PJ! What a delight to find a recipe for Easter Pie on King Arthur Flour's site. I was actually looking for the blog on the Dark Chocolate Butter Crunch when I came across it. I'd like to offer some 1st generation American background on Easter Pie. While I too call it Easter Pie it was always called in the Italian dialect of my family Pizzaghienna (not sure of spelling -- peet za g'yenna is my best phonetic spelling). I later found a variation in a cookbook with the proper Italian name Pizza Piena, which means Pizza of Plenty. It was served after the Easter Vigil to break the Lenten fastl. It seems every family has their own version but it also appears that some modifications were made when familiar ingredients were not available in America. Our family always uses prosciutto and I highly recommend it over other full flavored hams -- not only because I believe it more authentic, but because well it just tastes so much better! My husband's family uses cheese in the basket -- whatever that is -- but I prefer the ricotta cheese my family uses. As a child, I remember a kitchen full of people prepping the ingredients while my father hand kneaded enough dough for the extended family. Today, my smaller family and my food processor making easy work of the dough (and a better texture), allows me to make pizzaghienna alone in an afternoon. Thanks for documenting this wonderful tradition!

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