Pizza Rustica
Pizza rustica, pizza chiena, pizza gaina - call it however you want! This recipe will bring you home a piece of Italian traditional cooking.
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Servings: 10 servings
Calories: 1127kcal
Ingredients
Dough
- 6 cups unbleached flour plus additional flour for dusting surfaces when rolling out the dough
- 1 tsp salt
- 5 large eggs
- 1 lb butter chilled. You can choose salted or unsalted, based on your tastes
- 1 ¼ cup ice water
Filling
- 12 oz prosciutto cut into small bite-size pieces
- 8 oz each: soppressata ham, mozzarella and provolone, all cut into small bite-sized pieces
- 2 lbs ricotta cheese
- 4 oz pecorino romano grated fine
- 10 large eggs
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 additional egg for brushing onto the dough
Instructions
Dough
- Whisk together flour and salt
- Cut the cold butter into the flour using a fork, pastry cutter or your hands until you’ve created a mix of coarse crumbs.
- Beat the eggs and add to flour, mixing and kneading together well
- Add the water slowly until a dough forms. You may not need to use all of the water, but if you need to use a little more that’s fine too. What you’re looking for is a dough you can pick up out of the bowl easily in one piece
- Flour your counter lightly, then knead the dough for a few minutes until it becomes smooth and a little shiny. Put back into your bowl, cover with plastic and let rest for about half an hour
Filling
- Beat the eggs. Add in meats and cheeses, mixing well
Assembly
- Preheat oven to 350
- Divide the dough into two pieces, roughly 1/3 and 2/3 in size of the whole. The smaller piece will be the top of your pie
- On a floured surface roll out the larger piece of dough into a circle wide enough to accommodate the size of your spring-form pan. If you’re using a square pan, roll it into a square
- Carefully lift the dough and put it into your well-greased pan, pressing the dough gently into the bottom and up the sides of the pan. You’ll want a little overhang around the sides
- Pour in your filling. Make sure it’s smooth and even
- Roll out the smaller piece of dough to the width of your pan. Wet the edges of the dough already in the pan (this will help it stick to the top), then lay this piece over the top of the pie. Pinch the top and bottom together to seal the pie. Trim off excess overhang
- Make a few slits with a sharp knife to the top of your pie. This will allow steam to vent out as it bakes
- Use a pastry brush to brush beaten egg over the top of your pie, then bake for 45 minutes
- Brush with egg again, then bake an additional 45 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before serving.
Notes
Meats can include prosciutto, ham, pepperoni, soppressata and mortadella. Sweet or spicy sausage are nice alternatives as well. Cheeses can include ricotta, mozzarella, provolone, pecorino romano, parmigiano reggiano and even swiss. Experiment with vegetables as well, such as mushroom, tomato, spinach, onion or peppers.
Calories: 1127kcal | Carbohydrates: 59g | Protein: 41g | Fat: 80g | Saturated Fat: 42g | Cholesterol: 441mg | Sodium: 1603mg | Potassium: 435mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1953IU | Calcium: 372mg | Iron: 3mg
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