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Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe (all tips and secrets)

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Neapolitan Pastiera original recipe (all tips and secrets)
The original recipe for this Neapolitan pastiera, with the addition of pastry cream to the cooked wheat and ricotta filling, is fantastic!! Just as it should be according to tradition: tall and melting in the mouth.
In this recipe I reveal – step by step – all the tips and secrets for a perfect authentic Neapolitan pastiera!
I’ll start by telling you to begin preparations well in advance and start making this pastiera on Holy Thursday, to allow the flavors to meld well; to be precise, I begin on Wednesday (read why in the recipe).
As I said above, in Naples the pastiera is prepared on Holy Thursday to be eaten on Easter Sunday and it is NOT refrigerated; it can safely remain at room temperature for about 4 days because, once baked, the ricotta no longer has the characteristics of fresh ricotta and therefore becomes much more resistant to room temperature.
Personally, I prefer the pastiera to be TALL, creamy and with a filling that envelops and blends into the shortcrust pastry (which should be crumbly and NOT hard): “..Undoubtedly there are those who prefer a medium-height or even low pastiera. For those who wish to enjoy it according to tradition, the Neapolitan pastiera must be strictly TALL. The thickness should be at least 6 centimeters to retain its aroma…” (see here). Note: 6 cm ≈ 2.4 in (about 2 3/8 in).
Anyway, any controversy about the authentic pastiera recipe is sterile and useless (tall, short, with cream, without cream, etc.): every family has its own recipe passed down from generation to generation.

Actually, regarding the origins of the true Neapolitan pastiera, the writer Jeanne Carola Francesconi in her book “La Cucina napoletana” (the Bible of Neapolitan cuisine, the most important recipe collection after Cavalcanti’s, a true cult!) reported two versions of the pastiera: the ONE WITH custard and the ONE WITHOUT custard and, on this subject, she wrote literally: “….every Neapolitan family has its own recipe – varied mainly in proportions, some add custard and some do not, some prefer it very fragrant and others less, some prefer it low and others high. Everyone, however, argues about the rules and their own tastes….”.
In Naples, in some families, it is tradition to eat pastiera even at Christmas.

If you want to enrich your Easter menu with other recipes (sweet or savory), I recommend checking my “Easter Special“.
This pastiera is among my “Top Recipes” for its goodness; if you are looking for tried-and-true, delicious, fail-proof recipes, look in the Blog among my staples, in the dedicated Blog section: “My TOP recipes” .

You might also be interested in:

Traditional Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe
  • Difficulty: Medium
  • Cost: Medium
  • Rest time: 12 Hours
  • Preparation time: 1 Hour
  • Cooking time: 1 Hour
  • Portions: 10
  • Cooking methods: Oven
  • Cuisine: Regional Italian
  • Region: Campania
  • Seasonality: Easter, Spring

Ingredients for the Neapolitan Pastiera original recipe (quantities for 2 pastiere)

  • 8 cups Tipo 00 flour (weak gluten, I use Caputo pastry flour)
  • 1 1/2 cups Lard
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 3/4 cup Water
  • 3/4 tsp Baker's ammonia
  • 1 1/3 tbsp Cointreau (or Grand Marnier or Strega)
  • 2 Lemon zest (grated)
  • 1 pinch Fine salt
  • 4 cups Cooked wheat (grano cotto)
  • 2 cups Whole milk
  • 1 tbsp Lard
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • 1 Lemon zest (grated + the grated zest of two oranges)
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla extract
  • 1 pinch Fine salt
  • 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
  • 5 cups Ricotta
  • 3 1/2 cups Sugar
  • 10 Eggs
  • 1 bottle Orange flower water
  • 2 2/3 tbsp Cointreau
  • 2 2/3 tbsp Millefiori water (multiflower aroma)
  • 1 tbsp Ground cinnamon (level)
  • 2/3 cup Candied citron (optional, cut into very small pieces)
  • 1 Lemon zest (untreated)
  • 2 Orange zest (untreated)
  • 3/4 cup Whole milk (200 ml)
  • 1/2 cup Sugar (zefiro)
  • 1/3 cup Tipo 00 flour
  • 4 Egg yolks
  • 1 Lemon zest
  • 1 tbsp Vanilla extract

Tools for the Neapolitan Pastiera original recipe:

  • Bowls various sizes
  • Immersion blender powerful, with 5 accessories
  • Electric mixer Philips electric with 450W
  • Stand mixer Kenwood 1200 W power with double bowl
  • Cake pan conical 24 cm

Preparation of the Neapolitan Pastiera original recipe

  • With the quantities indicated above you obtain two pastiere: one for a 10-inch (25 cm) pan about 2 3/8 inches (6 cm) high and another for a pan of about 9 inches (23 cm).

