Pastiera Napoletana Neapolitan Wheatberry And Ricotta Easter Cake Recipe 455 Food

PASTIERA NAPOLETANA (NEAPOLITAN EASTER PIE)

Steps:

• In the bowl of a food processor, add the flour and sugar and process a few times to mix together.
• Next add the butter and pulse a few times until the mixture looks like wet sand.
• Add the egg and yolk and process a few seconds more until the dough forms (this should be about 5-7 more pulses). Be sure to not overprocess the dough.
• Dump the dough from the food processor bowl onto a lightly floured counter. Form the dough into 2 disks (one a little larger than the other. The smaller disk will be used to cut the strips for top of pie) and chill in the refrigerator for about 1 hour.
• While dough chills, make the wheat berries and pastry cream.
• Combine the wheat berries with about 2 quarts cold water and the salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then decrease the heat to low and allow the wheat to simmer gently until it is cooked though, about an hour.
• Drain and cool the wheat in a bowl. While wheat berries cool down, prepare the pastry cream.
• Whisk the egg and yolk together in a bowl, then whisk in the sugar and flour. Whisk in the milk and scrape the mixture into a small saucepan.
• Place over medium/low heat and stir constantly until the mixture thickens and comes to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring constantly, for a few seconds after the cream reaches the boil.
• Scrape the pastry cream into a bowl. Immediately whisk in the ricotta until smooth. Whisk in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time. Stir in the orange flower water, candied orange peel, vanilla, cinnamon and the cooked wheat berries.
• When dough is nicely chilled, remove from the refrigerator.
• Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap into a 13-inch round about 1/8 thick. Spray an 11-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom with baking spray. Gently wrap the dough over the rolling pin and place it over the tart pan; release the rolling pin and let the dough fall into the tart pan.
• Press the dough softly into the bottom of the tart pan. If some of the dough breaks while you press it into the tart pan, that's not a problem. Simply piece the dough together.
• Press the sides of the dough about 1/2 inch up the side of the tart pan. The rim of the tart should be lined with a slightly thicker layer of pastry than the bottom (about 1/4-inch thick). Cut off the extra dough from the sides and keep these excess pieces to make the lattice topping.
• Place this tart pan in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes (or even longer if necessary) to chill.
• When the dough is chilled and ready to fill, remove the tart pan from the refrigerator and prick the pastry bottom with a fork a few times. Set a rack in the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 F.
• Spoon the ricotta filling into the prepared crust. Remove the other portion of chilled dough from the refrigerator to make the lattice strips. Use a serrated cutting wheel to cut it into 3/4-inch wide strips.
• Arrange 5 of the strips parallel and equal distance from each other on the filling, letting the excess dough hang over the edge of the pie. Place the 5 remaining strips on exactly the same way, but at a 45-degree angle to the first ones.
• Gently press the ends of the strips to adhere to the edge of the bottom crust. Carefully remove any excess pieces of dough with your fingers or with the back of a knife.
• Bake the pastiera until the filling is set and slightly puffed and the crust is baked through, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack.

PASTIERA NAPOLETANA

Steps:

• Soak 100 g (3½ oz) farro or wheat grains (berries) in plenty of cold water, changing the water daily, for three days.
• For the pastry, put the flour, icing sugar, salt, orange zest and butter in a food processor and blitz to a fine breadcrumb consistency. Add the egg yolks to the mixer and blend again briefly, until the mixture comes together as a dough (add a tablespoon or two of iced water if the dough is still dry and does not come together). Form the dough into two equal rounds with your hands. Wrap in clingfilm (plastic wrap) and chill in the fridge or freezer, depending on when you want to use it. It needs to rest for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before you roll it.
• Grease a deep 23 cm (9 in) cake tin/crostata tin with butter, then dust it lightly with flour. After the dough has rested, roll it out to a rough 2 mm (1/16 in) thickness and line the cake tin, pushing the dough up the sides of the tin to create a 5-7.5 cm (2-3 in) depth and trimming any overhang. Don't worry too much about perfectly thin, even pastry. Reserve the pastry trimmings for the lattice top. Chill the pastry case in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
• Remove the pastry case from the fridge and blind-bake until just golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
• For the farro or wheat berries, on the third day of soaking, drain the soaked grain. Cook in a saucepan with the milk, cinnamon, lemon zest and salt over a very low heat, covered with a lid. Cook, stirring occasionally for 30-40 minutes until the grain is plump and tender and all the milk had been absorbed. Spread the grain out on a plate to cool completely.
• Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F).
• For the rest of the filling, whisk or beat the ricotta in a bowl until smooth, then whisk in the egg yolks. Stir in the orange zest, candied fruit, sugar, orange blossom water, vanilla and salt. Into this mixture, stir the cooled cooked wheat. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to soft peaks, then fold them gently into the ricotta mixture.
• Pour the whole lot into the prepared pastry case. Cut the leftover pastry dough into strips about 2 cm (¾ in) wide, and arrange them over the top in a diagonal lattice. Use your fingers to press the edges of each strip into the pastry case walls to seal them.
• Brush the top of the tart with the beaten egg and bake for 90 minutes, or until biscuit brown all over.
• Let the tart cool and the filling settle, for at least 12 hours in a cool place before slicing into it. Serve, finally, with coffee and congratulations.

