Italian Umbrian Griddle Bread with Prosciutto | Torta al Testo con Prosciutto

Sep 30

11 min read

Torta al Testo con Prosciutto (Italian Umbrian Griddle Bread with Prosciutto)

Torta al testo is the flatbread of Umbria, a thin disc of plain dough cooked on a hot griddle until it puffs, freckles and smells of toasted wheat. It is split open while still warm and packed with thin slices of prosciutto, peppery arugula and a little fresh cheese. The bread is simple, and that is the point: the crust is crisp at the edge, the crumb is soft, and the ham does the talking.

Yield: 4 sandwiches. Prep: 30 minutes. Rest: 45 minutes. Cook: 30 minutes. Total: about 1 hour 45 minutes. Difficulty: easy. Course: main. Region: Umbria.

The Story

The name explains the method. Testo is the Umbrian word for the round cast iron or terracotta plate that was once set over the coals of the hearth and heaped with embers, and it descends from the Latin testum, the clay cover Roman cooks used to bake bread when they had no oven. In the hill towns of Umbria, Perugia, Gubbio, Todi and Assisi among them, a family baked in the communal wood oven only once or twice a week, because firing it burned costly wood. On the other days the testo did the work, turning a bowl of flour and water into bread in half an hour.

That made it the bread of the working day. Farmers carried it to the fields, shepherds took it up to the summer pastures, and it was eaten warm from the fire with whatever the house had. Along the border with the Marche the same idea is called crescia, and around Lake Trasimeno you will find versions leavened with a little baking soda instead of yeast. Every family holds a slightly different dough, thicker or thinner, and each swears its own is the right one.

The filling comes from the land around it. Norcia, a short drive from Perugia, gave Italy the word norcino for a pork butcher, and the curing of hams and salami there is centuries old. Wild greens picked along the roadside, sausage from the pig killed in winter and a young pecorino from the neighbouring flock all ended up inside the warm bread. Prosciutto is the version that travelled best. It needs no cooking, it melts a little against the hot crumb, and its salt is exactly what a plain flatbread asks for.

Its place in the calendar is just as fixed. On market days and during the summer festivals of the Umbrian hill towns, the smell of hot iron and toasting dough drifts across the piazza from the small stands that sell it split and filled to order. Stallholders keep a stack of warm discs wrapped in towels and fill each one as the customer waits, which is the only honest way to eat it.

Today the torta al testo is sold at every festival and roadside kiosk in the region, and eaten at home for supper with a bowl of soup or a glass of wine. It has never been dressed up, and it never needed to be. Learn to cook it on a heavy pan and you will understand why it has survived for two thousand years.

Ingredients

For the dough

All purpose flour, 4 cups (500 g), plus more for dusting
Instant yeast, 1 1/2 tsp (5 g)
Fine sea salt, 2 tsp (10 g)
Lukewarm water, 1 1/4 cups (300 ml)
Extra virgin olive oil, 2 tbsp (30 ml)
Fine semolina or extra flour, for dusting, 2 tbsp (20 g)

For the filling

Prosciutto crudo, thinly sliced, 8 oz (225 g)
Baby arugula, 2 oz (55 g)
Young pecorino or stracchino, thinly sliced, 4 oz (115 g)
Extra virgin olive oil, for brushing, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Fresh ricotta, optional, 1/2 cup (120 g)

For the sautéed greens

Wild chicory or Swiss chard, trimmed, 12 oz (340 g)
Garlic clove, smashed, 1
Extra virgin olive oil, 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Dried chili flakes, 1/4 tsp (0.5 g)
Fine sea salt, 1/4 tsp (1.5 g)

For finishing

Flaky sea salt, 1 pinch
Extra virgin olive oil, a few drops per sandwich
Black olives, pitted, 1/2 cup (75 g), for the side
Pickled hot peppers, 4 small, for the side

Preparation

Mix the dough

Whisk the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl. Make a well, pour in the lukewarm water and olive oil, and stir with a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains and a shaggy mass forms. The water should feel barely warm on the wrist, about 95°F (35°C), so the yeast wakes gently. Add a splash more water if the flour feels dry, a spoonful of flour if it clings to your hands. Flour varies, and the dough should not be wetter than a soft bread dough.

Knead until elastic

Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 8 minutes, pushing away with the heel of your hand and folding back. It is ready when it feels smooth, elastic and just tacky, and springs back slowly when pressed with a fingertip. If it tears when stretched, rest it for 5 minutes and knead again. This dough needs less work than a loaf, but it still needs enough gluten to hold a thin round without cracking.

