La Lama Mountain Ovens

Family Secrets
The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended Italian-
American family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants.
Christmas Pandoro Bread
By CeCe Dove, La Lama Mountain Ovens, 505-586-2286, ccdove@parshift.com
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Traditional holiday breads make a wonderful alternative or addition to the sweet tray. They are generally
less sweet than cookies, and because they are often dramatic in appearance they make welcome last
minute gifts as well. There is the added advantage that they freeze well, setting you free to enjoy the
holiday in a more relaxed manner.
Recipes for celebration breads are as numerous as ornaments on the tree. Every Christian country has
special breads for each religious holiday, with Christmas being primary. The Swedes have Lucia Buns, a
delicate cardamom spiced roll, baked in honor of Santa Lucia Day (December 13th), the Germans have
Stollen, a dense yeasted bread filled with candied fruits and dusted with piles of powdered sugar, the
Scots have the Scotch Bun which is an enormously rich pudding encased in a buttery yeast dough, and
the Italians have Panettone. After viewing the mountains of Panettone in every Italian deli and gourmet
shop across America during the month of December one would surmise that this is the only sweet bread
that is eaten in Italy for Christmas. It is undeniably excellent and most certainly Italian, but there are other
pani festivi that deserve our attention.
Just as Panettone abound at this time of year, so do recipes for making it. Since you can easily come by
this, we decided to feature a slightly lesser known regional bread called Pandoro. This is a Veronese
specialty that shares with its cousin, Panettone as well as all celebration breads, the basic rich butter,
egg, sugar, yeast combination. What differentiates each bread are the fruits, nuts, and flavorings as well
as the beautiful shapes that are traditional to each.
Traditional Pandoro is a rather lengthy, complicated process which takes the better part of a day to
complete. We have up-dated this process and have evolved a recipe that is simpler and faster, yet yields
excellent results. Nonetheless the dough is rather difficult to work with because it is extremely soft and
sticky; but with a little patience it should
be no problem.
Pandoro is baked in a star shaped mold.
If you cannot locate one in your
cookware shop they are available
through King Arthur's catalog (click on
library and scroll to “recommended
periodicals”.
If you are unable to obtain citron you can
substitute golden raisins. You may also
substitute glaceéd fruits for the citron for
a festive look but be sure to blanch them
for 10 seconds in boiling water to remove
the excess syrup. After blanching, pat dry
on paper towels.
Family Secrets #023 - Originally Published 12/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens
©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only.
Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - rezara@parshift.com
La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 505-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/

Family Secrets
Total Ingredients:
• 4 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 3 cups pastry flour
• 1 1/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 7 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 2 large yolks, lightly beaten
Step One: Combine flours
The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended Italian-
American family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants.
_______________________________________
Pandoro
• 3/4 lb. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 5 1/4 tsp, instant dry yeast
• 1 tsp. salt
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 1 lemon, zest only, grated
• 1/2 cup citron
In a large bowl blend pastry flour with all purpose flour. Remove 3/4 cup for kneading purposes.
Step Two: Make starter
Place in your mixer bowl 2 3/4 cup of the blended flour, 1/2 cup water, 3 eggs lightly beaten, 1/3 cup
sugar, 2 oz. unsalted butter (1/2 stick), 5 1/4 tsp. instant dried yeast. With paddle attachment, mix
until well blended. The starter should have the consistency of a heavy pancake batter. Wrap mixer
bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place in warm, draft free area until it doubles in volume. This first
rise should take between 1 and 1 1/2 hours, depending on temperature.
Step Three: Dry ingredients
While the starter is raising add the following dry ingredients to the bowl containing the balance of the
blended flour. 1 cup sugar, 1 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup citron and the grated zest of 1 lemon. Make sure the
citron is coated with flour and mix the combined ingredients with a wooden spoon.
Step Four: Assemble the dough
Stir down the raised starter in the mixer bowl. Add the balance of the blended flour and ingredients
from Step Three. Add the 4 remaining eggs and 2 yolks lightly beaten, 2 tsp. vanilla, and the
remaining 2 1/2 sticks of softened unsalted butter. Place dough hook on the mixer and begin mixing
at the lowest speed for 2 minutes, gradually increase the mixer speed to 1/2 speed for an additional 3
minutes. Prepare your kneading surface with a generous amount of the 3/4 cup flour you have
reserved for kneading. Dust your hands well with flour, and with the aid of a spatula remove dough
from the mixer bowl to the kneading surface. With the aid of a dough knife, gently knead while adding
flour until the dough feels very silky and buttery and kneads to the point of just barely sticky. It is
important not to add too much flour as the dough must remain very soft. Place the dough in an oiled
large ceramic bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft free area until it doubles
in volume. The second rise should take between 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on temperature.
Family Secrets #023 - Originally Published 12/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens
©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only.
Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - rezara@parshift.com
La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 505-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/

Family Secrets
Step Five: Panning and proofing
The best of the recipes, techniques, and methods practiced by our large extended Italian-
American family, with emphasis on the legacy handed down to us by the original immigrants.
Punch down risen dough gently until deflated. Turn onto very lightly floured surface and divide into
two equal pieces. Working with one piece at a time, roll into a sausage shape and then into a tight
ball. Using cupped hands on top of the dough ball, rotate the dough around in a circle continuously
until the surface feels taut, always maintaining the ball shape. Do not have the surface too floured as
you want some friction between the dough and the surface it will slide on, just as you want to exert
some friction on the ball with your hands as you rotate it - this is what tightens the dough ball. Finally,
turn the ball over in your hand and pinch the seams which have opened up on the flat bottom tight in
the center. Reverse again and place in a well buttered pandoro pan and gently pat down until surface
is flat. Place the two filled pans in a warm, draft free area and let rise until the dough reaches the top
of the pan, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours, depending on temperature.
Step Six: Baking and de-panning
Place both pans on lower rack of preheated 350 degree oven. Bake for 30 minutes, reduce
temperature to 300 degrees and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven and place
on cooling racks. Do not attempt to de-pan the loaves until completely cool. Remove from pans and
sift confectioner’s sugar over if serving, or double wrap and freeze.
Here are a few tips to help you speed up the process and help you handle the extremely soft dough.
When handling the dough make sure your hands and all the implements you use are well dusted with
flour. Use your dough scraper as one “hand” when kneading. You may consider preheating your oven to
“low” for 10 minutes and then shut oven off to make a good environment for the various raising stages.
This can dramatically shorten the process time from start to finish. Another tip: make sure you do not
open the oven to peek until the whole baking cycle is done. It is also critical to let the loaves cool to room
temperature before de-panning
the loaves.
Altitude Adjustment: None.
Family Secrets #023 - Originally Published 12/98 by La Lama Mountain Ovens
©1998 CDove - Attributed Copies Permitted for Small Quantity Non-Commercial Use Only.
Commercial and Quantity Reproduction Requires Author's Permission - rezara@parshift.com
La Lama Mountain Ovens, 2055 Lama Mtn., HC81 Box 26, Questa, NM 87556, 505-586-2286, www.parshift.com/ovens/