Located in the heart of Tuscany, our hands-on class will guide you through the process of creating this iconic Italian Christmas bread, known for its light, fluffy texture and rich, buttery flavor. Whether you’re an experienced cook or a beginner, this class is designed for anyone who loves good food and enjoys learning new skills in a beautiful setting.

Why Take a Pandoro Cooking Class Near Lucca?

Pandoro is a traditional Italian Christmas dessert from Verona. Its origins date back to the 18th century, and it has since become a beloved holiday treat enjoyed by families across Italy during the festive season. The dough, which requires patience and a bit of finesse to perfect, rises multiple times to achieve the fluffy, airy texture that defines a great pandoro.

In our Pandoro Cooking Class, you’ll have the chance to create this delicious treat from scratch, guided by a professional chef. You’ll learn the secrets of making the perfect dough, mastering the technique of kneading, and the process of letting the dough rise to achieve that light texture. By the end of the class, you’ll be able to recreate the recipe at home and impress your friends and family with your homemade pandoro.

What to Expect from the Class

The Pandoro Cooking Class near Lucca offers a full immersion in the Italian culinary tradition. Here’s what you can expect during the class:

1. Hands-on Instruction: I’ll walk you through every step of the pandoro-making process, from mixing the dough to shaping the pandoro. You’ll get plenty of time to practice and ask questions.
2. Learn the Techniques: The class covers important techniques, including how to work with yeast dough, how to handle rising times, and how to achieve the perfect texture for pandoro.
3. Tasting and Enjoying: Once your pandoro is baked, you’ll have the opportunity to taste your creation along with other traditional Italian treats, all while enjoying the warmth and charm of our cooking school.

Why Lucca?

Lucca, located in the heart of Tuscany, is an enchanting city filled with medieval charm and stunning architecture. My b&b and cooking school is close to Lucca, 10 mins by car. While in Lucca, you can stroll through the historic center, visit the famous city walls, and enjoy delicious local food and wine. Taking a Pandoro Cooking Class near Lucca allows you to experience authentic Tuscan hospitality while learning how to make one of Italy’s most iconic cakes.

Facciata San Ginese

Book Your Pandoro Cooking Class Today

If you’re planning a trip to Tuscany this holiday season, make sure to book a Pandoro Cooking Class with us! It’s the perfect way to experience Italian culture and learn a new skill that will make your holidays extra special.

For more information or to book your spot in the class, please contact us at info@cuocheinvacanza.it. We look forward to welcoming you to our cooking school and helping you create your very own pandoro!

Important Tips and Preparation Before Starting the Recipe:

• Buy or get a Pandoro mold                           
• I usually start around 4,00pm to ensure the final proofing (12 or more hours) takes place overnight, you can bake the pandoro the following morning
• While waiting during the various proofing stages, remember not to treat the timing as strict rules because observation truly matters. Each time, you must ensure that the dough has risen sufficiently in volume, and the case of the final proofing, it should have more than doubled.

Homemade Pandoro (2.2 lbs)

Ingredients for the Starter Dough (Lievin):

• 0.35 oz fresh yeast (about 1/3 of a standard cube)
• 1/4 cup (2 oz) warm water
• 2 tsp sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/3 cup (2 oz) bread flour

Ingr. for the First Dough:

• 0.2 oz fresh yeast (about 1/6 of a standard cube)
• 1 tbsp warm water
• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tbsp (1 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup (2 oz) granulated sugar
• 1 2/3 cups (8 oz) all-purpose flour

Ingredients for the Second Dough:

• 1 large egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 cup (3.9 oz) granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 2/3 cups (8 oz) bread flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 cup (6 oz) unsalted butter, softened

For Decoration:

• Powdered sugar, as needed

Instructions

1. Prepare the Starter Dough

1. In a bowl, dissolve the fresh yeast in warm water.
2. Add sugar, the egg yolk, and bread flour. Mix very well
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 1/2 hour.

