Diana's Desserts - www.dianasdesserts.com

Pandoro di Verona

in Diana's Recipe Book

Average Rating: 
(total ratings: 3)
[Read reviews] [Post a review]
Servings: Makes 1 loaf
 
Comments:
Pandoro appeared on the scene in remote times, the product of the ancient art of breadmaking, as the name, "golden bread," suggests. Throughout the Middle Ages, white bread was consumed solely by the rich, while the common people could only afford black bread and, often, not even that. Sweet breads were reserved to the nobles. Breads enriched with eggs, butter and sugar or honey were served in the palaces and were known as "royal bread" or "golden bread".

The desserts consumed in the 17th century were described in the book Suor Celeste Galilei, Letters to Her Father, published by La Rosa of Turin, and they included "royal bread" made from flour, sugar, butter and eggs. However, the bread was already known and appreciated in the ancient Rome of Pliny the Elder, in the 1st century. That bread was made with "the finest flour combined with eggs, butter and oil." Virgil and Livy mentioned the preparation under the name Libum.

There are those who see the French brioche as the ancestor of Pandoro and those who regard it as a derivative of the Viennese art of pastrymaking, even if that school is itself of French derivation. However the first citation of a dessert clearly identified as Pandoro dates to the 18th century. The dessert certainly figured in the cuisine of the Venetian aristocracy. Venice was the principal market for spices as late as the 18th century as well as for the sugar that by then had replaced honey in European pastries and breads made from leavened dough. And it was at Verona, in Venetian territory, that the formula for making pandoro was developed and perfected, a process that required a century. The modern history of this dessert bread began at Verona in October 30, 1894, when Domenico Melegatti obtained a patent for a procedure to be applied in producing pandoro industrially.

By 1894, when pandoro entered the annals of Italian confectionery, it had long been a traditional practice at Verona for pastry cooks to go to Vienna to learn their craft. Until a few decades ago, the oldest pastry shops in the historic center of Verona employed Austrian pastry chefs and Veronese bakers would customarily go to Vienna's famous Sacher to train.

Pandoro, a close relation to Italy's most famous Christmas bread, panettone, is an egg and butter-rich bread baked in a traditional star-shaped pan. The biga (starter) helps keep it fresh right through the 12 days of Christmas!

Ingredients:
Biga (Starter)
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose Flour
1/2 cup water
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough
1/4 cup (1/2 stick/2 oz/56g) butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water
1/4 teaspoon lemon oil or 2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons instant yeast
1/2 cup golden raisins, slivered apricots or dried fruit of your choice
Garnish: (optional)
Confectioners' sugar

Serving suggestion: (optional)
Serve each slice with a dollop of Mascarpone cheese.

Instructions:
The Biga (starter):
Combine the flour, water and yeast, mix till fairly smooth, and allow to rest, covered, overnight.

The Dough:
Next day, add the dough ingredients to the biga, mixing and then kneading by hand, mixer or bread machine until you've made a soft, smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 hour.

Round the dough into a ball, and transfer it to a lightly greased pandoro pan* (see note below). Allow it to rise, covered, for 2 hours, or until it's nearly level with the top of the pan.

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C).

Bake the bread in preheated oven for about 40 minutes, tenting it loosely with aluminum foil for the final 15 minutes. Remove it from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes, then gently remove it from the pan. When cool, sprinkle the bread with confectioners' sugar, and serve it, sliced, with mascarpone cheese, if desired.

Makes 1 loaf.

*Note:
Pandoro pans may be purchased online at King Arthur Flour or at Sur La Table.
Their web Url's are:
http://www.kingarthurflour.com
http://www.surlatable.com

Source: King Arthur Flour
Date: November 19, 2004

Reviews

Reviewer: kara aharaiston
Rating: 
Review:
it was awesome

 
Reviewer: suman kangran
Rating: 
Review:
I also tasted this and I find it yummy! I am from India.

 
Reviewer: me
Rating: 
Review:
I am Italian, I have never seen raisin or dried fruit in the dough....

