The Fresh Loaf

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Sourdough Pandoro, Finally!

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

Sourdough Pandoro, Finally!

I posted a thread last week about my failure at sourdough pandoro, I tried again this weekend (going through the whole sweet starter babysitting again!), and got much better results this time! Last time I added butter too fast and the dough collapsed, this time I made sure that butter was added a bit at a time, and my mixer was at speed 1 (slowest setting) when mixing in butter. I still lost some gluten after mixing in the butter (the windowpane test was weaker than before the butter was added), but after several folds, the dough was strong enough.The real interesting part was the final proofing. OMG, it took forever. I followed Foolishpoolish's great recipe, and he indicated 12 hours for the final rise. I put it at room temperature for the first 6 hours, nothing. Moved to my oven and turned pilot light on (so it's about 85F inside) for the evening, after 10 hours (and I actually woke up several times during the night to check it, in fear of overproofing), it still shy of reaching the top of the mold. I had to go to meet my workout partner at that point. Didn't want to risk overproofing, I moved the baby again to room temperature. 3 hours later I got home, it's reached the top of the mold but not domed over, and it's been 19 hours! At that point, I had to leave the house soon, so I went ahead and baked it.

All turned out well, it got enough of a boost in the oven

Gotta say, after one bite of the bread, I thought all this trouble of keepig the sweet starter, multiple long fermentations, hours of mixing, endless waiting were all worthwhile! The taste and crumb was rich but INCREDIBLY light and airy and soft. 

"Shreading"

Thank you, FP for you great recipe here: http://foolishpoolishbakes.wordpress.com/2009/01/10/pandoro-a-lievito-naturale/

Several notes:

-I did add cocoa butter, which I found at Whold Foods, cosmetic aisle;

-I used 550g of dough in my 9 cup pandoro pan(here: http://www.amazon.com/SCI-Scandicrafts-Pandoro-Mold-9-Cup/dp/B0012MR1HA)

-After last week's failure, I halved the recipe this time, what a mistake. The bread was devoured in <2 hours after it's cooled. Much shorter than any of the rising time!

-I made extra dough into little muffin sized rolls. Not as good as the big pandoro one, too much crust, not enough soft airy crumb.

-In order to keep up with the sweet starter, I pulled desperate measures like putting it in a cooler and bring it to work, then add a cup of hot water inside. I got funny questions and looks when I fed the starter.

-Now I want to try the sourdough Pannetone recipe!

 

Comments

mrfrost's picture
mrfrost

Congratulations. Beautiful crumb texture.

foolishpoolish's picture
foolishpoolish

Wow congratulations. I'm so pleased it worked out for you in the end. Sorry that the final proof took so long.

That is truly a thing of beauty you have there (dare I say better than my efforts last year). I must try it with cocoa butter next time.

FP

CaptainBatard's picture
CaptainBatard

Like I said.... second time a charm! You hit it on the head... looks great. LOL...I have brought my starter to work also...your co-workers will never look at you the same way again! I am going to try FP recipe next time. (hand mixing) Did you melt the cocoa butter or shave it? Good luck with the Panetone. After the Pandoro..I thought the Panetone was good, but for my taste anticlimactic! Try to use good candied lemon and orange if you can...

Judd

dablues's picture
dablues

The link for the recipe is not longer active.  Would you have another link to the recipe.  Message I get Is:  The authors have deleted this blog.

longhorn's picture
longhorn

I bet those wild yeasties were really struggling in the sugary dough! We had Pandoro at SFBI when I was there and we discussed that it really benefitted from using osmotolerant yeast so it could be robust in that environment! Not surprised the rise went forever! Well done! Bravo!

Jay