2. Make the First Dough

1. Dissolve the fresh yeast in 1 tablespoon of warm water.
2. In a stand mixer with a dough hook (or a large mixing bowl), combine the starter dough with the dissolved yeast, the egg, the yolk, sugar, and all-purpose flour. Mix until the dough starts to come together.
3. Gradually add softened butter, a little at a time, and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
4. Cover the dough and let it rise for at least 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

3. Make the Second Dough

1. Give the dough a quick pulse with the mixer to deflate it.
2. Add the egg, yolk, sugar, vanilla extract, and bread flour to the risen dough. Mix well.
3. Add the salt and then gradually incorporate the softened butter, kneading until the dough is smooth and stretchy. This step may take 10 minutes in a mixer.
4. Pour the dough onto a work surface lined with parchment paper and cover it with a dome (I use an upside-down salad bowl).
5. Let the dough rise again for 1 hour

4. Shaping and Final Rise

1. Grease and flour a 2.2 lb (1 kg) Pandoro mold.
2. Roll gently the dough with a rolling pin or by hand (depending on how sticky it is) giving the rolled dough the shape of a rectangle. I often use a dough scraper and work with my hands.
3. Fold the long sides of the rectangle inward, like a wallet, as you would for puff pastry. Then, fold the dough inward again. What you end up with is a relatively tall rectangle, made up of multiple layers.
4. place it in the Pandoro mold
5. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a warm place for 12 hours, or until it reaches the rim of the mold. I put it in a turned-off oven

5. Baking

1. Preheat your oven to 340°F (170°C).
2. Cover the top of the dough with baking paper (it browns quickly)
3. Bake the Pandoro on the lowest rack of the oven for 10 mins at 340°F (170°C), then 40 minutes at 320°F (160°C).
4. Check doneness with a skewer: if it comes out clean, the Pandoro is ready.

6. Cooling and Decorating

1. Let the Pandoro cool in the mold for 10-15 minutes, then gently remove it and place it on a wire rack to cool completely.
2. Cut gently the base with a long bread knife
3. Dust generously with powdered sugar before serving.
4. In Italy, we put the Pandoro inside a plastic bag, poured in the powdered sugar, closed the bag, and shook it many times.

Tips

• For extra flavor, add 1 tablespoon of orange liqueur or rum to the second dough.
• Store the Pandoro in an airtight bag to keep it fresh and soft for several days.

Enjoy your homemade Pandoro and have a wonderful holiday season!

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L'articolo Italian Christmas Delights: 5 Traditional Desserts and Cakes proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

Italian Carnival fried dough guys! It’s finally time for. 

As Carnival is coming here in Tuscany you can not give up these “sweets” related to the tradition. During these days their perfume pervades every house … especially those with children or with the greedy ones.

The scent of icing sugar is here at my house as well.

Tuscany is famous for fried dough, the same that we call “panzerotti” or “pasta fritta”. You can eat this typical dough during our Private dinners or Cooking Classes in Tuscany and I’ve to say that everyone appreciates the flavor of this typical food.

Furthermore for a Private Chef in Tuscany is taken for granted preparing the dough by scratch. In fact, I always start kneading, as arrived at the villas or holiday homes where live our customers while on vacation.

Well, Carnival fried dough is completely different. First of all, because it’s something sweet, furthermore it’s so crispy and thin that it seems melting in your mouth.

We’re talking about an old Tuscan food: CENCI! My recipe is a small reinterpretation of that of the greatest Tuscan recipes writer: Pellegrino Artusi. Maybe it’s a recipe 200 years old.

What’s a typical Carnival food in your country?

Would you like to share the recipe here in the comments?

Facebook live class video

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Some time ago I was called to be a “private chef in villa” to make Panettone, a typical cake of the Italian Christmas tradition.

Our Customers

It was a couple of connoisseurs of art: she a sculptor, he a collector of works of art; both were curious about the preparation of the panettone. His wife organized a party for her 60 years and invited 10 friends who lived near Lucca to dinner.

Of course, I couldn’t say no to such an extravagant request.

