Have you ever heard about Pandoro? No? Then find out what this typical Italian dessert looks like and where it comes from! :)
Pandoro is the other typical Italian Christmas dessert, besides Panettone. While the latter was born in Milan, Pandoro was born in the Veneto region, in Verona (Romeo & Juliet’s hometown). It has a star-shaped structure and it is made of butter, flour, vanilla, sugar, sourdough yeast and eggs, that give the dessert the typical bright yellow colour, from which the name “pane d’oro” (golden bread) or Pandoro comes from.
The are many versions about its origin: it might come from a butter-based dessert from Vienna or, as it is mostly accepted, from the so called Nadalin, a dessert from Verona, that used to be eaten during the Christmas period since 1200 (picture). Differently from Pandoro, Nadalin has a less defined star shape, it’s smaller and the dough is sweeter and more compact. The official date of birth of Pandoro as we know it today, dates back to 14th October 1894 when Domenico Melegatti, patented the recipe for the famous dessert, whose characteristics shape was designed by the impressionist painter Angelo Dall’oca Bianca. Today Melegatti is one of Italian biggest Pandoro producers, together with two other big companies from Verona, Paluani e Bauli.
Pandoro has no raisins or sweet fruit peel (unlike Panettone) and it is usually served after pouring icing sugar on top. Industrial Pandoriin fact usually provide a small packet of icing sugar in the packaging, that has to be used right before eating the dessert so that Pandoro doesn’t absorb the sugar that will also maintain its flavour intact.
Pandoro’s production is long and complex and it follows a very precise process, where the fundamental aspect is the natural leavening that happens inside the molds. Nowadays at the industrial level there is a big variety of Pandoro that differ from the original recipes since they are stuffed with cream or chocolate, include sweet fruit peel or raisins or are covered with icing. Moreover, like it happens with Panettone, it usually eaten together with Mascarpone cream.
In the past few years there has been a growth of Pandoro and Panettone outside of Italy. Both desserts, in all of their versions, classic and modern ones, are really appreciated both by locals who love made in Italy food, and by Italian expats who want to preserve the Christmas traditions of their origins. For this reason companies tend to produce Pandoro and Panettone starting from the middle of August in order to deliver them on time in far away countries (like Australia, Canada or USA) and they then start the production for closer countries and of course for the Italian market.
What about you? Have you ever tried Pandoro? Do you like it or do you prefer Panettone?
PS: Find out more about the traditional Italian Christmas desserts in these posts about Panettone and Mascarpone! :)
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