Pizza Rustica (Italian Easter Pie)

Pizza Rustica is a substantial double-crusted savory pie filled with Italian meats and cheeses. Traditionally eaten on Easter Sunday as an appetizer or at the family picnic, it is cut in wedges and served at room temperature. Also called pizzagain, it is a delicious make-ahead dish with quite the wow factor.

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Ingredients

The Crust:

3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
4 oz. butter very cold
4 oz. Crisco or lard very cold
2 large eggs slightly beaten
¼ cup ice-cold water

The Filling:

24 oz whole milk ricotta
16 oz basket cheese
3 large eggs slightly beaten
6 oz. provolone piccante 1/2 inch thick
8 oz whole milk mozzarella
6 oz. pepperoni 1/2 inch thick
6 oz. prosciutto 1/2 inch thick
8 oz. genoa salami 1/2 inch thick
2 oz. grated parmesan or romano cheese

Instructions

DOUGH:

In a food processor, put the flour, salt and sugar. Pulse once or twice to combine.
Cut the butter and Crisco (or lard) into chunks and add to the flour, etc., in the food processor. Pulse about 10 times to get chickpea-sized bits of butter and Crisco. Bigger pieces are better than the mixture looking like sand.
Pulse in the two slightly beaten eggs.
Dribble in 2 Tbs of the ice-cold water while the processor runs. It should roll itself into a ball after about 15 seconds. If it doesn’t, while the processor is still running, add the rest of the water, 1 Tbs. at a time, just until the dough forms a ball and then stop adding water and stop the food processor.
Divide the dough into two pieces: 2/3 of the dough should be patted into a disk for the bottom of the pie and 1/3 of the dough should be patted into a second disk for the top.
Refrigerate the dough disks for at least one hour. This can be made one day ahead.

WHEN YOU ARE READY TO BAKE THE PIZZA:

Preheat the oven to 350F with an oven rack at the middle bottom of the oven (whatever rack is below center but not all the way to the bottom of the oven).
Prepare a 10-inch springform pan by either buttering the entire inside, spraying with a good non-stick or rubbing with a butter wrapper. The dough isn’t terribly sticky but I err on the side of caution. You can also place a piece of parchment on the bottom and/or parchment slings to be super careful though I never have.

PREPARE THE FILLING:

Cut the thick pieces of meats and cheese into cubes the size of a bean, enough to identify it but not so much a person would need a knife and fork for the bite.
In a large mixing bowl, stir the ricotta, basket cheese and eggs just until everything is incorporated. Add all of the rest of the filling ingredients and stir just to combine. Set aside.
Roll the larger disk of dough out into a circle that is about ¼ inch thick. You will have more then enough to fill the springform pan. Drape the dough into the pan, gently lifting the sides down until the dough is into the bottom all the way to the sides without stretching. Cut away the excess dough, leaving at least 2 inches of overhand all the way round.
Dollop the filling into the bottom crust, getting it evenly distributed but without packing it down.
Roll the smaller disk out to ¼ inch thickness, at least 10 inches in diameter to cover the pizza. At this point, you can either cut it into strips and make a basket weave top or place the crust on top, adding steam vent in a decorative pattern.
There will be plenty of leftover bits of dough for decorating if you’d like. Make sure there are a few vents around the top crust to release steam.
Bake in the preheated oven for 1½ hours. Start checking at 1 hour for browning. If the top crust gets nicely browned before time is up, cover it lightly with foil and continue for the rest of the baking time.
Cool on a wire rack until room temperature before slicing. If it is too warm, the filling will not have set and will ooze out.

Notes

NOTES:

If you can’t get basket cheese, use all whole milk ricotta.

Pizza rustica is all about the filling. If you can’t get good meats and cheeses, save this recipe for another day.

Your selection of diced meats and cheeses can be changed to suit your taste. A lot of recipes use cooked fresh Italian sausages in addition to or in place of deli meats. If you don’t like my choices, feel free to use Italian deli meats and cheese of your choosing. Just keep the weights the same as above to fill the pizza. If you use cooked sausage, the weight should be post-cooking weight.

When you go to the deli counter, it helps to tell the person helping you what you're using the meats/cheeses for. Sometimes when you say 1/2 an inch, they get a little concerned about wasting a perfectly good slice.

Baked a day ahead is optimal. Cover with a tea towel and leave on the counter. Once refrigerated, the crust loses its crispness.

You can make the crust with all butter but it will be more delicate and crumbly. Using half lard is ideal for flavor and texture but not always possible.