Personally, I am a cooking classes instructor and a private chef for 10 years, and I prepare everything, absolutely everything, on the spot, from the start to the end.

Even dessert, which usually asks for a long time, is made from scratch.

In this particular situation, being the panettone, I just couldn’t.

Panettone is, in fact, one of the most difficult cakes of the Italian tradition and, in addition to this, it is also very long to prepare. To this must be added the leavening after hours.

In a nutshell, I warned my customers/guests that the private chef in the villa would arrive many hours earlier.

And so I woke up early, did the shopping for the evening’s menu, and headed for the Lucca countryside.

The surroundings of Lucca

are truly remarkable. Here you can find absolutely the best Tuscan countryside. In fact, not only are there the vines, the hills, the dirt roads, but a few kilometers away you can also enjoy a wonderful sea!

And it is in the Lucca countryside that my husband and I bought a stone house!

It is a holiday home and bed & breakfast: Dolce Vita! And this is where I run cooking classes (when I’m not called for home service).

Well, coming back to our panettone, once arrived at the villa, I made the panettone rise in a place that I didn’t know, waiting anxiously for it to grow. Then I baked it in an oven that I barely knew how worked. Yet, my dear, because of the recipe that you find below, you can rest assured. In fact, the panettone came out spectacular!

And Jennifer, our client, wrapped it in a beautiful yellow paper, one of the typical Tuscan ones, and then tied it with a very Christmas red ribbon.

I learned to make panettone from the maestro Giovanni Gandino, a few years ago. The recipe below is the fruit, revisited in part, of what I learned.

You can make infinite versions of Panettone: the most common is the classic one, with candied fruit and raisins, personally, my family prefers the version with chocolate chips.

L'articolo Private Chef in Villa: let’s make the Panettone Sweet Bread! proviene da Cooking Classes and Private Chef In Tuscany.

This is the perfect Christmas gift for your friends and family and, I recommend making it for you as well because it’s delicious.

I first tasted this special panforte at Virginia’s nursery school, more than 10 years ago. I can still see that little girl running to me. He had in her hand a transparent bag that contained cookies, closed by a beautiful colored ribbon. It was Virginia’s Christmas gift to her family.

Inside the small bag was also a piece of paper with Virginia’s drawing and the written: “Panforte di fichi e noci” (fig and walnut panforte).

So I understood that they were not “cookies”, but panforte “pieces” that the teachers cut and put in the bags.

Furthermore, it was not the “common” panforte, but a special one, made with figs and nuts.

I still remember the pleasant surprise of those flavors; I never tasted a so good panforte. The taste is enveloping, spicy and persistent.

Reading the recipe I immediately realized it was very simple and fast to do.

In short, I found the perfect Christmas gift for friends and family.

And so, from that Christmas time 10 years ago, my kitchen has turned into a laboratory and it bakes “panforte” of every dimension:

• for Christmas baskets along with other treats like the Befanini cookies
• as a Christmas gift along with a nice liqueur, in my case Orange / Limoncello liqueur made by me
• alone, wrapped in a fine yellow sheet of paper, and sealed with a rope or string ribbon

A BIT OF HISTORY

Panforte is a Christmas cake typical of Tuscany (Province of Siena) and that one with figs and walnuts seems to have been invented by Giuseppina Bonelli of the famous pastry shop Masoni.

During World War II, raw materials were scarce. Impossible to find expensive candies and spices.

It was so that Giuseppina invented a panforte made with the available ingredients; in a few words the dried fruit that at that time was considered poor: figs and nuts.

It came up with an exquisite product that immediately had great success.

I tried to interpret the old recipe according to my tastes. I tried to balance the flavors by accentuating those I love and I think that you can do in this way as well.

However, if you do not want to risk, know that the recipe below has been tested for several years, so be sure.

Once again, this year too, this panforte will be the Christmas gift for my closest friends.

Meanwhile, at my house, a big (10 inches; 24 cm diameter) panforte already disappeared (volatilized) and I only baked it yesterday.

