Don’t get me wrong — I’ve come to appreciate panettone since I’ve moved to Italy and cannot imagine Christmas without it. But when the holidays roll around, I can’t imagine a pandoro-less table.
This year, Olivieri 1882, a 130-year-old artisan bakery in Arzignano in the Veneto, has relaunched its pandoro and will be shipping that, along with its panettone, to the Unities States. Yes, you can have panettone delivered directly from Italy to your doorstep in just 48 hours for $70. Click here to order.
Referred to as panettone’s cousin by some and its rival to others, this towering lievitazione (leavened product) in the shape of an eight-pointed start tastes a bit more vanilla-y, has a more cakey texture, and wears a powdered sugar coating.
As with panettone, it’s often mass-produced, which means that the boxes dominating supermarket shelves don’t represent the best the product has to offer.
“There is always a lot of talk about panettone, but pandoro is just as interesting and, in some ways, even more fascinating than panettone” explains Nicola Olivieri, sixth-generation owner and head pastry chef. “The time has come to bring it to the forefront. The fact that it is much more difficult to make than a panettone was the decisive push for us, a challenge that we accepted and that required at least five years of work and improvement. Today we are very satisfied with Pandoro Olivieri 1882”.
In addition to their love for leavened products and challenges, there is another reason why the Olivieri family has dedicated the last few years to the development of Pandoro. “It represents the Christmas dessert of our areas and its history is intertwined with ours: our first bakery was on the border t between Verona and Vicenza, the territory where Christmas coincided with Pandoro and not Panettone, ” Olivieri explains.
“We want to be the custodians of a tradition that must be dusted off and given its importance. In a historical moment like this one, especially where there is often a tendency to launch novelties designed to amaze, we want to go against the trend.”
Classic, Gianduja, chocolate and coffee, and apricot and salted caramel panettone are also available to order in addition to the pandoro.
