Traditional Italian Easter Meat Pie A Meat Filled Pizza Rustica

Casatiello, an Italian Easter Bread slice on a plate.

5 from 16 votes

Traditional Italian Easter Meat Pie A Meat Filled Pizza Rustica

Enjoy a slice of this Italian Easter Meat Pie for your Easter celebrations. It’s loaded with a meaty cheese and egg filling with a homemade pie dough crust bottom and top. A traditional Easter meal that won’t disappoint!

Yields 2 9" pies

Prep Time40

Cook Time1 20

Rising Time1

Total Time3

Course: artisan bread, Breakfast, holiday main dish, Lunch Dish

Cuisine: Italian

Servings: servings

Calories: 408kcal

Author: Marisa Franca @ All Our Way

Equipment

Kitchen-Aid Stand Mixer
See-through rising bucket
Digital Kitchen Scale optional but very helpful for accuracy.
Dry measuring cups
Measuring Spoons
Liquid measuring cup
2 Pie pans - 9-inch

Ingredients

Crust

4 ¾ cups Unbleached all-purpose flour 567 grams
2 teaspoons Kosher salt 12 grams
2 teaspoons instant yeast
2 Tablespoons Granulaed sugar 25 grams
¼ cup Olive oil 50 grams
1 ½ cups Water, warm 340 grams

Filling

6 Eggs, large
4 cups Ricotta cheese, part-skim 907 grams
2 cups Mozzarella cheese, shredded 227 grams
1 cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated 99 grams
½ teaspoon Black pepper, coarsely ground
2 cups Ham, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
2 cups Genoa salami, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
2 cups Pepperoni, diced into ½-inch cubes 227 grams
8-10 slices Prosciutto, very thinly sliced 113 grams
Olive oil for brushing on the crust

Get Recipe Ingredients

Instructions

Pizza dough

Mix all of the dough ingredients until you've made a soft, smooth dough. You can do this my hand, mixer, or in a bread machine.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover, and allow it to rise for 1 to 2 hours, until it's not quite doubled in bulk.

The filling

While the dough is rising, stir together the ebbs, ricotta, mozzarella, Parmesan, slat, and pepper.
Stir in the ham, salami, and pepperoni.
Divide the filling in half (each about 4 ½ cups, (36 ounces, 1020grams), and refrigerate.
Preheat the oven to 325℉ (162.778℃). Have ready two 9"pie pans.
Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into four pieces. Two of the pieces will be bottom crusts, and should be just slightly larger than the other two pieces.
Place one of the larger pieces of dough on a lightly greased silicone rolling mat, or lightly greased work surface. Roll itinto a circle that's about 16" in diameter; go away for 5 minutes, then come back; the circle will probably have shrunk.
Roll it out again, and drape it into the pie plate, anchoring the edges to the pan by folding them underneath the rim; you don't want it shrinking down the sides of the pan while you're rolling the other crust.
Roll one of the smaller pieces of dough the same way you did the larger, giving it time to shrink and then rolling again, if necessary.
Line the bottom crust with half the prosciutto slices. Spoon half the filling on top.
Drape the top crust over the filling, and bring the edge of the bottom crust up over the edge of the top crust, sealing the two together and smoothing them as best you can.
Cut a 1"inch circle in the center of the top crust, to allow steam to escape. Make another pie with the remaining dough and filling.
Place both pies on a large, parchment-lined baking sheet; if you don't have a bit enough sheet, use two. The baking sheet makes it easier to transport pies in and out of the oven, and parchment will catch and spills.
Bake the pies for 80 minutes, until they're a light golden brown.
Five minutes before the end of the baking time, remove them fro the oven, brush or spray with olive oil, and return to the oven; this will give the crust a nice glow.
Remove the pies from the oven, and let them rest for at least 1 hour (preferable 2 hours) before cutting. Serve warm, or at room temperature.
Don't serve until Easter Saturday!
Refrigerate any leftovers for up to 4 days.

Notes

Some recipes for pizza rustica add a squeeze of lemon juice into the buttery pie dough as a way to balance out the rich ingredients in the dough and the filling. While I haven’t done so in my version of this Italian Easter Meat Pie, you are more than welcome to try it.
You can omit the eggs and simply make a meat and cheese Easter pie. This variation is referred to as Pizza Giana (Giana meaning “God is gracious”).
Another well known variation to this Italian Easter pie is the inclusion of greens in addition to the eggs, cheese, and meat. This pie is known as Torte Pasqualina.
You can easily halve the ingredients in this recipe if you only intend to make one pie or freeze the second pie (unbaked) for a delicious family meal later on.

Store:

Store leftover Italian Easter Meat Pie wrapped tightly with plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Reheat in the oven until heated through.

You also have the option of freezing your pizza rustica (baked or unbaked) by wrapping it tightly with plastic wrap and aluminum foil, for up to 6 months.

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