turkey, Georgia and throughout the entire Middle East.

It is a sort puff pastry which is soft right out of the oven – so it can be filled and rolled up – but that becomes crunchy as it cools thus becoming perfect to be eaten as a snack, used as a base for croutons or to accompany meals. Lavash can be stored for a long time if kept in an airtight container.

Also in Punjab, in northwestern India, a flat and round-shaped bread without yeast is commonly prepared by mixing water, semi-wholewheat flour and salt. It is called chapati and is rather popular also in southern Asia, eastern Africa and in some areas of the Middle East. It is typically used to accompany vegetables, legumes and curry and is generally enriched with ghee, clarified butter typical of Asian cuisine.

On the other side of the world, we find Mexican tortillas. Made with corn or wheat flour, they are eaten as a side dish – like our Italian bread – but more frequently used as the main ingredient of many recipes of the Mexican cuisine and of the Tex-Mex as well. Despite their ancient origin, as they date back to Aztecs’ times, tortillas very much resemble our piadina romagnola.

The symbol of folk traditions from the Romagna part of Emilia Romagna region, it is now commonly known as piadina and enjoyed throughout the Italian peninsula. In the classic version, it is stuffed with prosciutto crudo, rocket and Squacquerone cheese but any ingredient becomes irresistible inside a piadina: just like for panini, possibilities are endless.