… Intro text …
Neapolitan pastiera: Wheat Berry & Ricotta Easter Cake
- Preparation time: 240 minutes
- For two 10-inch tins for pastiere
- Difficulty: Average difficulty recipe
- Ingredients
- For the pastry:
- 160 grams of sugar
- 160 grams of melted butter
- 450 grams of all purpose flour
- 2 eggs
- Grated zest of one lemon
- For the wheat berry:
- 500 grams of pre-cooked wheat berries
- 200 grams of milk
- 30 grams of butter
- 1 pinch of cinnamon
- For the stuffing:
- 500 grams of ricotta
- 300 grams of sugar
- 5 whole eggs
- 1 vial of orange blossom water (or millefiori)
- 1 vanilla pod
- Grated peel of 1 orange
- 100 grams of candied orange fruit
- Instructions
- The night before, drain the ricotta in the refrigerator in a fine mesh sieve covered with parchment paper.
- The next day, prepare the pastry. In a bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and add the warm melted butter and the grated lemon zest. Next, add the flour and knead briefly just until the mixture comes together. Make a ball, flour it lightly, cover it with plastic wrap, and put it in the fridge for two hours.
- In the meantime, put the pre-cooked wheat, cinnamon, butter, and milk in a saucepan and bring to a boil, stirring constantly with a spoon for about fifteen to twenty minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to cool.
- Dice the candied fruit.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Prepare the filling. Sift the ricotta. Add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, grated orange peel, and millefiori water. Continuing whisking until the mixture is creamy and without lumps. Add the cooked wheat and the diced candied fruit.
- Roll out the short crust pastry into a disc and line the bottom of the buttered and floured tin. Prick the bottom lightly with the prongs of a fork. Pour in the filling. Decorate with 7 crossed strips of short crust pastry.
- Cook for twenty minutes, then lower the temperature to 300°F and continue cooking for another fifty minutes.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- I always prepare at least two pastiere because I always give one away. It’s an obligation.
- Put the second pastiera to be cooked in the fridge if you don’t have an oven large enough to cook them together.
- Pastiere must be prepared on Thursday. They are, in fact, better after a few days.
