The pandoro brioches are a creation of pastry chef Uncle Rocco, one of his many wonders. Named not for the flavor, but for the soft consistency and structure similar to pandoro.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Economical
- Portions: 9 Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 4 cups Manitoba flour
- 0.5 oz fresh yeast
- 1¼ cups milk
- 2 eggs
- cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- cup butter
- lemon zest
- orange zest
- to taste almond extract
- 1 tsp honey
- 1 cup cup heavy cream
- 1 cup milk
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- to taste vanilla
- cup cornstarch
Steps
Start preparing the brioche aroma by mixing a generous teaspoon of honey with the zest of an untreated lemon and orange, the almond extract or a tablespoon of almond liqueur, and let it rest for a couple of hours, even better if you prepare it the day before.
Dissolve the yeast in the milk, then add part of the sugar and pour everything into a bowl containing the flour. Add the eggs and the flavored honey.
Start kneading with a fork, then place the dough on a work surface and continue kneading by hand. When the dough is lump-free, incorporate the soft butter little by little. Kneading by hand or with a planetary mixer will take a few minutes, gradually adding the butter to properly bind the dough.
At the end of the kneading, also add the salt and form a dough ball.
Let the dough rise, covered with plastic wrap until it doubles in size in a turned-off oven with the light on.
In the meantime, prepare the milk cream. Put all the ingredients in a saucepan cold and transfer to the heat, cooking until it boils while stirring to prevent burning.
When the cream has thickened, transfer it to a container covering it with plastic wrap in contact. Let it cool.
Once risen, divide the dough into roughly equal parts of about 100g.
Roll each piece into a rectangular shape, then roll it up and finally shape it into a slightly elongated ball. These three steps will give the dough structure, allowing it to rise in height.
Place the brioches to rise in pre-buttered and floured single-portion aluminum containers and let them rise until doubled.
They can be placed in an oven with the light on to speed up the rising time, and in a couple of hours, they will have risen. When the brioches have reached the edge of the mold, bake at 340°F for about 15-20 minutes in a static oven on the second shelf from the bottom.
Once out of the oven, you can brush the still-hot surface with milk or melted butter. Then when they have cooled, dust with powdered sugar and optionally fill using a piping bag containing cream as desired.
In my case, with the milk cream prepared earlier.
