Pandoro

The story

Unlike panettone, which springs from medieval legends, pandoro has an exact date of birth: October 14, 1894, when the Veronese pastry maker Domenico Melegatti patented his recipe and, just as important, its distinctive mold in the shape of an eight-pointed star. Melegatti simplified an older Veronese tradition of a bread called "levà," increased the butter and eggs, and removed superfluous ingredients so the dough would rise perfectly without candied fruit or nuts. According to family lore, the name arose when a passerby, catching sight of the cut cake in the sunlight, exclaimed, "Why, that's real golden bread!" ("Pan d'oro"). Melegatti believed so firmly in the uniqueness of his recipe that he publicly offered a prize of a thousand lire to rivals who claimed to have copied it, if they could reveal the "real" recipe. No one came forward. Today pandoro is served cut into star-shaped slices and dusted with powdered sugar, often stacked so the whole plate looks like a snow-covered mountain peak.