    Traditional Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe

  • The evening before Holy Thursday, on Wednesday, put the ricotta covered with sugar in the fridge so that all the ricotta’s water is absorbed (trick).

    Traditional Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe

  • Put the flour in a mound in the stand mixer, place the lard and sugar in the center, add the water and the baker’s ammonia.

    Work everything quickly with the paddle (you can also work by hand), form a ball and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour, but it’s better to prepare it the day before.

  • Pour the 4 egg yolks directly into a small saucepan (keep the whites for another preparation), add the sugar (100 g) to the yolks and whisk well by hand.

  • Then add the flour (50 g) to the yolks and sugar mixture and whisk well to avoid lumps.

  • Heat the milk (200 ml) in a small saucepan and add the lemon zest and vanilla extract.

    Pour the hot milk over the yolk mixture.

  • Stir immediately with the whisk to prevent the hot milk from cooking the yolks and creating lumps.

  • Place the saucepan over very low heat and continue to stir until the custard thickens. Be careful: the heat must be really low.

  • Cover the bowl with plastic wrap in contact with the surface and let it cool well before adding it to the other ingredients.

  • Before using the custard, pass it through a fine sieve to make it smooth and velvety (optional).

  • Cook the wheat in a saucepan covered with milk to the brim, with the grated peel of one lemon and two oranges, a tablespoon of lard, a tablespoon of sugar, a pinch of salt and cinnamon, for about 40 minutes over medium heat; it should be creamy. I then pass half of it through a food mill, but that is optional.

  • In a bowl, put the ricotta passed through a sieve and the sugar, and beat it to a cream with an electric whisk, then add the whole eggs one at a time, allowing each to be fully incorporated.

  • Combine the ricotta mixture with the cooked wheat mixture.

    Add to everything the previously prepared and cooled pastry cream (about 300 g).

  • Add: the seeds of one vanilla pod (or 10 ml of vanilla extract), the cinnamon, the millefiori bottle, the Strega liqueur, one bottle of orange blossom water, the candied citron and the candied orange peel.

    Let this mixture rest overnight, so that the filling does not swell during baking and break the shortcrust pastry strips.

  • Roll out part of the shortcrust pastry into a pan about 2 3/8–2 3/4 inches high (6–7 cm), pour in all the prepared pastiera filling, then with the remaining pastry cut strips about 2 cm wide (preferably make 7 strips) and lay them diagonally over the filling.

  • If you see that the strips break, chill them in the fridge for half an hour before placing them on the filling.

  • Place the pastiera on the bottom rack of the oven for the first 35 minutes, then move it to the middle shelf; the pastiera must bake slowly, at 320°F (160°C) for at least 2 hours (or more, depending on your oven). Finally, leave it in the turned-off oven for 15 minutes.

    Traditional Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe

  • Dust the (tall) Neapolitan pastiera with vanilla powdered sugar and eat it at least after two days, to allow the flavors to blend and obtain a fragrant pastiera that melts in the mouth.

    Traditional Neapolitan Pastiera Original Recipe

Notes and Tips

If you want to learn more about the history and origins of the pastiera, I suggest this interesting article from Luciano Pignataro’s Blog HERE.

Between religion, myths and legends why must the shortcrust pastry strips be 7? Read here.

If you find neroli (an essential oil obtained from bitter orange blossom), add 2 or 3 drops to the filling; it costs a bit, but your pastiera will smell even more of spring!

The candied citron must be cut into very tiny pieces.

The absence of eggs in the shortcrust pastry makes the pastiera more crumbly and digestible, considering that the filling is already rich in eggs.

The recipe for this Neapolitan pastiera is by Romina Sodano, published on Luciano Pignataro’s blog HERE, very similar is the version by Antonia Russo which I found HERE.

Shopping Tips!!

For my pastiera I use Grano Chirico, already cooked.

To knead to perfection and comfortably prepare various doughs, I use my Kenwood Titanium Chef Patissier XL stand mixer with illuminated 7L bowl, built-in scale and 1400 W power, a faithful ally in the kitchen for: kneading, weighing, whipping, melting chocolate, pasteurizing eggs.

If you prefer a more economical and smaller stand mixer model you can choose to buy the Kenwood Titanium Chef Baker stand mixer, with double 5L and 3.5L bowls, 1200W.

I passed the ricotta in a few minutes with the practical Braun electric food mill (“purée accessory”, also ideal for potatoes).

To bake the pastiera I used this Pentole Agnelli conical cake pan 24 cm diameter.

You can buy all the items I recommend above on Amazon at a great price, just click directly on the corresponding links.

  • Should the ricotta for the pastiera be sieved?

    Yes, I quickly pass it through the Braun electric food mill (see Shopping Tips above) adv

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