P
Italian · Naples, Campania
Pastiera Napoletana di Grano
Naples' Easter cake — one of Italy's most historically rooted pastries, made from a short pastry shell filled with a mixture of cooked wheat berries (grano cotto), ricotta, sugar, eggs, candied citron and orange peel, and orange flower water. The wheat berries are pre-cooked and slowly simmered in milk with lard and orange peel the day before. The filling must include both the ricotta mixture and the wheat — neither alone constitutes pastiera. The orange flower water is the defining aromatic — its floral, slightly medicinal character is unmistakeable and irreplaceable.
I
The Market List
The benchmark for each ingredient, and who stocks it near you. Tap a stockist to go straight to the product.
For the grano cotto
300 g
wheat berries (grano cotto, canned or dry-cooked)
if canned, drain before use
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
250 ml
whole milk
Your own market
20 g
lard
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
1
strip orange peel
pith removed
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the ricotta filling
500 g
sheep's milk ricotta
pressed through a fine sieve
Your own market
250 g
caster sugar
Your own market
4
eggs
whole, lightly beaten
Your own market
60 ml
orange flower water
several tablespoons; a definite flavour presence
Your own market
80 g
candied citron peel
cut into small dice
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
80 g
candied orange peel
cut into small dice
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
For the pasta frolla
300 g
plain flour
Not yet stocked in British Columbia
150 g
unsalted butter
cold, cut into cubes
Your own market
100 g
caster sugar
Your own market
2
egg yolks
Your own market
1 pinch
fine salt
Your own market
II
The Method
1
The day before baking, place the wheat berries in a small saucepan with the milk, lard, and orange peel strip. Simmer over low heat for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the peel, transfer the wheat to a bowl, and cool to room temperature before refrigerating overnight. The wheat is ready when it is soft, creamy, and has absorbed most of the milk into a loose porridge.
2
Make the pasta frolla: work the cold butter into the flour and salt until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Add the sugar and egg yolks and bring together into a smooth dough without overworking. Wrap and rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. The dough is ready when it is firm, pliable, and does not crack at the edges when pressed.
From the canon — Pasta frolla — Italian short pastry, used for crostata (jam tarts), pastiera (Neapolitan Easter tart), and pastry shells across the Italian tradition — diffe… Pasta Frolla: Italian Short Pastry →
3
Press the sieved ricotta through once more if any graininess remains. Combine it with the caster sugar, beaten eggs, orange flower water, and the diced candied citron and orange peel. Stir until uniform. The orange flower water must register as a clear floral, slightly medicinal note — taste the mixture and adjust if the character is merely a hint.
4
Fold the cooled grano cotto into the ricotta mixture, maintaining the proportion of 40% wheat to 60% ricotta mixture. This is where the dish lives or dies: neither component alone constitutes pastiera — the wheat must be distributed evenly, soft enough to yield without graininess, and the combined filling must move as one cohesive mass, neither dry nor loose.
5
Butter a 26 cm tart tin. Roll two-thirds of the pasta frolla to 4 mm thickness and line the tin, allowing a slight overhang. Pour in the filling and level it. Roll the remaining dough and cut into strips of even width; lay them across the tart in a lattice pattern, pressing lightly at the edges only — the strips rest on the filling, not embedded in it. The lattice should cover the surface in a regular grid visible through the diamonds of filling.
6
Bake at 160 °C for 45 minutes. The pastiera is done when the lattice is golden and the filling, seen through the diamonds of the grid, is just set with a perceptible, gentle wobble at the very centre. Do not bake to a firm set — the filling will continue to firm on cooling. Remove from the oven and cool completely in the tin.
7
Rest the pastiera at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours before serving. The filling firms, the floral and citrus notes integrate, and the short pastry loses any rawness. The cake is ready when a cross-section holds cleanly and the aroma is distinctly orange flower water over candied citrus, with no eggy sharpness.
III
Quality Hierarchy
01
Reserve — Sheep's milk ricotta from a Campanian caseificio, strained overnight; home-prepared grano cotto simmered from dry wheat berries; candied citron from a Sicilian confetteria; orange flower water from a Neapolitan pharmacy or distillery.
02
Estate — Good-quality sheep's milk ricotta from an Italian cheesemonger; canned grano cotto (pre-cooked wheat berries in syrup) simmered again in fresh milk with lard; candied peel from a reliable Italian delicatessen.
03
Market — Mixed sheep-and-cow's milk ricotta, well drained; canned grano cotto used with the additional milk simmer; commercially produced candied citron and orange peel; orange flower water from a Middle Eastern grocer.
04
House — Supermarket cow's milk ricotta, pressed through a sieve twice; canned grano cotto without the additional simmer if time is short — the texture will be less creamy; standard candied mixed peel; orange flower water from any baking supplier.
IV
Sensory Tests
◇Touch. The cooked wheat berries press easily between two fingers with no hard or chalky centre — soft throughout, bound in a loose creamy milk mass.
◇Smell. The combined filling carries an unmistakeable floral, slightly medicinal orange flower water note before it enters the oven — if that note is absent, more orange flower water is required.
◇Sight. At 45 minutes the lattice is a uniform pale gold and the filling visible in the diamonds of the grid shows a gentle central wobble but no liquid shimmer — it will firm fully on cooling.
◇Smell. After 24 to 48 hours of resting, the cut surface releases integrated orange flower water and candied citrus without any residual eggy sharpness — the pastiera is ready to serve.
◇Where it lives or dies. The folding together of grano cotto and ricotta mixture at the correct 40:60 proportion — with the wheat fully softened and the filling cohesive — is the point at which the pastiera either exists or does not.
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VI
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