Pandoro

ATTENTION : THIS RECIPE IS ONLY IN METRIC SYSTEM

The origin of this recipe is found in Verona. It comes from an old typical sweet of the city that was modified and the process patented by a confectioner at the end of the 19th century. Its eight-pointed star design is also characteristic of the Pandoro. Unlike panettone, it lacks fruit and while the former is more like bread dough, pandoro tends more to resemble a sponge cake.

In any case, both sweets, so typical of Italian Christmas, are relatively recent and therefore it is surprising that they have become popular in so many countries.

Attention: the exact measurements to the millimeter, so if you don't have a kitchen scale, forget about it.

INGREDIENTS :

• 450 grams of flour
• 4 eggs
• 170 grams of unsalted butter
• 135 grams of sugar
• A teaspoon of salt
• Icing sugar
• 18 grams of fresh yeast
• A sachet of vanilla essence

In a large bowl, mix 15 grams of yeast with 60 ml of warm water, 50 grams of flour, a tablespoon of sugar and the yolk of an egg. Mix well until a homogeneous paste is left. Cover with a cotton cloth and store in a warm place until doubled in size.

Now we are going to make the second mix. Add to the first mixture 200 grams of flour, 2 teaspoons of water, 3 grams of yeast (the rest), 1 egg, 25 grams of sugar and 30 grams of butter. Mix well and store in the same way as before until doubled (in this case it will take about twenty minutes).

Now comes the third. Add another 200 grams of flour, 2 eggs, a teaspoon of salt, another of vanilla extract and knead for at least an hour. Then it is put into a container greased with butter, also covered with a cotton cloth until it doubles its volume (it will take an hour and a half). Put in the fridge for half an hour.

After passing through the refrigerator we are going to go through the process that gives the Pandoro its distinctive touch. We need 140 grams of softened butter. We spread the dough with a rolling pin. In the center we place the butter and close the edges of the dough on it. Flatten again with the rolling pin and form a rectangle. Put it back in the fridge for half an hour. Every half hour we will remove the dough and work it with the roller. So up to three times.

We grease our hands with butter and form a ball with the dough. We put the dough in a pandoro mold - which I suppose you do not have - but one with the typical shape of large flans worked for me. We grease the mold with flour and icing sugar and fill it only halfway. We wait a while and if everything has gone well the dough will double in size and will be flush with the edge of the mold.

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees. Bake the pandoro for 10 minutes and then at 160 degrees for another ten minutes. Take out of the oven, unmold and cover with icing sugar or vanilla icing sugar.

If it turned out well for you, congratulations: it will taste like heaven compared to those found in supermarkets.