The famous star-shaped sweet Christmas bread from Verona, Italy! This traditional pandoro recipe takes some time to make but the effort is well worth it to enjoy this delicate vanilla-infused cake-like bread with its beautiful appearance, delicious flavor, and wonderful texture!
What is Pandoro?
Pandoro, translated as “golden bread”, is an Italian vanilla-infused sweet bread that is baked in a special 8-pointed star-shaped pan giving it its famous appearance. It’s traditionally dusted with confectioner’s sugar to resemble the snow-covered peaks of the Italian Alps near Verona, the town where pandoro originated, and is most popular during the Christmas holidays and New Year’s.
Pandoro is considered the descendent of the earlier Nadalin, a sweetened bread that is a flatter and irregular-shaped star made with simpler ingredients and much simpler to make. Pandoro was created in the late 1800’s and is attributed to a local baker in Verona named Domenico Melegatti who was bestowed by royal decree a 3 year exclusive right to produce the cake. His cake-like bread was made with generous amounts of egg yolks, butter, and honey/sugar, and became immediately popular among the rich and noble where it was coined “bread of gold.” It’s said that some nobility even served it covered in gold leaf. Melegatti trademarked his famous cake in 1894 and today the brand still sold today.
In addition to its unique shape, pandoro is known for its yellow color which is gets from the egg yolks. The darker the egg yolks the richer the yellow.
How Do You Serve Pandoro?
In its simplest and traditional form it is served with a generous dusting of powdered sugar.
But today you can find it served with a variety of creams or sauces such as mascarpone, zabaglione, vanilla custard, sweetened whipped cream, and even covered in chocolate.
It is commonly enjoyed with a warm beverage.
Panettone vs. Pandoro – What is the Difference?
Two of the most popular Italian traditions during the Christmas season are panettone and pandoro. Both are enriched sweet breads but their differences lie in both their appearance as well as ingredients. Panettone is a kind of fruit cake made with raisins and candied citrus peel while pandoro contains neither and is a much simpler sweet bread.
Both breads have a very passionate – and divided – following. You could say these breads are arch rivals and that rivalry runs deep. You’ll have to decide for yourself where your loyalties lie. I say why choose? Make both!
Get our recipe for traditional Panettone.
The ingredients in pandoro are simple and as such it’s imperative to use the best quality ingredients you can find.
To make this the traditional way takes time. But the time and effort is well worth it. The flavor is delicate and the texture is fabulous.
Pandoro Recipe
Let’s get started!
You’ll need the special 8-pointed star-shaped pan. These are not the easiest to find but you can find them online such as here on Amazon.
To make the starter dough: Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until nice and frothy. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the yeast mixture. Using the dough hook, knead the ingredients until they come together. The dough will be smooth but firm and stiff.
Form the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until nearly doubled in size.
Punch it down, form it into a ball, place it back in the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to sit overnight. **Remove the dough from the fridge the next day 2 hours before you’re ready to proceed with making the pandoro.
The next day dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm milk and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until nice and frothy.
Place the flour, sugar, and yeast mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix it together with spoon or with the dough hook.
Using the dough hook, add the eggs one at a time, kneading between additions.
The mixture will come together into a rich yellow dough.
Add the starter dough to the stand mixer.
Knead the two doughs together for about 5 minutes.
Add the butter, lemon zest, vanilla, and honey and knead for about 10 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add 2 tablespoons of flour.
The dough should be very smooth and elastic but not overly sticky. If it’s too sticky add a little more flour.
Form the dough into a ball, lightly spray the bowl, and place the dough back in, loosely covered with plastic wrap, to rise in a warm place for about 3 hours or until nearly tripled in size. Punch the dough down.
Generously butter the pan, getting into all the cracks and crevices.
Next add some flour to the pan and shake it to thoroughly coat it with flour, shaking out the excess flour. Again, be sure to get into all the cracks and crevices so that your pandoro doesn’t stick to the pan.
