Summer Pandoro with chocolate-flavored butter and stiff sourdough starter

With this you will be able to make 1 700g pandoro

INGREDIENTS:

sourdough starter, 70g (about 40-50% hydration).

Starch scald

1 egg yolk

25g sugar

20g rice starch

66g milk

33g cream

first dough:

the starter

the starch scald

54g fresh whole milk

50g technical flour for large leavened products (example a really strong manitoba flour)

1 dash Marsala (about 5g)

second dough;

the first dough

113g technical flour for large leavened products

15g butter

25g sugar

1 egg (if you want to make 2 pandori you should only add 1 more yolk instead of 2 whole eggs)

1g salt

Aromatic mix or flavored butter;

65 g butter

10 g honey

20 g grated chocolate (if you use white chocolate the interior will be like the traditional pandoro)

5 g vanilla

5g marsala

Zest of one orange or one lemon

Third dough:

Aromatic butter

112g flour for large leavened products

65g powdered sugar

7g milk

1 egg

Starting at least the day before make your sourdough rise 3 times

Also the day before prepare the scald by mixing the ingredients and turn the heat in a pot until it will get thick like a paste

Cool it down before using it.

Make the first dough. This is the easiest part, just put the starter in pieces into the milk and dissolve it (it should not be 100% dissolved, you just need it to dissolve it for 5 minutes)

Add everything else and mix.

You will need to wait about 12 hours before continue. This first dough will be really wet and it will not be able to rise, but you will see bubbles.

For the second dough you will need to add flour and sugar to the first dough, mix in a stand mixer

You need to develop the gluten network before adding the egg and the butter (both should be fridge cold so that the long kneading will not overheat the dough).

Each time you add an ingredient you dough should be strong.

Check the dough temperature once in a while… if above 30°C let the dough rest in the fridge 20-40 minute and at 20 minutes make a fold so that it will get cold inside too.

If your dough is a soup after 2 times that you make this and mix for more than 5 minutes (it can be the case once in a while for the atmosphere humidity), add a little bit of flour (start with 30g) mix it a little bit, rest the dough 40 minutes and try to develop the gluten again.

Never add too much flour and never expect instant result. You should try to add the minimum amount to get a dough that can form a veil.

Let it rest at room temperature until it triple in size (in summer it will triple in about 8-9 hours, in winter 12 hours… but every starter is different so you should to get the triple volume instead of focusing on time).

You could have already made it but if not this is your last chance to make the aromatic butter.

Just mix everything with a blender/immersion blender and put it into the fridge.

For the last dough same thing as the second… mix the flour, sugar and milk to the second dough by hand until you will get everything wet (if you use a stand mixer here you will make a mess), after that you can transfer it again in the stand mixer.

Once you get the gluten network back add the egg, after that the aromatic butter into pieces.

Put it into the counter surface and make some folds and let it rest 1 hour covered with a kitchen towel.

If you need divide the dough into multiple dough here.

Put a little bit of extra butter into your hands and punch down the dough by pressing the dough with your butter hands, make a few folds… the idea is to get more butter into the dough at this last point while you make the air bubbles inside small and uniform.

Butter your aluminium mold

Let the pandoro rise to the top for several hours (about the same as the second rise), do not cover it.

Just before putting it into the oven put a clean knitting needle in the center about 4 times to the bottom in 4 different spot. The idea is to avoid air bubbles at the bottom, it should only deflate a little bit but still hold up.

Cook it into a 200°C static oven for 20 minutes, after 10 minutes cover with an aluminium foil, after that put a thermometer probe into the center.

Let it continue to cook at 170°C fan on until the internal temperature is 93°C.

Let it cool down 4 hours into the mold, cover it with a kitchen towel.

Release from the mold and put it into a plastic food bag spraying 96° food-grade alcohol. The main idea is that it should rest at least 48 hours at most 14 days so the alcohol (together with the sour into the sourdough) should prevent mold, it will evaporate as soon as you open the bag again.

Eat it covered in a little bit of powdered sugar.

Why summer pandoro? Because if you make it in winter you will not be able to eat it at breakfast as other people will finish it in the same day, while making it in the summer means you will be able to enjoy it for about 2-3 days (who am I kidding, it will not last more than that).