COLOMBA TRADIZIONALE ricetta di GIAMBATTISTA MONTANARI

TRADITIONAL COLOMBA recipe by GIAMBATTISTA MONTANARI

Leggi In Italiano

This dove was an epic feat. We started with the other doves by mistaking the baking tray: too big for the amount of dough I had prepared.

We remedy the baking paper.

We started with this dough and our oven leaves us. Panic. It really seemed that these doves weren’t to be done, but we didn’t give up. We dismantled the oven during the leavening hours of the dove, praying and sweating cold. We called my cousin, my aunt, the neighbors, and we all warned that if our oven hadn’t turned on they would have to cook the doves in their oven: a bonus dove as a reward! I let you imagine the enthusiasm (hahhaha)

In the end the doves rose, the oven turned on, I avoided a nervous breakdown and everything went as planned, if not better.

I must say that Montanari’s recipes are always a great guarantee and, since I own his book, that is one of the Bibles of the great leavened PH 4.1. Science and craftsmanship of the leavened dough to every question, I always find a certain and simple answer.

I will not be here to repeat that making a great leavened product implies commitment not only in the two days that are dedicated to production, but also in all that is the management of the mother yeast and its preparation in the days preceding the actual production . It’s a joke guys, I have to be honest, but every time the result shows up in your hands, it’s love.

I don’t know if it can be exactly the same thing (I don’t have children yet) but I believe that the effect is a little what oxytocin does with women in postpartum: at the sight of your baby, almost all the pains disappear and leave room for satisfaction. Mums, don’t want to, but my love for leavened products makes me see these creatures as the fruit of my daily sacrifice and as a great great victory.

I won’t go into other words, I’ll leave you right away to get down to business! Let me know what you think!

Some small premises before starting with the actual recipe: you will find some passages that will seem extremely laborious and meticulous. Follow them carefully and do not go your own way during the preparation: each step has a reason and it is good to follow everything literally to obtain satisfactory results. Giambattista Montanari comes to our aid by leaving us suggestions or in any case an explanation to almost everything, if we don’t trust him, who else?

Why do you start with yolks, sugar and a part of water?
Sugar has its own particle size and, when it is poured into the dough where the flour has already tied with the water, it tends to make friction crawling between the dough and the mixer. This continuous rubbing causes micro-lesions in the gluten that is forming, which could create problems in the fermentation phase. To overcome this, the sugar is made liquid by making the flour incorporate it immediately and better.

Why can icing sugar replace granulated sugar?
To avoid the rubbing that would occur between the dough and the planetary mixer. In the 1st dough, the sugar was made liquid, in the 2nd, using it icing could make it easier to work in a home planetary mixer.

Why mix the flour with the 1st dough?
Because the gluten that is formed will be well resistant and well strung so as to allow the subsequent ingredients to be incorporated. Everything must last from 15 to 17 minutes: if the passage is accelerated the result is compromised. It is very important to focus on this moment at the beginning of the second dough: if you string well now, you should have no more problems in the other phases.

Why the passage in the fridge?
It is essential because it allows the fat present in the dough (in our case the butter that was in an environment at 28 ° C, therefore close to the melting point), to recompact. The butter contributes to the development, waterproofs and carries out a containing action: if this action ceases, the thrust decreases and therefore also the height development of our dough. By putting it back in the fridge, the butter is recompiled, melting later and allowing a longer development in cooking.

TRADITIONAL COLOMBA recipe by GIAMBATTISTA MONTANARI

INGREDIENTS for a 1 kg colomba

If you want to adapt everything to different sizes and cups, you can therefore start from values ​​for a 1 kg dove and make the appropriate proportion.

The weight can be rounded for a matter of simplicity in quantity management (maybe not all of them have a precision balance).

1st dough

• 185.8 g flour 00 W380 p / l 0.65 (I used one with p / l 0.60)
• 55.7 gr sugar
• 61.9 g water
• 65 gr ripe natural yeast
• 74.3 gr traditional cream butter 82% mg
• 61.9 g yolks
• 3.7 g diastatic malt extract *

* if you don’t have diastatic malt, alternatively, you can use the same amount in honey

Dissolve in a planetary mixer, sugar, 50 g of water, diastatic malt and yolks. Add flour and natural yeast and leave to string for about 13 minutes. Pour the rest of the water towards the end, continue with the soft butter.
The temperature of the dough at the end of the session must be 26 ° -28 ° C; the total mixing time is 20-25 minutes.
Leave to rise at 25 ° C for 10-12 hours, up to one and a half times its volume.
The next morning, before proceeding to the second dough, put in the fridge for 1 hour.

Almond ice:

• 70 g of toasted almonds
• 100 g of sugar
• 8 g of potato starch
• 50 egg whites

I recommend you prepare the ice the day before in the following way: in a mixer combine the almonds, sugar, re-milled semolina and starch and pulverize. Mix the egg white a little at a time and check the consistency: it must not be excessively liquid but not too hard. Try the spoon: if you raise a quantity of glaze, it must come down but remain attached to the spoon. Put in a jar and cover tightly. About two hours before use, before baking the dove, put it out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature.

2nd dough

• 31 gr flour 00 w 380 p / l 0,65
• 31 gr sugar *
• 1.7 g fine salt
• 52.6 g yolks
• 24.8 g orange honey
• 1/2 vanilla pods
• 43.4 gr butter
• 230 g orange cubes
• 24.8 g candied orange paste

* icing sugar can also be used to reduce the friction the dough will make with the mixer

Place the 1st dough in a planetary mixer and turn it with the remaining flour until the gluten is completely relaxed (about 17 minutes). Add the yolks in succession and let them run for 5 minutes. Add the sugar, knead for 7 minutes. At the end add the salt and little by little the honey and the candied orange paste that we had prepared the day before and left overnight to macerate. Incorporate the butter and vanilla, and knead for 7-8 minutes. At the end pour the pieces of candied fruit (in this case candied orange, but I also added some raisins) and let it run for 1-2 minutes at the minimum speed of the planetary mixer. Place an hour in the heat at 32-35 degrees, break, let it stand for 15 minutes at room temperature, then pour it and put in the cups, giving shape to your dove.
Leave to rise at 28 ° C for 6-7 hours. It may happen that your dough takes longer to rise: do not worry and wait until it has almost reached the edge of the baking tray to be ready.
When the leavening is complete, pass the doves in the cold (4 ° C) for 15 minutes, then glaze with almond glaze and decorate with toasted almonds and granulated sugar.