Pandoro Recipe (Pan D’Oro)

DIFFICULTY LEVEL: DIFFICULT

Pandoro (Golden Bread) is a very special thing, because it’s actually more of a dessert than a bread and it’s powered almost entirely by levain (sourdough). When I first tried a fresh Pandoro, I was blown away. “Is this really made with sourdough?”, I asked. “Amazing, because there is almost nothing sour about it.”. The distinctive attribute is the strong aroma this bread gives off which puts it in a class of its own.

You may know Pandoro from Christmas-time when they are sold in packages imported from Italy. It is exceedingly difficult to find a freshly made Pandoro in the USA unless you know of a special bakery that makes them…and even then, it’s usually only around Christmas.

After many, many experiments that ballooned my waistline, I am pleased to offer you a well-vetted recipe for it here. Pandoro is heavenly and worth the work, but be forewarned, it is a lot of work and there is a lot of room for error. As a guideline, it’s safe to say that if you have mastered making brioche, you can pull this off too. Just don’t be discouraged! If you run into problems, I am happy to help, just comment below.

I will lastly point out that unlike many recipes you have seen online, this one takes no shortcuts. This is the real deal and will yield professional results if done correctly.

DETAILED RECIPE

OK, yes, there are a lot of steps to make a proper Pandoro. This is a professional formulation suitable for professional bakers, so home skills and equipment add to the challenge. I hope to give you a detailed guide and pictures to make home-made Pandoro a reality. Let’s get started:

The idea behind all the different doughs and high temperatures is that it slowly builds the levain with an emphasis on gas production as opposed to acid production. Low temperature and very long fermentation yields the latter (eg “cold proofing”). Since this is a sweet enriched bread powered by levain, we want to avoid sourness by fermenting for less time at high temperature.

What makes this challenging is that there are a lot of steps and timing is important. I’ve tried to make it simpler by giving you a sample timeline. The other challenge is proper mixing. To get a lot of sugar and butter into a dough, you need to time the addition of these ingredients properly. Please check out this post on handling enriched dough for more information.

One note on the eggs in this recipe: It calls for a lot of them. For the recipe I have here, it takes about 9 large eggs. I crack these eggs in advance and run a stick blender in them to get a nice smooth mix which I use throughout this process. Trust me, do this to make your life easier.

Levain – 85F, 4 hours, 7:30am

I assume you have mature liquid starter ready to go. If you don’t, you’ll need to take the steps necessary ahead of time.

I like to use a heating pad to keep things at 85F, but you can also preheat your oven to 85F and store it there instead. This is definitely annoying, because you need to have a good thermometer in there and then throttle the oven on and off over the course of a day to keep everything at more or less 85F. But that just adds to the challenge of making Pandoro!

First dough – 85F, 2 hours, 11:30am

After 4 hours with the levain at 85F, you are ready to add it to the first dough. I mix everything together by hand. This will ferment at 85F for 2 hours.

Second dough – 85F, 1.5 hrs, 12:00pm

About 15 minutes after the first dough is done, start your second dough. It ideally goes into the 85F oven at 12:00pm. This way, the first and second dough will be ready at the same time, but the second dough is fermented for 30 minutes less. I know…confusing.

One tip: pre-dissolve the yeast in the egg for a few minutes before adding the flour and sugar.

Third dough – 85F, 3.5 hrs, 1:30pm

Since you’ve timed everything in advance, your first and second dough should now be ready for incorporation into the third dough. Since the quantity is higher now and the mixture is thick, I like to do this in a KitchenAid mixer. Usually two minutes on speed 2 is enough to get the job done. As with everything else we have done, this is placed back in the 85F oven covered for 3.5 hours.

Final dough – 85F, 2 hours, 5:00pm

Now you are ready for the final dough. Remember to place everything in EXCEPT for the sugar, butter, vanilla bean and cocoa butter.

I use a spiral mixer, which is ideal for this. Apologies: I don’t have clear guidelines yet for using a KitchenAid. If you make this recipe using one and have experience to share, I would really appreciate the information.

My spiral mixer times are a good starting point, but keep in mind that in a KitchenAid it will likely take much longer. If you have been able to successfully make brioche, then this should be no problem for you.

I start with 5 minutes on low speed to incorporate the flour, egg, honey, salt and third dough.

Then I go to high speed for 7 minutes and start adding the sugar in 3 increments. For me that happens at minute 7, 8 & 9.

Pre-cream the butter and add it all at once with the vanilla around minute 10. Mix for another 3 minutes until well-incorporated.

For instructions on how to use a whole vanilla bean, please see this post.

On low speed, add the cocoa butter chips and mix until incorporated (about 1-2 minutes). See images below. They show the cocoa butter I use, which you can buy from Amazon. If you don’t have any, then you can just leave it out or substitute with white chocolate.

If in doubt, pull a gluten window and check. Try to do your checking before adding the cocoa butter chips.

Once you are satisfied, cover the dough and let it ferment for another 2 hours at 85F.

Divide, shape and proof

Depending on what mould you are using, divide, shape and load the dough accordingly. I use special Pandoro moulds which are great, but they are really expensive (about $35 per pan). You can also use Panettone paper moulds. I’ve included pictures of both versions. What I do not recommend is using relatively flat and shallow pans like those for bread loaves or cakes. For Pandoro to have the proper crumb-to-crust ratio, you need something narrow and tall.

You have 2kg of dough to work with. For these images, I used 2 Pandoro moulds at 480g each and 1kg of dough in a Panettone mould.

Now cover these to prevent drying and allow to proof at room temperature overnight. By the time I am done with everything, it is 8:00pm, almost 13 hours after starting. Yes, a long day!

Proofing times will vary depending on your room temperature. Ideally the proof will happen at around 60F for 15 hours. If your room is warmer, use the guidelines in the recipe above. Avoid fermenting at temperatures above 73F or you will potentially get an over-proofed and particularly pungent Pandoro bread.

Bake and invert

The following morning (depending on your room temperature), pre-heat your convection oven to 365F and get ready to bake. For me, loading time is 7:00am.

The 1kg Panettone will need to bake longer, so refer to the bake times in the recipe above. Once fully baked, you want things to cool off before handling the breads. Also, the bread could collapse under its own weight unless it cools inverted. This is not mandatory, but recommended.

For the paper mould, simply insert bamboo skewers into the base and hang it from two parallel poles. See pictures below. Allow to mostly cool this way before handling further.

Once fully cool…pat yourself on the back and get ready for something special. Unmould your creation, allow to fully cool and then sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Comments, questions or concerns? Please write a comment below.