PASTIERA NAPOLETANA (NEAPOLITAN WHEATBERRY AND RICOTTA EASTER CAKE) RECIPE - (4.5/5)

Steps:

• For the pastry: Mix the dry ingredients together in a bowl. Chop the cold butter into small pieces and pulse together in a food processor until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and lemon zest and knead just until the mixture comes together. If you find it a bit dry, add some cold water, a tablespoon at a time until it forms a dough; if it's too wet, add a bit of flour. Cover in plastic wrap and rest at least 30 minutes or overnight. If you're using uncooked wheat berries, then you first need to cook them by soaking them in water for 3 days (change the water twice a day), then draining and cooking in a large pot of at least 4 cups of fresh water. Simmer for 1 ½ hours without stirring, until soft. Drain and reserve until needed (this will keep well in an air tight container the fridge for 1 week) then carry on to the next step. If using pearl barley as a substitute, leave the uncooked barley to soak in a large bowl of fresh water overnight, then the next day cook it in plenty of water for 30 minutes or until soft. Drain then follow the rest of the recipe. Place the cooked wheat berries in a saucepan over medium heat with the butter, milk and lemon zest. Bring to a boil gently, stirring occasionaly until it becomes very thick and creamy like oatmeal, about 15 minutes. Let cool until needed. In a bowl, beat the eggs and extra yolks with the ricotta, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and orange blossom water until creamy. Leave this mixture to rest several hours (better if overnight) in the fridge. Fold the cooled wheat berry cream and the rested ricotta mixture together with the finely chopped candied citron. Roll out about two thirds of the pastry and place in a 10 inch (25 centimeter) greased springform tin. Cut off any overhang and add to the remaining pastry, roll out again and with a pastry crimper wheel, cut long strips about ¾ an inch wide. Fill the pastry base with the ricotta mixture and even out the borders of the pastry to the level of the mixture. Lay the long pastry strips gently across the top to form a a criss-cross diamond pattern (not square), pressing the strips on the edge of the pastry very gently. If desired, you can brush the lattice gently with some egg wash to make it shiny. Bake the pastiera for 1 hour at 390ºF (200ºC) until the pastry is golden and the pastiera is amber-brown on top. Allow to cool completely inside the springform pan before removing or chilling. Ideally serve the pastiera the next day (remove it from the fridge at least 30 minutes before eating to take away some of the chill) with some powdered sugar sifted over the top. Store any leftovers in the fridge.

NEAPOLITAN RICOTTA AND WHEATBERRY PIE

Steps:

• Cover wheat berries with cold water in a bowl, then chill, covered, 8 to 12 hours. Drain in a sieve and rinse.
• Make pastry while wheat berries soak:
• Sift together 2 1/4cups flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and 1/2teaspoon salt. Blend in 1 1/4sticks butter (1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons) with a pastry blender or your fingertips until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 whole eggs and stir with a fork until a crumbly dough forms.
• Turn dough out onto a work surface. Divide in half and with heel of your hand smear each piece of dough twice with a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough and form into 2 disks. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Make filling:
• Bring soaked wheat berries and cold water to a boil in a 2-quart saucepan, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until wheat berries are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and simmer 5 minutes more. Drain in sieve and rinse under cold water until cool. Drain well.
• Whisk together 2 yolks and 1/4 cup sugar, then whisk in cornstarch and remaining 3 tablespoons flour until smooth. Bring milk to a boil in a small heavy saucepan, then gradually add hot milk to yolks, whisking.
• Pour custard into saucepan and bring to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking constantly (custard will get very thick), then boil, whisking, 1 minute. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla and remaining 1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) butter. Transfer pastry cream to a bowl and chill, its surface covered with wax paper.
• Beat together ricotta and remaining 1/3 cup sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until sugar is dissolved, about 3 minutes. Beat in flower water, pastry cream, and remaining 2 yolks, then stir in zest, citron, cinnamon, and wheat berries.
• Assemble and bake pie:
• Preheat oven to 350°F.
• Roll out half of dough into a 13-inch round on a well-floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Fit dough into a 9-inch (24-centimeter) springform pan (dough is very tender and will crack). Press dough against side of pan and patch any cracks. Chill.
• Lightly beat remaining egg. Roll out remaining dough into a 10-inch round and transfer to a baking sheet. Brush dough with some of egg, then cut into 10 (1-inch) strips with fluted pastry wheel.
• Spoon filling into chilled pie crust (filling will not reach top of crust).
• Arrange 5 dough strips vertically on filling (1 inch apart), pressing ends of strips into crust. Arrange remaining 5 strips over them in same manner to form a diagonal lattice. Trim crust 1/2 inch from top of filling, then fold over lattice. Brush edge with some of egg.
• Bake pie in middle of oven until pastry is golden and filling is puffed and set, about 1 1/2 hours, covering top of pie with foil after 50 minutes to prevent over-browning. Transfer to a rack to cool. Run a thin knife around edge of pie and remove side of pan. Chill pie at least 2 hours. Bring to room temperature before serving.

ITALIAN EASTER CAKE " PASTIERA NAPOLETANA"

Steps:

• For Pasta Frolla.
• Put together tender butter, sugar, salt melted in a water spoon, almond and the eggs. combine everything and then add flour and vanilla just a little bit. Put in your fridge for 10-12 hours.
• For the dough inside: put ricotta together with powdered sugar and eggs and just a little bit of essences, prepared corn, and candied orange.
• Finally, lay your Pasta Frolla and put in muffin molde (the big one). Then put the dough inside and over with a little bit of pasta frolla. Stendete quindi la pasta frolla e mettetela nelle formine (ne verranno almeno 6). Put in oven for 20 minutes at 180°C Dish out with powdered sugar.
• We prepare this plate gifting to friends with this basket.