Colomba di Pasqua- Easter dove
According to legend, this Italian Easter cake dates from the 6th century. During the siege of Pavia to King Alboin of Longobard, as a token of peace, the inhabitants of the city offered sweet bread in the shape of a dove. The truth is much less mysterious and does not go into such a distant past. At the beginning of the last century, in 1930, Dino Villani, director of marketing at the factory "MOTTA" known for its production - Panetton, decided to place a cake for Easter, which is very similar in composition to panettone, but with the addition of egg white, sugar and almond glaze. Since then, Colomba has become popular throughout Italy and around the world. The recipe is protected and treated as an indigenous product. The original recipe is made with "lievito madre" -natural yeast. This colomba of mine is made with "lievito madre", which you can replace with brewer's yeast.
Preparation steps
- YEAST: Mix the yeast, flour and water well and leave in a warm place to double.
- DOUGH 1: Mix butter with sugar for a long time, add whole eggs and yolks. Continue mixing with a blender. Then add the risen yeast, milk and flour. Transfer the dough to a floured table and continue to knead the dough with your hands.
- Transfer it to a plastic container, cover and place in the oven, with the light bulb on, to double. Better all night, and maybe how it suits you.
- In particular, make DOUGH 2: Fry the almonds in a pan and grind them. Mix powdered sugar and vanilla sugar with butter, add egg yolks and almonds.
- When dough 1 has risen well,
- shake it out on the table, spread it out a bit and spread the dough 2 higher. With your hands, combine these two doughs into a smooth mixture. Add a little flour if needed. The dough sticks a little, but it is important to flour the table well so that the mixture, while kneading it, picks up the flour it needs.
- The dough must be soft. Add raisins and candied orange peel
- Divide the dough into two parts for two pigeons. You can make one big one from this amount, but I think it would turn out too big. From each part make one cylinder (body of colombe) and two balls (wings).
- Place in a dove-shaped mold. Disposable paper molds or normal Teflon molds can be found in Italy.
- Leave again on warm to rise.
- Prepare the glaze: Peel the almonds and grind them. Mix the egg whites and salt into a stiff batter. Add powdered sugar and almonds. The glaze must be very thick so that it does not drip while baking.
- When the pigeons are ready, spread the glaze on them, place the whole unpeeled almonds, sugar granules and sprinkle with fine sugar.
- Bake at 170 ° -180 ° (depending on the oven) 20-30 min.
Serving
In case you can't get to this mold, I'll describe how to make it from disposable aluminum containers, look at this page: How to make a mold for Colomba di Pasqua - Easter dove