Suggestion for your Christmas gift

This panforte, as a Christmas gift, can be even more beautiful accompanied by the recipe, perhaps you can print it on parcel paper, then you can roll up it and wrap it with a string.

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Fall Tuscan Cooking Class Chestnut Flour Cake CASTAGNACCIO!

A few days ago they called me for a cooking class at a Resort where I go to cook very often. Yes, this is my “itinerant” job compared to that of “Dolce Vita in Tuscany” Cooking School and b&b, that’s my Brick’n Mortar place.

One of my students was celiac and therefore they decided on a menu based on risotto and as a dessert, there was this old typical Tuscan dessert called Castagnaccio.

Well, usually the Castagnaccio is a Fall Tuscan Cooking Class, but you can enjoy this cake all year long. What’s important? Having a very good chestnut flour.

Small trick: I keep mine in the freezer…so it’s always fresh!

The Castagnaccio belongs to the poor cuisine of the farmers and here everyone knows it.

Needless to say that my students were all very happy with this choice and I recommend that you try to make this dessert. It is a very particular one, a unique “not too sweet” flavor.  The texture is velvety.

My fav Tuscan recipes book

I love reading and lately, I’m really passionate about old recipe books.
If you like Italian cuisine, there’s a very old book teaching you the base of Tuscan cooking, including all the bases for Italian and Tuscan pasta sauces, main courses (our secondi piatti), desserts, and cakes. The book in question is from Pellegrino Artusi: La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di mangiar bene, in English: Science in the Kitchen and Art of Eating well, and if you like you can buy it here on Amazon.
My granny found her daily recipes in this book and I own her own copy in my library.
It’s a “lived” book, full of writings, notes, and drawings.

This Fall Tuscan Cooking Class has all the flavor of Tuscany

Tuscan Chestnut Flour Cake, named Castagnaccio, it’s a very simple cake that we Tuscans usually make in fall, tasting it in front of the fireplace, with a glass of “Novello” (very young wine) that was never lacking during this period.
Advice: Taste your chestnut flour, if it’s sweet and fresh it’ll be a very delicious cake without adding sugar; if it’s not very sweet, you can add 1 tbsp of muscovado cane sugar for each 100gr of chestnut flour. 
With this pudding, you can also make pancakes.

Castagnaccio chestnut flour cake

Salva

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Each year, with trepidation, I wait for this date: March 19th, Father’s Day, here in Italy.

Can not wait to prepare these delicious rice fritters (Frittelle di Riso here in Italy) which my grandmother taught me many many years ago and, in color, shape, and flavor, I have never betrayed by them. They’re a wholly Tuscan delicacy, tasting them is tasting one piece of this beautiful land where I live.

Everyone in the family begins to ask me about rice fritters for a week before, to be sure, this year too, they’ll enjoy these unforgettable old sweets, so typical in Cucina Povera (a few and simple ingredients kinds of cooking). And they are right, because the rice fritters, in my house, are like the popular and always successful Santa Claus Cookies “Befanini”: they’ll be prepared just once a year!

Well, Father’s Day is one of these best occasions to prepare something delicious and full of love.

That’s why they deserve all the waiting and attention atmosphere we give them during these days.
They’re a “snack”, which can be enjoyed peacefully in the middle of the afternoon and every time I taste them, I remind the village feasts here in Tuscany.

Salva

Salva

Salva

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Befanini Cookies

Today I’m writing here to introduce my 

guest post on Tuscanycious where you can find the original Befanini recipe

and you can imagine how much I’m glad and honored. I like this life: 

cooking teacher for CuocheinVacanza 

during Summer and writer, blogger, social “addicted” the rest of the year. Yes, I know it’s a bit different, ’cause I’ve many things to do and to think about: family first of all, home, job, money, too many toughts about my parents…but I think we’d start from small things to have inside our heart a sort of happiness not huge, but lasting.
So…”stole” my favourite recipe, because you’ll never taste something so Tuscanycious! Cookies for you all…wishing you a really happy and sweet New Year!

Salva

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