 

Add Your Review

  YOUR NAME (required)
  YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS (required)
 (Excellent)
 (Very Good)
 (Good)
 (Could be Better)
 (Poor)
  RATING (required)
YOUR REVIEW:

More Recipes in this Section

Viennese Topfenstrudel with Vanilla Sauce Aguas Frescas Alfajores (Caramel Sandwich Cookies) Alfajores-South Amercian Sandwich Cookies Almond Tuiles Amaretti Apfelkuchen-Spicy Apple Cake Aqua Fresca de Sandia (Watermelon) Arroz Doce-Portugues Rice Pudding Bakewell Tart Banana Hazelnut Empanadas Banoffi Pie Barbara's Baklava Basic Crêpes Berry-Apple Empanadas Bienenstich Cake (Bee Sting Cake) Blancmange with Orange Sauce Bonet Bugia Buñuelos Cajeta (dulce de leche) Calabaza en Tacha Cannoli Cassata Cake Champurrado (Mexican Hot Chocolate Drink) Cherry Bakewell Tartlets Chocolate Chip Cannoli Chocolate Panna Cotta Chocolate Tres Leches Cake Chocolate-Orange Biscotti Churros Cigarettes Russes (Piroulines) Classic Vanilla Pots de Creme Cornish Saffron Cake Crema Catalana Crème Brûlée Crêpes Suzette Crostata della Nonna Danish Aebleskiver Danish Flødeboller Danish Kringle Dobos Torte Dutch Stroopwafels Easy Dulce de Leche Easy Norwegian Lefse Empanadas de Guayaba (Guava Turnovers) England's Victoria Sponge Cake French Almond Macaroons French Madeleines Fresh Berry Tiramisu German Style Cheesecake (Kaesekuchen) Grand Marnier Creme Caramel Greek Kourambiedes Cookies Gur Cake for St. Patrick's Day Harry's Bar Torta di Zabaglione Horchata Hungry Monk Banoffi Pie Irish Apple Crumble Irish Porter Cake Jammie Dodgers (Clone) Biscuit Sandwich Käsekuchen - German Cheesecake Kasutera-Japanese Sponge Cake Kuih Lapis or Kueh Lapis Lamington's Lemon Taralli Lemon Walnut Biscotti Limonada Madeira Cake Ma'moul (Date Patries from Syria) Mango Pudding Mascarpone Filled Bougatsa Mexican Brownies Mexican Chocolate Cake Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies
Mexican Chocolate Chip Cookies Mexican Chocolate Layer Cake Mexican Chocolate Pie-Pastel de Chocolate Mexicano Mexican Coffee (Café de Olla) Mexican Hot Chocolate Mexican Raspadas (snow cones) Mexican Wedding Cakes (Cookies) Milk Chocolate Cannoli with Pistaschios Milk Chocolate Semifreddo Miniature Baklava Bites Moravian Sugar Cake Muah Chee Nanaimo Bars Old English Trifle Paletas (Mexican Popsicles) Pan di Spagna Pan Di Spagna (Italian Sponge Cake) Pandan Chiffon Cake Pandan Layer Cake Pandoro di Verona Panettone Panna Cotta Panna Cotta with Berries Paris-Brest Pasta Ciotti or Pasticiotti (Little Custard Tarts) Pasta Frolla - Italian Sweet Pastry Dough Pastéis de Nata-Portuguese Egg Custard Tarts Petits Pots de Crème à l'Orange Picarones Pierre Herme's Chocolate Macaroons Pikelets Pine Nut Amaretti Pithiviers Princess Cake Quick and Easy Buñuelos Ris ala mande with Cherry Sauce Rosettes and Timbales Sachertorte Savarin (French Ring Cake) Savoiardi (Ladyfingers) Scandinavian Christmas Gløgg Scottish Petticoat Tails Shortbread Smoutebollen-From Belgium Sopapillas Spiced Apple Cake with Guava Cream Cheese Spiced Citrus Pikelets Steamed Pork Buns (Char Siu Bao) Sticky Toffee Pudding Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar Swedish Apple-Lingonberry Cake Swedish Pancakes Sweet Rice Flour and Coconut Cake (Butter Mochi) Sweet Rice with Mangoes Sweet Tamales Swiss Zopf Bread Syllabub with Berries Taralli from Puglia The Dairymaid's Wafers (Seterjentas Rømmebrod) The Italian Bellini Tiger Cake-Finland Tiramisu Torta alle Banane (Banana Cake) Torta della nocciola e del cioccolato Torta di Amore Torta di semifreddo del limone Torta Prugna Treacle Toffee Tres Leches Cake with Whipped Cream Topping Tropical Fruit Salad in Jelly Tsoureki (Greek Easter Bread) Vanilla Bean Panna Cotta with Apricot Coulis Walnut & Rum Raisin Crêpes with Chocolate Sauce Yorkshire Pudding Zuccotto Alla Cioccolato