Place the dough into the prepared pandoro mold.
Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the dough has risen to about an inch or so above the top of the mold.
Bake it on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 325 F for 30 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 300 F and bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 195 F and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Be careful not to over-bake or your pandoro will be very dry.
During the baking process if the pandoro begins to brown too quickly cover it with aluminum foil.
Let the pandoro cool in the mold on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then carefully remove the pandoro from the mold.
Cut a thin layer off the base so it will sit flat on a serving plate.
To serve pandoro, once it is cool you can either dust the whole bread with powdered sugar and cut it vertically into slices (traditional).
For more traditional Christmas goodies be sure to try our:
- Panettone (Italian Christmas Bread)
- Stollen (German Christmas Bread)
- Pfeffernüsse (German Iced Spiced Cookies)
- Lebkuchen (Nürnberger Elisenlebkuchen)
- Springerle
- Printen (Aachener Gingerbread)
- Speculoos (Gingerbread Shortcrust Cookies)
- Vanillekipferl (Vanilla Crescent Cookies)
- Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Star Cookies)
- Bethmännchen (Marzipan Cookies)
- Heidesand (Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies)
Pandoro (Verona Christmas Bread)
Ingredients
- For the Starter Dough:
- 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water
- 1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- For the Main Dough:
- 1/2 cup lukewarm whole milk
- 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 4 large egg yolks
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter , softened at room temp
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons vanilla bean paste (is thicker, has vanilla flecks, and a more intense flavor than vanilla extract but you can substitute 2 TEAspoons of extract if you wish)
- zest of one lemon
Instructions
- To make the starter dough: Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until nice and frothy. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and add the yeast mixture. Using the dough hook, knead the ingredients until they come together. The dough will be smooth but firm and stiff.Form the dough into a ball, place it in a lightly greased bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours or until nearly doubled in size.Punch it down, form it into a ball, place it back in the bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge to sit overnight. **Remove the dough from the fridge the next day 2 hours before you're ready to proceed with making the pandoro.
- The next day dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar in the lukewarm milk and let it sit for 10-15 minutes until nice and frothy.Place the flour, sugar, and yeast mixture in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix it together with spoon or with the dough hook. Using the dough hook, add the eggs one at a time, kneading between additions. The mixture will come together into a rich yellow dough.Add the starter dough to the stand mixer. Knead the two doughs together for about 5 minutes. Add the butter, lemon zest, vanilla, and honey and knead for about 10minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The dough should be very smooth and elastic but not overly sticky. If it's too sticky add a little more flour.Form the dough into a ball, lightly spray the bowl, and place the dough back in, loosely covered with plastic wrap, to rise in a warm place for about 3 hours or until nearly tripled in size. Punch the dough down.
- Generously butter a pandoro mold pan getting into all the cracks and crevices. You will need a 9-cup pandoro mold (about 2 liter capacity). Next add some flour to the pan and shake it to thoroughly coat it with flour, shaking out the excess flour. Again, be sure to get into all the cracks and crevices so that your pandoro doesn't stick to the pan.Place the dough into the prepared pandoro mold. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place until the dough has risen to about an inch or so above the top of the mold.In the meantime preheat the oven to 325 F. Bake the pandoro on the middle rack for 30 minutes.Reduce the temperature to 300 F and bake for another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 195 F and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Be careful not to over-bake or your pandoro will be very dry.During the baking process if the pandoro begins to brown too quickly cover it with aluminum foil.Let the pandoro cool in the mold on a wire rack for 15 minutes and then carefully remove the pandoro from the mold.Cut a thin layer off the base so it will sit flat on a serving plate.
- To serve the pandoro, once it is cool you can either dust the whole bread with powdered sugar and cut it vertically into slices (traditional). Or for a more interesting look you can slice the pandoro in thick horizontal slices, then rotate the slices. You can then either dust the pandoro with powdered sugar or you can layer each of the horizontal slices with custard, cream, or a filling of choice.