Rest the dough

Place the dough in an oiled bowl, turn it once to coat, cover with a damp cloth and leave at room temperature for 45 minutes. It should look puffy and relaxed but not doubled. A short rise keeps the bread tender and flat, rather than airy and bready. A warm kitchen speeds this up, so check at 30 minutes.

Roll the discs

Divide the dough into 4 pieces of about 7 1/2 oz (210 g) each and shape them into tight balls. Roll each on a floured surface into a round about 8 inches (20 cm) across and 1/3 inch (8 mm) thick, turning it a quarter turn between passes. Cover the discs and rest them for 10 minutes while the griddle heats.

Heat the griddle

Set a cast iron griddle or heavy skillet over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until a pinch of flour scattered on it turns golden in roughly 30 seconds, an iron surface near 450°F (230°C). Leave the pan dry, without oil, and do not turn the flame up once it is hot. If your pan is thin, let it heat a few minutes longer so it holds its temperature when the cold dough lands on it.

Cook the discs

Prick each disc all over with a fork, lay it on the griddle and cook for 12 to 14 minutes in total, turning it every couple of minutes, until both faces are golden with darker freckles and the disc feels light. Cook one at a time and stack the finished discs in a clean towel to stay warm and soft. The towel traps a little steam, which keeps the crust from hardening before you fill it.

Sauté the greens

While the last disc cooks, warm the olive oil in a wide skillet over medium heat with the garlic and chili for 30 seconds. Add the chicory with the water still clinging to its leaves, sprinkle with the salt and cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring, until tender. Remove the garlic and press the greens in a sieve to drain any excess liquid, or the sandwich will be wet.

Fill and serve

Cut each warm disc in half like a sandwich, brush the inside with olive oil and add black pepper. Layer in the cheese, then the prosciutto in loose folds, then the greens or fresh arugula. Close, press lightly with your palm and serve immediately.

Plating

Serve on a wooden board, cut into two or three wedges so the filling shows. Warm the board briefly so the bread stays hot. Lay the prosciutto in loose folds rather than flat, because air between the slices keeps it silky, and tuck the arugula in just before closing.

Put a small dish of olive oil, black olives and a few pickled hot peppers alongside, and finish each sandwich with a few drops of oil and a pinch of flaky salt. A bowl of wilted bitter greens with garlic makes the plate a full supper.

Cut the sandwiches at the last moment and hand them over warm, on plates that are not cold. The dish looks best plain and rustic, with the freckled crust visible at the edge and the ham spilling out slightly.

Professional Technique

The whole recipe depends on one habit: prick the disc and turn it often. Dough holds water, and on a hot griddle that water becomes steam inside the disc. With no way out, the steam lifts the top layer into one large bubble. The bubble cooks badly, because the trapped air insulates the center, and the skin touching the iron scorches while the rest stays pale. Prick the whole surface with a fork, about 20 holes, before the disc meets the pan, and the steam escapes evenly.

Then turn the disc many times, about every 2 minutes, which means 6 or 7 turns over the 12 to 14 minutes of cooking. Do not leave it for 6 minutes a side as you would a pancake. Each turn moves the heat to the other face, so warmth enters from both sides in small amounts and reaches the center before either face darkens. If one side browns early, turn sooner.

Judge doneness by weight. A raw disc of 7 1/2 oz (210 g) is heavy with water. When it is cooked it feels noticeably lighter, about 1/2 oz (15 g) less, and sounds hollow when tapped, because the water has gone and the crumb has set.

Split the bread while it is hot, since a thin knife slides through the steamy crumb and the halves open cleanly. Then wait one minute before filling. The surface steam settles and the crust firms, so the ham will not sweat. Cut cold and it tears; fill at once and it turns soggy.

Texture and Moisture Control

The bread should be crisp on the outside, no more than a shell, with a soft, slightly chewy crumb inside. That contrast comes from a dough that is hydrated to about 60 percent, meaning 300 ml of water for every 500 g of flour. It is firm enough to roll thin and wet enough to stay tender after the water has left.

Heat also shapes the crust. The dry iron surface browns the sugars in the flour and gives the bread its roasted, nutty smell and its freckles. A little steam still escapes from the crumb through the fork holes, which is why the disc puffs slightly but stays flat. A cooked disc should bend a little when you hold it by the edge and not snap, so if it does snap the disc is overcooked.

Oil in the dough shortens the gluten strands, which keeps the crumb soft as it cools. Brushing oil on the inside after splitting does a second job: it makes a thin barrier between the bread and the moisture of the ham and the arugula, so the crust does not soften.

Prosciutto brings fat and salt. Served at room temperature, the fat softens on the warm bread and coats the crumb, so the sandwich tastes moist even though the bread is dry. Fridge cold ham stays waxy and tastes flat. Add the arugula last, since its leaves wilt and leak water within a few minutes against warm bread.

