Pandoro, typical of the city of Verona, is one of the most characteristic desserts of the Christmas period, the most consumed alongside Panettone. A soft star-shaped dough with many processing phases and a long leavening. The ingredients are simple and of high quality: flour, sugar, butter, eggs, and vanilla, which give Pandoro a fantastic taste and unique aroma. If you decide to embark on this endeavor, start very early in the morning to bake it in the evening, allowing 8 hours for the steps and 10 for leavening before going into the oven. Then prepare a cream to fill the Pandoro with lemon cream.
Recipe of 11/21/2016 updated and modified

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Difficulty: Medium
Cost: Economical
Rest time: 18 Hours
Preparation time: 1 Day
Portions: 8
Cooking methods: Electric oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: Fall, Winter, Christmas

Ingredients

Preparing all the weighed ingredients on the work surface facilitates preparation.

1/3 cup whole milk (warm)
1 tsp fresh yeast
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup Manitoba flour
1 egg yolk
biga (the pre-ferment prepared first and risen)
1 tbsp whole milk (warm)
1 tsp fresh yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg (medium)
2 cups Manitoba flour
3 tbsp butter (at room temperature)
20 oz dough (1st risen dough)
2 eggs (medium)
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt
1 vanilla bean (seeds)
1 tsp lemon zest (grated)
2 cups Manitoba flour
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
as needed flour (for the pastry board)
1 2/3 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks (medium)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tbsp rice flour
1/2 vanilla bean
1/2 lemon (whole zest)
2 tbsps limoncello

Tools

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1 Stand Mixer
1 Mold for 1 Kg Pandoro
2 Bowls
1 Hand Whisk
1 Sieve
Parchment Paper
Cling Film
Aluminum Foil

Steps

Dissolve the yeast with milk and sugar, add the egg, mix, and add the sifted flour, work well, cover with cling film, and let rise inside the turned-off oven with the light on for 2 hours until it has doubled in volume.
Pour the remaining dissolved yeast into the milk in the stand mixer, add sugar, the egg, mix, and add the pre-ferment, working for a few more minutes. Continue the work with the hook. Pour in the sifted flour, knead for 5 minutes, add the soft butter little by little and continue to work until the mixture is smooth and elastic. Cover and let rise for another 2 hours.
Place in the stand mixer eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla seeds, grated lemon peel, flour, and the first risen dough. Work for 20 minutes (at intervals to avoid overheating the mixer), cover with cling film, and let rise 3 hours.
On the work surface, place a sheet of parchment paper dusted with a little flour, turn over the risen dough, and shape it into a rectangle using your hands and a rolling pin without pressing too much. Cover the surface with the soft butter, being careful not to let it escape from the edges. Fold 2 sides inward to obtain 3 folds and put it in the fridge to rest for 15 minutes. Repeat for another 2 times.
Place the dough back on the work surface and roll out with a rolling pin, gently, without letting the butter escape from the sides. Fold the sides overlapping them, pass the rolling pin again, fold, form a package, and put it in the fridge for another 15 minutes. With greased hands, shape it into a ball. Grease the 1 kg pandoro mold and place the ball inside with the seam side up. Press the dough slightly with your palm so that it takes the shape of the tips. Let rise in the turned-off oven with the light on until it reaches the edge. My pandoro required rising overnight.
Pour the milk (minus a few tablespoons) into a saucepan along with the lemon peel and bring to a boil. In a bowl, beat the yolks with sugar and vanilla seeds with the beaters for a few seconds. Add cornstarch and rice flour and mix, adding a few tablespoons of milk. Remove the lemon peel from the boiling milk, add the limoncello, and pour everything while quickly whisking. It is ready at the first puffs of boiling. Let cool covering with cling film in contact.
Preheat the oven to 340 degrees Fahrenheit, place a container with hot water on the bottom to create humidity, and as soon as the temperature is reached, bake. Cook for 10 minutes at 340°F then, lower to 320°F and continue cooking for another 45 minutes (place the mold on the first lower rack of the oven). If it colors too much, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil. Remove from the oven and let cool in the mold. Once cool, turn it over onto a plate and remove the mold. With a long-nozzled pastry syringe, pierce the pandoro on the sides in 3 points, fill with lemon cream, and sprinkle with powdered sugar.