Pastiera Napoletana

Course Dessert, holiday

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 4

Total Time 5 30

Calories 6380kcal

Equipment

A 25 - 28cm X 4 cm (10 - 11 inch X 1 ½ inch) flared pie pan

Ingredients

For the pastry crust:

250 g flour
150 g butter
120 g sugar
1 egg + 2 egg yolks

For the filling:

300 g cooked wheat berries*
350 g fresh sheep milk ricotta drained
40 g butter
150 g milk
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
250 g sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon orange or rose blossom water
Zest from one orange and one lemon

Optional ingredients for the filling:

100 g of candied citron orange and/or lemon
50 g pinenuts

Metric - U.S. Customary

Instructions

For the pastry crust:

Cut the cold butter into 1 cm (½ inch) cubes.
Whisk the three eggs together and set aside.
Whisk the flour and sugar together in a mixing bowl.
Use a handheld pastry cutter or a pastry cutter attachment for a KitchenAid mixer to cut the butter into the sugar and flour mixture until it's crumbly and sandy.
Gently fold the eggs into the flour mixture.
Form the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for half an hour or more.

For the filling:

Put the wheat berries in a large pot and cover with plenty of water.
Boil covered for about an hour or until the wheat berries are soft. You can cut the cooking time in half if you use a pressure cooker.
Place 250 g of the cooked wheat berries and the milk, sugar and butter together in a saucepan.
Boil the ingredients together for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.
Once the ingredients have thickened set the saucepan aside and let the mixture cool to room temperature.
While the mixture is cooling whisk the eggs together.
Whisk the eggs, ricotta, vanilla, salt, zest from one orange and one lemon,
and orange or rose blossom water together.
Whisk in any of the optional ingredients you decide to use – the candied fruit, orange and lemon zest and/or pinenuts.

Assemble the Pastiera:

Preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F)
Roll out ⅔ of the dough into a round the right size to fit your pan.
Place the bottom crust in the pan.
Roll out the remainder of the dough and cut it into strips for the criss-cross top pie crust.
Put the Pastiera filling into the pie crust and spread it out evenly.
Top the Pastiera with the dough strips in a criss-cross fashion.

Bake the Pastiera:

Bake the Pastiera Napoletana for 90 minutes.
Let the Pastiera Napoletana cool to room temperature then cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator to rest overnight before serving.
You can store the Pastiera Napoletana refrigerated for about four days.

Notes

How to cook wheat berries: Wheat berries are the edible part of the wheat kernel and have a chewy nutty consistency. They are high in fiber and whole-grain so a great addition to your diet. Because wheat berries are whole-grain they do take a while to cook but it's not necessary to soak them overnight.
When you prepare the Pastiera Napolitano it's probably a good idea to cook the wheat berries the day before.
Cover wheat berries with plenty of water, bring to a boil and boil covered until the wheat berries are soft, usually about an hour. I almost always use a pressure cooker and this will cut the cooking time in half.
You can cook a bunch of wheat berries at a time and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Cooked wheat berries also freeze well.

Nutrition