Italy Part 8

Pizza Rustica (p. 120)

This recipe had been tagged as something I really wanted to devour, while also being something I was totally nervous to prepare. The nerves come from the fact that I had to prepare a crust... did I mention that my baking ventures don't turn out the majority of the time? At this point in my Italy journey, I decided that I was up for the challenge. I took this recipe in two parts: early in the week I prepared the dough and cheese-egg filling, while later I put the pieces together and baked it. As I progressed through this recipe, my confidence crumbled slowly, as I ran into a few problems. 

First of all, my dough turned out to be a crumbly, dry flour mass instead of a moist play-do. I ended up refrigerating it in this crumbly condition to see if perhaps, with time, it would moisten up. It did not. So, I added an extra egg and some water and (hurray!) it became a moldable dough that I was able to manipulate into the pizza crust. Secondly, I had to beat the six egg whites by hand until stiff since I had misplaced my beaters. If you do this, plan ahead and sport your favorite sweatband... you'll need it! Thirdly, the pie barfed in the oven. I think this was a combination of not sealing the edges enough (most likely because I didn't have enough dough from the bottom crust layer to fold into the top layer), and I didn't poke the top thoroughly enough because the steam generated during the baking process couldn't escape gently- it exploded out! This also slowed the cooking process since heat was being released from the middle of the pie too quickly. It took an extra 20 minutes. 

Thankfully, however, it is really hard to mess up crust, eggs, and cheese. This Pizza rustica was happily enjoyed with good company and a few glasses of pinot nior on a stormy Wednesday evening.

Early stages of making the crust.
First, with fingers, you had to pinch butter into the dry
flour until it resembled big bread crumbs (pictured here).
Then, with a dull knife, you had to mix in an egg, egg white
and some water until a "dough" was formed.  

Ready for the refrigeration step.
It needed to cool for 30 minutes before rolling out into a thin crust.
I kept it cooling for three days until I was ready to complete the pizza.

The beautiful "dough" after correcting with an extra egg.
The dough was split into two pieces and rolled out separately.
One-half serves as the base, and the other as the cover.
Note: My bottom crust didn't stretch over the sides of my dish. 
Don't do this! The dough needs to hang off the sides of the dish 
so that it can be easily sealed with the top layer's edges.

The filling, prepared in two parts.
The bowl on the left was prepared earlier in the week
and refrigerated until ready to bake. It contains lots of
goodies: four different cheeses, egg yolks, salumi, prosciutto,
and fresh herbs. The bowl on the right shows freshly beaten
egg whites. The egg whites were folded into the cheesy
mixture to complete the filling.

Mama mia!! The pie is ready for the oven. The sides are sealed,
the top pricked with a fork and brushed with milk.
Note: The recipe called for beaten egg to brush 
over the top, but I had run out.  Egg produces a glossy glaze, 
while milk allows for a more brown, caramelized crust.  

Blah!
The foil laying at the sides of the pan was used to
dress the outer crusts to prevent them from burning while the
pie was put back into the oven for extra cooking time
(complements to chef,  Jennifer).

My beautiful friend, Jennifer, showcasing the
salvaged pizza and the spontaneous hail storm.    

Pizza Rustica- a hearty pie.

Mid-dinner reflections.

After all of the stumbles I had with the recipe, I was pretty impressed with the end result. My recommendation to anyone attempting Pizza rustica is to remember that you can prepare the filling and crust dough ahead of time. This splits the labor and cleanup time into two, manageable parts. That way, the day you wish to eat it, just assemble the ingredients, bake, and enjoy!