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet December 3, 2020
Jontsje says
How wonderful that you shared this recipe! I live in Aruba and it is hard to find pandoro here -they only sell panettone. Going to make it this weekend and will let you know how it went!
Taiz Mind says
Thanks for giving us such a great information. I’ll be very thankful to you for this. Please visit our website.
Stephanie Sommovigo says
The traditional confectioner’s sugar is actually vanilla powder possibly mixed with confectioner’s sugar but it has a distinct vanilla flavor (that I adore) – vanilla powder is quite common in Italy because the flavor doesn’t diminish during baking like vanilla extract
Rima Rhodes says
As a vegan I cannot eat eggs. Can this recipe be made with egg substitute?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Rima, you can substitute with flax eggs. If you’re not familiar with those just look up online “how to make flax eggs” and there’s a plethora of info – very easy to make.
Claire Cox says
Hi
This looks great so I’m going to serve it for Xmas day layered with spiced orange cream. Just wondering if the pandoro will freeze so I can make it a little ahead of time?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Claire, yes you can freeze this.
Debbie Azzolina says
Hello can you make this bread in a loaf pan? Do not have a tall star shaped pan. Or can you suggest another kind of pan? Thanks. Debbie
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Debbie, yes you can!
Debbie Azzolina says
Thank you Kimberly, I do have another question. I am making a dessert for Mother’s Day, do you think I can make this recipe in a 1/2 sheet pan? If yes how many times would I double it. I just made the starter dough today I am going to recipe test the loaf pan and see how many servings I will get out of one loaf. Thanks so much!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Debbie, without actually experimenting with it myself I’m really not sure. If you give it a try let us know how it goes!
Debbie Azzolina says
Hello Kimberly, this recipe came out perfect in a loaf pan. Next I am going to 4x’s the recipe and try for a 1/2 sheet pan. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
That’s wonderful, Debbie, thanks so much for letting us know!
Debbie Azzolina says
Recipe tested 4x’s the recipe and baked it on a 1/2 sheet tray. Here are the results, first, it was too much dough for the 1/2 sheet tray in the future I would only 3x’s the recipe for the 1/2 sheet tray. The bread came out great, but if the want the nice fully texture it would be best to use a loaf pan or a tube pan there is a lot of surface exposure when using an 1/2 sheet tray. I did not have the star pan the recipe called for. Over all very successful would definitely make again. I am actually cutting this bread up into squares and using it for a trifle with a berry sauce & whipped cream.
Mina says
Your recipes are amazing, especially the Lebkuchen. They taste better than the ones in Nuernberg and I don’t even know to how many people I forwarded your blog for the recipe now. I am secretly hoping you would consider to bake Bienenstich someday:p
I wish you Wonderful Holidays and thank you for your fantastic recipes!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Thank you, Mina, I appreciate that so much! <3 Well, I actually just ordered a big bag of sliced blanched almonds a few days ago for that very purpose - Bienenstich :) Hopefully sooner than later I'll have some time to get around to making it for the photo shoot :)
Richard Tunner says
It turned out very delicious. Definitely make it again and again!
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Wonderful, Richard, thank you so much!
Toni Dash says
This is perfect!! A great addition to our holidays menu!
Julia says
I’ve also preferred pandoro to panettone, so I am so happy to find this incredible recipe. Thank for all the details. Very helpful!
Beth says
This is so pretty and delicious! I can’t wait to make this recipe! So excited!
Susan Dubose says
Thanks for sharing the recipe with us all. Delicious looking Italian bread! Definitely bake it for this Christmas!
Margaret says
There are different size pans on Amazon. Which size would be sufficient to make this pandoro bread?
Kimberly @ The Daring Gourmet says
Hi Margaret, the one I use is 9-cup capacity, just a little over 2 liters.
Jen says
My Mother in law always made this for us but since we aren’t able to see her this year, this will be perfect for me to make for my husband. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Lisalia says
Yummy! I’m so excited to try this new to me Christmas treat!