Pastiera with olive oil pastry scented with orange. An easy and quick pastiera with immediately ready-to-use olive oil pastry because it doesn’t need resting. Pastiera, as per tradition, cannot be missed at Easter. I made one today, truly delicious. Actually, I make one every year and each time I change something to make it unique. Last year, I made the original Neapolitan pastiera with lard pastry. I must confess it was a hit. This year, I wanted to try it without butter and lard, so I prepared a delicious pastiera with olive oil pastry. This time, I didn’t add yeast to the pastry, and it turned out really great. After some resting, as it should be for pastiera, the texture is perfect, as is the taste. No, you can’t taste the olive oil. I loved this version too. With resting, the pastry achieves the right texture, and the flavor emerges gradually, with the taste of the candied orange peels in the filling becoming quite noticeable. Usually, pastiera also contains candied citron, but I only used candied orange peels that I made a few months ago and preserved for my homemade desserts. I also flavored both the pastry and the filling solely with grated orange zest. I can finally say that this year’s pastiera with olive oil and orange is truly delightful, enjoyed this morning for breakfast with pleasure. Now, let’s see how to make it.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Medium
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 12
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stove
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Easter, Spring
Ingredients for pastiera with olive oil pastry
- 13.4 oz all-purpose flour
- 3.2 oz olive oil
- 5 oz sugar
- 2 medium eggs
- grated orange zest
- 12.3 oz cooked wheat
- 0.63 cup milk
- orange zest
- 12.3 oz sheep ricotta cheese
- 7.1 oz sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1.8 oz candied orange peels
- to taste orange blossom extract
- to taste cream of wheat
Tools for preparing the pastiera with olive oil
- 1 Bowl
- 1 Spoon
- 1 Small pot
- 1 Kitchen spatula
- 1 Pan
- 1 Rolling pin
- 1 Work surface
- 1 Fork
- 1 Pastry wheel
Steps for preparing traditional Neapolitan pastiera with olive oil pastry
Let’s start by preparing the wheat cream. In a small pot, put the cooked wheat with milk and grated orange zest. Cook until you get a creamy mixture, turn off the heat, transfer to a small bowl, and let it cool.
Next, prepare the olive oil pastry. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar, eggs, olive oil, and grated orange zest to form a homogeneous dough. Work it on a surface to make it elastic enough to roll out into a disk about 0.25 inches thick, rolling it well-floured with a rolling pin.
The pastry sheet should be wide enough to cover a flared pastiera pan measuring 9.5-10 inches in diameter. No need to grease and flour the pan, but sprinkle flour on the side of the pastry that you will place in the pan. After lining the pan, trim the excess pastry, ensuring there is enough to form a rectangle from which to cut the 7 strips to decorate the pastiera, as traditionally done.Prepare the cream in a large bowl, work the ricotta with the sugar, then add the eggs one by one, mixing as you go. Add each egg after incorporating the previous one. Finally, add the wheat cream, finely chopped candied fruits, and orange blossom extract, and give it a good stir.
Pierce the entire base of the pastry in the pan with a fork, then pour all the filling inside. With the remaining pastry dough, well-worked into a long rectangular strip, cut the strips about 0.1 inches thick with a pastry wheel.
Decorate with the strips and place immediately in a preheated oven at 338°F, on the lower rack, for about 60-70 minutes. For the last 10 minutes, move it to the top rack to brown the surface well.
Remove from the oven and let it cool completely, then gently remove it from the pan, using a knife if necessary, and flip it onto a serving platter. If desired, sprinkle with powdered sugar, though I always forget since I don’t like how it looks in photos, but habit sometimes wins over me. Let it rest overnight before enjoying it, as the longer it rests, the more the flavors are released.
