Pastiera Di Riso Italian Easter Rice Pie Food

ITALIAN RICE PIE

Steps:

• Read through all directions before starting!
• In a large bowl, add the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder, lemon zest, and cubed butter. Using your hands, cut/squeeze the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse sand
• In another bowl, lightly whisk the eggs and then pour into the dry sandlike mixture and stir until all of the egg has been incorporated
• Press down and form into a dough and then turn out onto counter and knead a few times until there are no dry bits remaining.
• Form into 2 flat disk shapes, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour (this makes enough for 2 pies, so you can opt to use the extra to decorate the top, or save for another pie).
• I like a thicker crust so I split the dough unevenly; that is, I use about 60% for the bottom and 40% for the top crust - no need to be too accurate just "eyeball" it when you divide the dough.
• Butter and flour an 8-inch pan. After the dough has chilled, roll it into a circle that is about 12 to 13 inches wide and then carefully transfer it over to the prepared pan and line it with the dough. Use PLENTY of flour under and on top of dough before and while rolling and also on your rolling pin. Return dough to fridge if it gets too warm or sticky.
• If the dough falls apart you can simply pinch it back together in the pan. Use plenty of flour on both sides of the dough when you are rolling out the dough to prevent sticking
• After you line the pan with the dough, you can freeze the pan with crust for an hour or so or place in fridge for at least an hour or overnight. This helps to prevent shrinkage.
• If you want to top the pie with pie crust lattice, roll out the crust using plenty of flour on both sides and the rolling pin, and cut into strips. Place strips on baking sheet or dish and chill until ready to use.
• Begin by adding the rice, milk, and lemon peel to a gentle boil over medium low heat. You MUST stir often or the mixture will definitely stick to the bottom of the pan!!
• After the rice has begun to slightly bubble, reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until most of the milk has absorbed (it's okay if rice is a bit undercooked as it will keep cooking in the oven). Set aside to cool
• You can also bring to small gentle boil for 2 or 3 minutes, cover, and then remove from heat and let the rice absorb all the liquid for about 30 minutes or so.
• In a separate bowl, mix the ricotta, sugar, eggs, grated lemon zest, and vanilla extract and beat until creamy (I mixed by hand using a whisk)
• Once the rice mixture is cooled (to the point where it won't cook the egg in the ricotta mixture), add it to the ricotta mixture and stir to combine.
• Use the prepared pie shell from earlier step and price the dough several times all over with a fork
• Pour the rice-ricotta filling mixture into the pie shell
• If using top crust, top with second pie crust or the lattice strips and top the pie. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle sugar.
• Place the pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F on the center rack until the filling is set (about 50 to 60 minutes).
• Check the pie about 20 minutes and 10 minutes before finished and if crust is browning too much, place a piece of aluminum foil over the top very loosely.
• Once pie is cooled, sprinkle the top with powdered sugar.
• Cool pie completely before eating and store in the refrigerator. Pie is best enjoyed at room temperature (otherwise, rice tends to harden too much).

PASTIERA DI RISO (ITALIAN EASTER RICE PIE)

Steps:

• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix flour, sugar, and baking powder.
• Add eggs, egg yolks and butter. Mix on medium speed until large, moist crumbs start to form (about 2-3 minutes).
• Remove dough from the bowl and with your hands on a smooth surface, gently form the dough into a ball.
• Wrap the dough in saran wrap and place in the fridge for approximately 1 hour.
• Add the rice and water to a pot, and over medium heat, let them come to a boil.
• Once rice and water have started to boil, cook for 8 minutes, stirring often.
• At this point, add the milk, sugar, orange peel and cinnamon sticks.
• Still on medium heat, cook the rice mixture for 30 minutes, stirring often so that the rice doesn't stick to the pot, until the rice is cooked and most of the liquid has absorbed. If rice is cooking too quickly, turn the heat down slightly.
• At this point, remove the orange peel and cinnamon sticks.
• Turn heat down to low, add butter to the rice, and cook for 7-10 minutes until all the liquid has absorbed and the mixture is dense in consistency.
• Add the rice to a shallow square dish, level it out, and cover with saran wrap. Let it cool.
• If your ricotta is very moist and has a lot of liquid in it, drain it with a colander.
• In a big bowl, add ricotta, beaten eggs, fior d'arancio, and cinnamon. Mix with a wooden spoon or whisk until all ingredients are combined.
• Once the rice mixture has cooled completely, add it to the ricotta mixture, slowly, a few spoons at a time. Mix with a wooden spoon until the rice is fully incorporated into the mixture. Set the filling aside.
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease your pie dish with butter, and then coat with a thin layer of flour.
• On a floured surface, roll out the dough a few times to soften it. Then roll it out until it's about 1/2 cm thick.
• Transfer the dough to the pie dish, and cut off any hanging edges. Fill with the filling.
• Decorate the top of the pastiera with a lattice design. The lattices should sit gently on top of the dough.
• Bake the pastiera for approximately 60 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let the pastiera cool and come to room temperature, top with powdered sugar if desired, and enjoy!

ITALIAN RICE PIE (PASTIERA DI RISO)

Steps:

• Make pastry dough:
• Pulse flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps. Add eggs and pulse until just incorporated and dough begins to form large clumps.
• Turn out dough onto a work surface and divide into 6 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together, using a pastry scraper if you have one, and form into a thick log. Cut off 2/3 of the log and form into a large rectangle for the bottom of the pie. Form the remaining piece into a smaller rectangle for the top of the pie. Chill each, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 30 minutes.
• Make filling:
• Bring rice and well-salted water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Drain in a sieve and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well.
• Whisk together 3 yolks and sugar in a heatproof bowl, then whisk in cornstarch and flour until smooth (mixture will be very thick). Bring milk just to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, then gradually add hot milk to yolk mixture, whisking.
• Pour custard back into saucepan and bring to a boil over medium-low heat, whisking constantly (custard will become very thick), then boil, whisking, 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Transfer to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with wax paper, until cold, about 2 hours.
• Stir together ricotta, custard, and remaining 2 yolks, then stir in zests, cinnamon, salt, and cooked rice.
• Assemble and bake pie:
• Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle. Generously butter a 13- by 9-inch metal baking pan and line the bottom with an overlapping double layer of foil, leaving 2 inches of overhang on both ends, then generously butter foil.
• Roll out 1 piece of dough between 2 sheets of wax paper into a 15- by 11-inch rectangle (about 1/8 inch thick). If dough becomes soft, chill or freeze until firm. Remove top sheet of wax paper and invert into baking pan, fitting it into pan. Chill shell. Roll out remaining piece of dough between sheets of wax paper in same manner. Cut 12 (3/4-inch-wide) crosswise strips (you will have a little dough left over).
• Spread filling in pan and arrange 6 strips, 1 1/4 inches apart, diagonally across filling, trimming ends to fit. Arrange remaining 6 strips, 1 1/4 inches apart, diagonally across first strips to form a lattice with diamond-shaped spaces. Trim lattice to fit in pan, then fold outside crust down over filling to make a border. Brush pastry with beaten egg.
• Bake pie until pastry is golden and filling is puffed and set, about 1 1/2 hours, loosely covering top of pie with foil after 50 minutes to prevent over-browning. Transfer to a rack to cool. When completely cool, lift pie out of pan using foil overhang and transfer to a platter.