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Holiday Breads
pan d'oro
Pan D'Oro (Italian holiday bread, made without yeast; using butter, rum, lemon juice and "Pane degli Angeli")
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Christmas and Easter
Contributed by: Anna-Maria Benvenuto

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Ingredients

175 grams (about 6 ounces) of flour
175 grams (about 6 ounces) of sugar
175 grams (about 6 ounces) arrowroot [in Italian: "fecola"]
175 grams (about 6 ounces) butter, melted
5 eggs, separated
1 shot [1.5 ounces] of rum
Juice of 1 lemon
a pinch of salt
1 envelop of vanilla-flavored baking powder (in Italian: "bustina di lievito vangigliato") -- e.g., "Pane degli Angeli"

For dusting
Icing sugar



Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix flour with arrowroot.

Melt butter. Cool (use at room temperature).

Mix the butter, flour and arrowroot with one egg yolk at a time, until the mixture is creamy.

Add the sugar, mix well.

Add the juice of 1 lemon and the rum.

In a separate bowl beat the egg whites until stiff.

Fold in the egg whites to the flour and egg mixture.

Gently add the baking powder.

Place the batter in a well-greased tall cake pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F until done -- about 40 minutes.

Cool.

Before serving dust with icing sugar


Notes

Mrs. Anna-Maria Benvenuto has collected hundreds of recipes from relatives, friends, and neighbors over the years. She recorded the recipes in Italian in numerous notebooks, often naming the recipe after the person who gave it to her. Mrs. Anna-Maria Benvenuto also copied recipes from Italian cookbooks, magazines and newspapers. The recipe in this entry was found in an Italian cookbook published in the early 1970s. Being an avid baker Mrs. Benvenuto tried out many of the recipes herself. However, because of her enormous talent and expertise, she did not feel the need to write detailed instructions as she knew how to make the recipes without them. However, when asked by this website's archivist (Mary Melfi) for details, she quickly volunteered the information. Nonetheless, as with most first generation Italian-Canadian handwritten recipes, it is understood that whoever attempts to duplicate them should have some knowledge of what they are doing.... Photo: Mary Melfi

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