Professional Mise en Place

Equipment and tools

Cast iron griddle or heavy skillet, 10 to 12 inches (25 to 30 cm)
Rolling pin, bench scraper and a fork for pricking
Thin serrated knife for splitting the warm discs
Clean cotton towel for holding the finished discs
Wide skillet for the greens

Prepared ahead

Dough kneaded and rested, up to 4 hours ahead, kept covered
Prosciutto taken out of the refrigerator 30 minutes before service
Arugula washed, dried and kept cold, and the greens sautéed and drained
Cheese sliced and chilled, olives and peppers set out in small dishes
Olive oil in a small bowl with a pastry brush ready for the cut faces

Service setup

Discs cooked one at a time and kept wrapped in the towel
Fillings laid out in order: cheese, ham, greens or arugula
Oil, pepper and flaky salt within reach
Board warmed briefly, filling and closing done at the last moment

Chef Tips

Roll the disc thin and even. A thick center stays gummy while the edge burns, and one thick spot ruins the whole batch. Use a light hand and rotate the dough between passes.

Preheat the griddle properly and then leave the heat alone. A pan that swings from hot to cool gives blotchy, pale bread.

Buy prosciutto sliced to order, not the pre packed kind. Thin sheets drape and melt, while thick ones stay chewy and pull out in one piece when you bite.

Season the dough carefully. The ham is salty, so use the 2 teaspoons of salt given and add none to the filling. For a variation, add a spoonful of fresh ricotta under the ham, or use crumbled fresh sausage in place of prosciutto for a cooked version. Keep the discs a little smaller if you plan to serve them as a snack with wine.

Common Mistakes

Making the dough too dry. A stiff dough cracks when rolled and bakes into a cracker. It should feel soft and slightly tacky.

Using too much flour on the board. Excess flour burns on the griddle and tastes bitter. Brush off the loose flour before laying the disc down.

Cooking on a pan that is too hot. High heat browns the surface before the center is set, and you end up with a raw middle. Medium heat and patience give even color. If the flour dust on the pan smokes, lower the heat.

Overfilling. More than the recommended weight of ham tears the bread and hides its flavor. Keep the filling thin, one layer of ham, one of cheese, and a small handful of greens, so the bread stays the main event.

Skipping the rest. Dough rolled straight after kneading springs back and shrinks on the griddle into a thick, tough disc. The rest relaxes the gluten so the round keeps its size.

Storing the discs sealed while hot. Trapped steam makes the crust rubbery. Wrap them in a towel, not in plastic, until you fill them.

Wine Pairing

Orvieto Classico DOC: The Umbrian white and the natural partner. Its crisp acidity and light body cut through the fat of the prosciutto, while a soft almond note on the finish follows the toasted crust. The wine is dry, modest in alcohol and never heavy, so it refreshes the palate between bites. Serve well chilled.

Lambrusco di Sorbara DOC: A dry, pale and lightly sparkling red. The bubbles scrub the cured pork fat off the palate, and its high acidity and red berry fruit lift the salt of the ham. Very low tannin means it never fights the cheese or the bitter greens. Pour it cold, in a plain tumbler.

Trento DOC: A dry metodo classico sparkling wine with fine bubbles and brisk acidity. The yeasty, bready notes echo the flatbread crust, and the freshness handles the salt of the ham without adding weight. A good choice when the sandwich is served as a festive aperitivo.

Cerasuolo d'Abruzzo DOC: A dry rosato with cherry fruit, gentle tannin and lively acidity. It has enough structure for pecorino and enough freshness for cured ham, and it stays pleasant beside the pepper of the arugula. Serve it just cool, around 52°F (11°C).

Rosso di Montalcino DOC: If you prefer a red, this is a light, savory Sangiovese with bright sour cherry and fine, dusty tannin. Its acidity slices through the fat of the ham, and it is gentle enough to leave the wheaty flavor of the bread untouched. Serve at cellar temperature.

Storage & Reheating

Unfilled discs keep for 2 days in a paper bag at room temperature, or 4 days wrapped in the refrigerator. Freeze them cooled, stacked with baking paper between each, in a freezer bag for up to 2 months. Store the ham and cheese separately, well wrapped, and never fill the bread ahead of time.

To reheat, warm a disc in a dry skillet over medium heat for 2 minutes per side, or in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 6 minutes. Thaw frozen discs first for 20 minutes. Do not use a microwave, which makes them leathery. The sautéed greens keep 3 days in a covered container in the refrigerator and are best rewarmed in a skillet.

Cured ham keeps for 3 days once opened, wrapped in paper and then in a container, and improves in flavor when brought back to room temperature before serving.