Piadina vs. Tortilla: What's the Difference?

The different geographic origins of Piadina and tortilla

The two specialties are miles apart, not only in terms of kilometres but also because they represent two vastly different worlds.

In Italy there is a saying that goes: “Don’t call it piadina if it’s not made in Romagna”, this being a small geographical area of northern Italy facing the Adriatic Sea. It comprises part of Bologna province and the provincial districts of Rimini, Ravenna and Forlì-Cesena. Together with Emilia this is one of the most important food districts in the world. The people of Romagna are so proud of their local specialty that they applied for and obtained PGI (Protected Geographical Application) for its two versions in 2014: the so-called Piadina Terre di Romagna and the Piadina Romagnola di Rimini.

Tortillas originally came from Mexico. According to a Maya legend, they were invented by a peasant for his hungry king and the first tortillas apparently date back to around 10,000 BC, when they were made from maize. The piadina comes from a tiny area but is well known worldwide. The tortilla is made in vast regions and is one of the most popular “bread” varieties of all.

Different types of flour used in piadina and tortillas

The ideal flour for making piadina is 0-type or 00-type wheat flour. When poverty was rife, people used to make what was known as the pjida armescla (mixed piadina) by mixing maize and wheat flours, also called the pjida ad furmantoun (maize flour piadina), a food that was associated with hard times.

The original tortilla recipe, according to the Mexican tradition, requires a special flour called masa harina, or maize flour. This is a husked and pre-cooked flour which is also gluten-free for the joy of those who suffer from this type of food intolerance.

The difference in fats used in piadina and tortilla. 

The authentic piadina contains animal fat in the form of lard. This was what the azdora or housewife normally had in her larder. She used to knead the piadina dough using flour, water, salt, and lard. Le Mariette di Casa Artusi, an association set up to safeguard original recipes of the Italian culinary tradition, even indicate a particular type of lard as being the best, that obtained from the Mora di Romagna, an autochthonous breed of pigs. Nowadays, it is quite common to come across versions of piadina containing butter or olive oil, but not in its area of origin.

On the other hand, no fat is added to the tortilla, either to its dough or during cooking.

Piadina use leavening, tortillas use none

No yeast is needed to make tortilla, but a pinch of bicarbonate of (baking) soda (4 g per 500 g of flour) is added to piadina dough. However, this innovation dates back to the 30s and was unheard of before then.

Further differences: diameter, thickness and techniques

Once the azdora has prepared the dough, it is set aside to rest, in the form of numerous little buns. Even today, the piadinas are rolled out into disks or piade of about 25-30 cm in diameter using a rolling pin. They may vary in thickness, from 2 to 5 millimetres, according to where they are made. They rise when cooked.

Tortillas are flattened, either using a special machine, or by pressing the ball of dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper with a plate. They are smaller in diameter than the piadina and are never thicker than 4 mm.

Piadina and tortilla recipes