Pastiera Napoletana Recipe (Easter Ricotta Pie)

Pastiera Napoletana is a ricotta pie typically eaten on Easter Sunday in most Italian southern regions. The creamy filling is a wheat berry (grano cotto) mixed with ricotta cheese and eggs flavored with orange blossom water, cinnamon, and lemon zest. This authentic Neapolitan Pastiera recipe uses pasta frolla, a flaky, light, sweet shortcrust pastry made with baking powder, a perfect delicate pastry to nest the fluffy and creamy ricotta filling.

Jump to:

• Ingredients
• Instructions
• Top tips
• Storing Pastiera
• Ricotta for Italian desserts
• Savoury Pie Ideas
• 📋Pastiera Napoletana Recipe (Easter Ricotta Pie)
• Origin of this recipe

If you have Southern Italian descendants, I am sure you are familiar with this traditional Italian Easter cake.

Pastiera is a traditional Eastern Italian dessert in many Southern Italian regions where ricotta is often used in pastries like Cannoli Siciliani or Sfogliatelle Napoletane.

You can find different authentic versions of Pastiera, this one is my favorite for the following reasons:

The filling is not too sweet, and it is fluffier and creamier than other Pastiera versions, as the egg whites are whisked separately and then added to the rest of the mixture.

The pie crust is delicate and flaky as baking powder is added to the dough.

When I make this Easter pie, I skip the fruit candies, which I would rather replace with dark chocolate chips.

Note: if you plan to make this Pastiera for Easter, you can start 2 to 3 days before Easter and bake it the day before. The flavor is better the next day.

There are a lot of eggs in this Pastiera, 8 in total, which is typical for an Easter dinner. Other Easter Italian desserts made with lots of eggs are Italian Easter cookies cuzzuppe or cudduraci, or Colomba Pasquale similar to Panettone, a dessert typical from the North of Italy.

Another classic Easter Italian recipe with plenty of eggs is Italian cheese bread with Parmesan and Pecorino.

Ingredients

The Ricotta pearl barley filling

To make this ricotta pie, specific ingredients are found only in specialized Italian food shops or on Amazon (affiliate links).

• Grano cotto: pre-cooked wheat berries are specially prepared for this type of pie and give the filling a texture similar to a creamy rice pudding. You cannot use any other type of wheat.
• Orange flower water
• Ricotta cheese: traditionally, sheep's milk ricotta is used in desserts. As it is not easy to find outside Italy, you can use cow milk ricotta cheese

To prepare the wheat

Once you buy the wheat, mix it with other ingredients and let it rest overnight.

You can prepare the cooked grain the day before you bake the pie.

To prepare the wheat you need:

• sugar
• whole milk
• butter
• lemon zest

For the ricotta mixture

Once the wheat is ready, you need the following ingredients to finalize the fillings

• The wheat you prepared the day before
• Ricotta cheese: usually half cow ricotta and half sheep ricotta. If you cannot find sheep ricotta you can use cow ricotta only
• Sugar
• 5 egg yolks
• 4 egg whites
• Orange flower water
• Cinnamon
• Candied orange peel, candied fruit or chocolate chips (optional)

Short pastry Pasta Frolla

The ingredients for the sweet shortcrust pastry are:

• sugar
• flour
• baking powder
• butter at room temperature
• eggs

Pasta frolla can be sweet or savory. To find out more, you can read the recipe: savory and sweet pasta frolla

Instructions

 Preparing the Wheat

Prepare the wheat the day before:

1. Bring to boil the wheat with sugar, butter, and the milk
2. Simmer at low heat for 10 minutes
3. Move it into a bowl and let it cool down at room temperature

Making the pasta frolla dough

This quantity of pastry dough is enough for a 9 in - 22 cm D / 2.8 in - 7 cm H baking pan with removable bottom.

1. First, mix all the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, and baking powder
2. Then add all the wet ingredients and mix in a food processor until the dough is formed
3. Put the dough on a well-floured surface and cut ⅓
4. Keep ⅓ of the pastry aside for the top
5. Roll the remaining dough to make the base of the pie
6. Butter and flour the baking pan

Preparing the base

1. Lay the base of the pie on the baking pan
2. Trim the edges
3. Pierce the pastry with a fork
4. Store in the fridge until the filling is ready

Preparing the top of the pastiera

1. Cut the remaining pastry into 8 parts
2. Remove the two ends
3. Make 6 strips with each part. Make 2 long strips for the middle
4. Keep the rest of the dough aside

Making the filling

1. Add all the ingredients for the filling to the wheat (not the egg whites) in a large bowl
2. Stir until it is all blended
3. Whisk the egg whites until firm
4. Gradually and gently add the egg whites to the filling mixture

Finishing up the pie

1. Pour the filling over the pastry base
2. Cover with the criss-cross diamond pattern of strips, and trim the edges
3. With the excess dough, make a long strip
4. Place it all around the top of the pie
5. With a fork, seal the edge of the pastry

Baking and serving

1. Bake in a hot oven at 355 F - 180C for 1 hour
2. Let it cool down completely before removing it from the pan
3. Dust with Icing sugar and serve
4. It is even better the next day

Top tips

• Buy the right ingredients, do not substitute the wheat or try to make it yourself; it will not be the same thing
• Get a good fresh ricotta brand
• Keep the pastry cold before you put it into the oven; it will make a nice crunchy crust.
• As the pastry has baking powder you need to bake the pie as soon as possible. The pastry cannot rest for hours.
• Let it cool down completely before removing it from the pan
• You can also bake and serve it in a pie dish without removing it. Pastiera is very fragile and can easily collapse

Storing Pastiera

Pastiera should be stored in the fridge. It will last for 3 to 4 days

Ricotta for Italian desserts

Ricotta is a cheese made by re-cooking (ri-cotta in Italian) the serum, called whey, that is left over after the milk has been curdled to make cheese.

Therefore ricotta is a cheese with low-fat content. Usually made from cow's milk, it can also be made from sheep or goat's milk.

In the South of Italy, sheep's milk ricotta is often used to make desserts in substitution of butter or cream.

Delicious ricotta desserts are Cannoli Siciliani, Ricotta loaf cake without butter but also Sfogliatella Napoletana, and this traditional Easter Pie Pastiera Napoletana.

Cow milk ricotta is the most common ricotta you find in supermarkets, it is lighter and perfect for making desserts as it has a milder flavor.

However, the classic Sicilian desserts are made with sheep's milk ricotta, which is not as easy to find outside Italy.

Goat's ricotta is much stronger in flavor and has a higher fat content. It is not a good choice for desserts.

If you can find sheep ricotta use half sheep and half cow ricotta. If you cannot find it you can use cow ricotta only.

Savoury Pie Ideas

If you also want to make some savory pies for Easter, here are some ideas:

• Beef Pie With Marsala Sauce And Mushrooms
• Chicken and Mushroom Pie Recipe
• Chelsea Market Heidi Pie With French Chevre
• Zucchini Mushroom Quiche Recipe
• Caramelized Squash Spinach Bacon Quiche

If you are making this Pastiera Napoletana Recipe, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.

Origin of this recipe

This recipe is from my Uncle's wife Pina, who makes the best desserts I have ever tasted.

She makes various desserts, mostly typical from the South of Italy. A fresh homemade flavor but is never too sweet.

Often pastries from Southern Italian bakeries tend to be way too sweet for me, like for example the Sicilian Cassata or the Marzapane fruits.