Pandoro
(Unedited)
Pandoro, a traditional Italian sweet bread, originated in the region of Verona in Northern Italy. The name "Pandoro" translates to "golden bread," likely referring to its rich, yellow color which comes from a large amount of eggs and butter used in the recipe. It is believed to date back to the Middle Ages when Venetian bakers started making a sweet bread enriched with butter and eggs. It was considered a luxury item. The modern version, with its characteristic star shape, was patented by Domenico Melegatti in 1894, an Italian baker who industrialized the production process and made it popular throughout Italy. Today, along with Panettone, it's a staple dessert during Christmas season in Italy. The powdered sugar on top adds an extra layer of sweetness and is said to represent the snow-capped peaks of the Italian Alps during winter.
The version here uses its own starter (biga). If you are a bread baker who maintains your own starter, you can substitute that for the one here.
This recipe calls for a 00 flour with a strength of W350. You can use the Flours page to find a combination that yields that strength. I use 50% Caputo Chef's 00 (W310) combined with: 50% King Arthur Organic High-Gluten (W370) or Caputo Manitoba Oro 0 (W380). That combination will get you pretty close to W350. The only negative is those higher-protein flours are type 0 coarseness, but the protein level is more important and already half of the flour is 00, so not a big deal.
I recommend that you make things on the following timetable to avoid having to work in the middle of the night:
· Day #1 Morning: flavored honey and starter
· Day #1 Afteroon+Evening: first dough
· Day #2 Early Morning: second dough (early morning because this can take longer to rise than expected)
· Day #2 Evening: cook
· Day #3 Morning: eat
Flavored Honey (miele aromatico)
30 g acacia honey
zest from 1 1/2 medium lemons
zest from 1 medium orange
2 vanilla pods, with vanilla bean removed manually
1. Make this the morning of day #1, at the same time you make the starter.
2. In a bowl, mix the honey, lemon zest, orange zest, and vanilla bean.
3. Cover with plastic wrap.
4. Store in the refrigerator until it's ready to be used the next morning.
5. Remove from the refrigerator one hour before it will be used in the second dough (see below).
Starter (biga)
60 g 00 Flour with strength W350 (see comments in introduction)
1 g active drive yeast
30 g water at room temperature
6. Place the three ingredients in a small bowl.
7. Mix with a spoon.
8. Work the ingredients quickly with a fork and then your hands without creating a smooth dough. We want this to remain rough.
9. Cover with plastic wrap.
10. Let sit for 8 hours in an OFF oven with the light on.
11. Don't worry if it hasn't risen much after 8 hours.
First Dough (primo impasto)
starter from above (or 90 g natural starter if you maintain one)
150 g 00 Flour with strength W350 (see comments in introduction)
45 g sugar
2 g active dry yeast
110 g eggs (about 2) at room temperature, lightly beaten
12. Set up your stand mixer with a mixing hook attachment and bowl.
13. Place the starter into the bowl, breaking up the starter a little is you place it in there.
14. Turn on to low speed.
15. Add the flour and the sugar.
16. Add the yeast.
17. Add the lightly-beaten eggs.
18. Run at medium-low speed for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and strung together on the hook.
19. Transfer the dough onto the counter.
20. Lift it up in the middle so that it elongates some, pull it toward you, then fold it over. Do this twice.
21. Spin the dough around with your hands so that it's a nice round ball. You can also use a plastic scraper to help.
22. Transfer into a bowl with good height and volume.
23. Cover with plastic wrap.
24. Let it rise for 2 hours in an OFF oven with the light on.
25. It needs to double in size. If it hasn't, give it more time.
26. Transfer the covered bowl to the refrigerator for another 14 hours.
27. Remove from refrigerator an hour before beginning second dough (next).
Second Dough (secondo impasto)
230 g 00 Flour with strength W350 (see comments in introduction)
125 g sugar
50 g water at room temperature
first dough
110 g eggs (about 2) at room temperature
30 g egg yolks (about 2) at room temperature
5 g fine salt, 7g if using unsalted butter
flavored honey
150 g butter at room temperature
28. Set up your stand mixer with a mixing hook attachment and bowl.
29. Place the flour and sugar in the bowl.
30. Turn on at low speed.
31. Add the water and the first dough.
32. Increase speed to medium-low.
33. In the meantime, lightly beat the eggs and yolks together.
34. Once the water is completely absorbed, add the egg mixture a little at a time.
35. After a few minutes, add the salt. Remember to add 2 g extra salt if you are using unsalted butter.
36. Once the eggs are well absorbed, add the flavored honey.
37. Continue to run the mixer at medium-low until it is all amalgamated onto the hook and has a good gluten structure.
38. During this process, turn off the mixer every 10 minutes and let it rest for 5 minutes before restarting it, so as to avoid overheating the dough.
39. Once the dough is nice and glutenous, turn off the mixer and let the dough rest in the bowl for 10 minutes, covered with a dish towel.
40. Turn on the mixer at low speed.
41. Gradually add small pieces of the soft butter. Do not add another piece until the previous one has been absorbed.
42. Turn off the mixer.
43. Detach the dough from the hook and let it rest in the bowl for another 10 mintues, covered once again with a dish towel.
44. In the meantime, butter the entire inside surface of a 1 kg pandoro mold and then lightly flour the same.
45. Once the 10 minutes of rest are complete, turn on the mixer at low speed for a few seconds.
46. Wet your fingers and transfer the dough onto a previous lightly buttered counter.
47. Do the same kind of lift, bend, and fold steps you did with the first dough. Do this twice.
48. Spin it around with your hands or a plastic scraper to make it round.
49. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes without covering it.
50. Give the dough a couple more lift-pull-and-fold steps.
51. Spin it around with your hands or a plastic scraper to make it round.
52. Transfer the dough, with the help of a plastic scraper, to the bottom of the 1kg pandoro mold.
53. Cover with plastic wrap, but do not pull it tightly.
54. Let it rise in an OFF oven with light on until the dough rises to within an inch of the top of the mold.
55. The original recipe says this takes 6-8 hours, but I have seen it take much longer. That's why it's good to prepare the second dough early on day #2.
56. Preheat the oven to 330F. Normal static oven, NOT convection.
57. Cook the pandoro on the bottom rack for 40 minutes initially. The original recipe says 55-60 minutes, but I think it comes out too dry that way. And I have seen other recipes call for 40 minutes. Strange.
58. After the 40 minutes, use a thermometer to test the core of the pandoro. It should be no more than 190F (87C). The original recipe said 198F (92C), but I think that will make it come out too dry.
59. Remove the pandoro from the oven and let it cool for 30 minutes at room temperature.
60. Turn the mold upside-down, and transfer the pandoro to a cooling rack and wait for it to completely cool. It should fall out very easily assuming you buttered and floured the mold correctly.
61. Once completely cool, place the pandoro into a plastic bag, put a small heap of powdered sugar on top, close the bag with a metal tie, then shake it until it covers the whole pandoro to your satisfaction. I would err toward more "snow" than less.
62. It's ready to eat.
This is what it looks like right after you place the second dough into the buttered and floured mold:
This pandoro is not as high as I wanted because it was 1am and I didn't want to stay up until 4am, so I cooked it a little early. You can also see that it's too dark (overcooked):
This pandoro had good flavor but came out a little dry because I followed the original recipe's cook times and internal temperature. You can also see that the crust is a little too dark:
