Until the end of June the Modern Baker Challenge Bakers are working their way through Sweet Tarts and Pies. A delicious section of Malgieri’s collection of recipes. I got started late with this section and was glad to know there were still a couple of selections that had not been ‘reserved’ by the other bakers. (In each section different bakers become the ‘official’ baker of a particular goodie.)

Of the ones left, and there weren’t many this late in the game, this one seemed the most, eh, Interesting….

    Neapolitan Easter Pie

This one caught my eye because of one ingredient – Wheat Berries!! At the beginning of April I had never really heard of wheat berries, let alone eaten them, but that changed when My Friend Leslie chose the Wheat Berry Salad for CEinMB. That was good, so I decided I would try them again.

    Wheat Berries – check!
    Pie Crust – Check!
    Ricotta – Check!
    Pastry Cream – Check!
    Candied Orange Peel – Che… eh, wait!! What!! Not Check!

And could not find any ANYWHERE!! So I took an extra day and made my own. Kinda. Sorta. My Nana would be so disappointed in me for the way mine turned out!! Or, rather, didn’t turn out.

And no, those are NOT French Fries!! Instead of Candied Orange Peel, I ended up with Caramelized Peel. Not bad, but not good on the teeth.

I looked every where for my Nana’s recipe because she made it all the time when I was little, but to no avail. Found a recipe at Epicurious and used it. Very Simple. Unless you are me!

I picked out a few pieces that were soft and I was back in business for the Pie.

    Candied Orange Peel – Check!

The filling for the pie is a mixture of Pastry Cream, Wheat Berries, Peel, and Orange Water. {Discovered I didn’t have this one available either, but found suggestion to substitute Orange Oil so I added 5 drips instead of the Orange Water and it gave it a nice subtle Orange Flavor.}

I forgot to Instead of sprinkling cinnamon on top of the filling I sprinkled cinnamon sugar over the top of the pie and crust. Good mistake choice!

I liked it, I think. Still thinking about it. Different. Wheat Berries added a little different texture. Thinking!!

Try it, see what you think. And visit the other Challenge Bakers and see what they thought of it.

We have agreed not to publish the recipes from Malgieri’s Book The Modern Baker but I did find it on Malgieri’s Website.