Pandoro

Serves

2x 500g

Prep Time

Cook Time

25-30 minutes

Pandoro is the lesser known cousin of the pannetone originally from Verona. Made with a blend of strong and plain flour which gives it a beautifully light, and more cakey texture than the pannetone.

Wonderful eaten on the day it is baked, but warmed and dunked in a cappuccino mid-morning the next day is a must do over the holidays!

We recently baked these on our Festive Baking course, the recipe came from one of our patisserie chefs, Marina. Other handy hints for serving from Marina; slice the pandoro horizontally and spread with lashings of lemon curd before reassembling to look like a Christmas tree, or inject with lemoncello! Make sure you sprinkle with plenty of icing sugar too.

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Ingredients

For the poolish:

125ml lukewarm milk
90g strong white flour
15g fresh yeast
12g caster sugar

For the dough

250g strong white flour 250g plain flour
65g water 2 whole eggs (125g)
4 egg yolks (65g) 6g salt
175g caster sugar 190g butter, room temp
Zest of 1 orange Zest of 2 lemon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Kit

2 x 500g pandoro tins – buttered and floured

Method

Firstly make the poolish by mixing all the ingredients together and leave in a warm place until nice and bubbly.
Then make the dough. In a mixing bowl add the flours, salt, eggs, egg yolks, water and poolish. Knead for about 10 minutes on a medium speed until the gluten is well developed. The dough should be really stretchy and smooth.
Next, gradually add the sugar and mix well until it is all absorbed.
Finally mix in the butter. Still using the dough hook attachment, add small pieces and mix until it is absorbed in the dough before adding the next piece. This could take up to 15 minutes, so don’t rush it is definitely worth the patience.
Finally add the zests and vanilla.
Cover and leave to rise, either overnight in a coolish kitchen or for about 8 hours. As this is made in the winter time we have found that an overnight prove in a cool kitchen gives better results.
The next day, butter and flour the tins and then divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape and place into the lined tins.
Cover and leave to rise again until the dough crowns the top of the tin.
Pre heat the oven to 180C - without the fan if you can
When the dough is ready bake for 10 minutes and then turn the oven down to 160C for a further 15 - 20 minutes. Test with a skewer to make sure it is baked.
Here is where your patience is really tested; leave in the tin for 1 hour before turning out.
Dust heavily with icing sugar and enjoy warm, or reheat in the morning with a cappuccino