Pandoro

Generality

Definition: Pandoro is a leavened cake typical of the Veneto region (the most famous is from Verona, where it is assumed may have originated). As for the panettone, also the consumption of pandoro is concentrated mainly in the winter period, especially close to the Christmas holidays.

Pandoro description: the pandoro is tall and truncated-conical, with a circular base and a star-shaped body section. Outside it is brown, while inside it remains light yellow ("golden"); the pigmentation is uniform and only the possible addition of icing sugar changes its appearance.

Pandoro has a dough of leavened type very similar to that of a bread, with which it is assimilated for the use of white wheat flour, addition of yeast (sourdough or beer), baking in high temperatures and relative activation of maillard reactions (see: cooking sugars, cooking proteins, cooking fats). Furthermore, like panettone, pandoro contains eggs, sugar and butter (animal or cocoa).

Pandoro has a sweet taste with vanilla aroma; the texture is soft, more friable than elastic and with a brown but very thin and soft crust.

History and etymology of pandoro: pandoro "real" was born in Verona as an evolution of the local Christmas cake - nadalin (older than at least 600 years) - approximately in the nineteenth century.

Nevertheless, from the historical-gastronomic point of view, at least TWO older preparations of nadalin seem to have much in common with the Verona pandoro; this is the case of the Venetian "Pan de Oro", typical of the maritime republic and dating back to the relative period of commercial growth, but also of the "Pane di Vienna" ( kugelhupf ), Habsburg preparation and alterego of the French brioches (later called croissant) imported on Italian peninsula with Habsburg room officers from the Quadrilateral.

A fourth theory traces the etymology of the term "pandoro" to "pando'lo", the name of another sweet local Veneto.

Only in 1884, the pandoro was patented by Domenico Melegatti, owner of the confectionery industry of the same name, but in the following century, with the debut of Bauli, a rather fierce qualitative competition began which continues to this day.

Ingredients and production

Pandoro ingredients: the ingredients of the "classic" Pandoro are few and rather simple to find:

white wheat flour type "00" 280g,
granulated sugar 80g,
butter 180g,
10g beer yeast,
vanilla QB,
salt 1 outlet,
egg yolks No. 3,
whole eggs n ° 2,
icing sugar QB.

Nevertheless, underestimating the preparation of Pandoro is undoubtedly a mistake not to be committed.

Procedure for the preparation of pandoro:

prepare a ball of dough with yeast, a tablespoon of flour and QB of warm water, then let it rise until doubled in volume;
apart, mix 65g of flour, a tablespoon of sugar, an egg, a yolk and 10g of melted butter.
Combine the two mixtures and work them for about 5 minutes. Let it rest and let everything rise until the volume is doubled.
On a pastry board, place 130g of flour, 2 tablespoons of sugar, 20g of melted butter, an egg, two yolks, vanillin, a pinch of salt, and knead. Add the latter to the leavened dough and work for 10 minutes. Add 50g of flour to increase the consistency and let rise for 3 hours.
Break the leavening into taps with your hands and flatten the dough on a pastry board. Roll it out into a square shape and lay 150g of butter in small pieces. Bring the 4 corners of the square towards the center covering all the butter. Roll out with a rolling pin and fold everything into 3, then roll out again, twice.
Leave to rest for 25 minutes and repeat again the spreading and folding operation with rest for another 25 minutes.
Knead again on the pastry board and round the dough on itself. Place it in a properly greased and sugared pandoro mold, and let it rest and rise until it reaches the edge of the mold (the leavening should preferably be carried out at a constant temperature of about 33-35 ° C).
Bake at 190 ° and, after 20 minutes, lower the temperature to 160 ° C. After 30 minutes check the cooking with a kitchen pin and remove from the oven if necessary. Remove from the mold, let it cool and serve the pandoro decorated with icing sugar.

Nutritional properties

Pandoro is a leavened cake made from wheat flour, which is why (containing gluten) its use in the diet of celiac is excluded. Furthermore, the pandori that contain animal butter and not cocoa butter (as well as any cream fillings), are not recommended for all those who show lactose intolerance.

The energy supply of the pandoro is very high, therefore (as for the panettone) it is recommended a sporadic use and (possibly) limited to the period of the winter festivities. The caloric amount is mainly supported by simple and complex carbohydrates and by fats (saturated and unsaturated); proteins are not many and biochemically they have characteristics of medium (of wheat) and high (of eggs and yolks) biological value.

Even if unspecified, the supply of cholesterol and saturated fats (from eggs, egg yolks and butter) of the pandoro should be quite substantial, therefore inadequate for the diet of the subject suffering from hypercholesterolemia and / or characterized by a cardiovascular risk higher than normal.

The intake of vitamins and mineral salts is not clear but it is conceivable that the presence of yolks and whole eggs gives the cake a good amount of iron.

Pandoro does not have a recommendable medium portion. Being a Christmas dessert, it is usually consumed at the end of lunch or dinner; obviously, in respect of nutritional balance, in this case the recommended portions would be so scarce as to be impractical (a few grams). The "dietary advice" useful to avoid that the pandoro affects too much on the weight increase Christmas is to consume the leftovers (if any) only: at breakfast, in the morning snack and in the afternoon snack of the following days, avoiding to place it at the end of two main meals.

Pandoro with Chocolate Drops - Easy without Browsing

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A variant of traditional sweet pandoro is represented by salted pandoro, a specialty with a completely different composition, similar only to the shape but equally exquisite when consumed as an appetizer.

Watch the video recipe

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