{
  "slug": "pampapato-di-ferrara",
  "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/",
  "name": "Pampapato di Ferrara",
  "english": "Ferrara's chocolate-covered spiced Christmas cake",
  "aka": [
    "Pampepato di Ferrara",
    "Pampapato di Ferrara IGP",
    "Pampepato di Ferrara IGP",
    "Panpepato di Ferrara",
    "pampapato ferrarese",
    "pampepato ferrarese",
    "Pan del Papa",
    "Ferrara pampapato"
  ],
  "summary": "Ferrara's Christmas sweet, a PGI since 2015: a dome of spiced dough of flour, cocoa, sugar, candied peel and toasted unpeeled almonds, baked, left to mature for days, then wholly covered in dark chocolate.",
  "essentials": [
    "Type 0 flour, candied citrus peel, toasted unpeeled almonds, sugar, cocoa, nutmeg, cinnamon, leavening and water; no eggs, milk, butter or oil.",
    "Flour is 30–40% of the dough and candied peel 20–30%; the spices are only 0.1–0.2%, with nutmeg and cinnamon always among them.",
    "The sugar is dissolved in water without colouring, then all the ingredients are kneaded by machine for 35–45 minutes.",
    "Shaped as a dome with a flat base, baked at 180 °C–220 °C, matured for 1–4 days, then wholly covered in dark chocolate of at least 54% cocoa.",
    "No colourings or preservatives; once the coating has set, each cake is sealed in its wrapper and handled as little as possible."
  ],
  "diet": [
    "vegetarian"
  ],
  "region": {
    "slug": "emilia-romagna",
    "name": "Emilia-Romagna",
    "url": "https://nonnario.com/regions/emilia-romagna/"
  },
  "place": "Ferrara",
  "coords": [
    44.839,
    11.618
  ],
  "course": {
    "id": "dolci",
    "it": "Dolci",
    "en": "Desserts"
  },
  "level": {
    "id": "codified",
    "name": "EU-codified",
    "it": "Disciplinare europeo",
    "description": "The dish itself is protected by an EU specification (TSG, PDO or PGI) that fixes how it is made.",
    "url": "https://nonnario.com/method/#level-codified"
  },
  "status": "checked",
  "published": "2026-10-28",
  "checked": "2026-10-28",
  "cooked": null,
  "provenance": {
    "by": "European Union",
    "reference": "PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’, Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2267; production specification published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 16 of 21 January 2015 and by the Ministry of Agriculture",
    "year": 2015
  },
  "sources": [
    {
      "label": "Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF): the production specification of the PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’ (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/b%252Fe%252F8%252FD.7da76618ed542103a410/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3347/E/pdf?mode=download"
    },
    {
      "label": "Gazzetta Ufficiale no. 16 of 21 January 2015: the Ministry's proposal to recognise the PGI, with the production specification (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.gazzettaufficiale.it/atto/serie_generale/caricaDettaglioAtto/originario?atto.dataPubblicazioneGazzetta=2015-01-21&atto.codiceRedazionale=15A00354&elenco30giorni=false"
    },
    {
      "label": "EU Official Journal C 238 of 21 July 2015: the application to register the PGI, with its single document (EUR-Lex, Italian)",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015XC0721(01)"
    },
    {
      "label": "Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2267, registering the PGI (EUR-Lex, Italian)",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32015R2267"
    },
    {
      "label": "Travel Emilia-Romagna, the regional tourism agency's blog: the pampapato of Ferrara, its recipe and tradition (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.travelemiliaromagna.it/pampapato-ferrara-ricetta-tradizione/"
    },
    {
      "label": "Ferrara Terra e Acqua, the official tourist site of the province of Ferrara: pampepato or pampapato di Ferrara (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.ferrarainfo.com/it/immergiti-nel-territorio/enogastronomia/i-big-della-gastronomia-ferrarese/pampepato-o-pampapato-di-ferrara-igp"
    },
    {
      "label": "Ferrara Terra e Acqua, the official tourist site of the province of Ferrara: the pampepato recipe (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.ferrarainfo.com/it/immergiti-nel-territorio/enogastronomia/le-ricette-da-provare/pampepato"
    }
  ],
  "story": [
    "Pampapato, or pampepato, is the Christmas sweet of Ferrara: a dome of dark, spiced dough studded with almonds and candied peel and wholly covered in dark chocolate. Its specification traces it to the sixteenth century and the enclosed nuns of the convent of Corpus Domini in Ferrara, who made a spiced bread to send to high prelates at Christmas, while at the Este court lavish banquets ended with sweets much like spiced breads; other accounts place the nuns' sweet in the seventeenth century and say they took their cue from an old recipe of the great Renaissance cook Cristoforo da Messisbugo. Held to be a rich sweet worthy of a pope, it was given to high prelates by Ferrara's clergy and nobility, who shaped it like a cardinal's skullcap, the papalina; from that custom and from its spices its two names, pampapato and pampepato, seem to come. When Ferrara passed to the Papal States, the story goes, the Duke's bread became the Pope's bread. The old recipe used flour, water, honey (later replaced by sugar), cocoa, ginger and cinnamon, candied peel, almonds in their skins and a little salt; the dough cooled on marble and matured in the fog of the Po valley before it was coated with chocolate. Its wider fame came later: in 1902 a pastry maker who had perfected an old recipe by covering the spiced bread in chocolate opened a workshop in the heart of the old town, and as other bakers, home cooks and pastry shops took it up, it became the sweet that stands for Ferrara. At Christmas the people of Ferrara still give it to relatives, friends and colleagues.",
    "‘Pampapato di Ferrara’ or ‘Pampepato di Ferrara’ has been a PGI since 2015, by Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2015/2267: only pampapato made in the province of Ferrara under the specification may carry the name, and every stage, from dissolving the sugar to the chocolate coating, must happen there. The specification, published in the Gazzetta Ufficiale on 21 January 2015, sets the dough per 100 kg before baking: type 0 soft wheat flour, 30–40 kg; candied orange, lemon and citron peel, 20–30 kg; toasted sweet almonds in their skins, 7–23 kg; granulated sugar, 10–20 kg; unsweetened cocoa with 22–24% cocoa butter, 5–15 kg; spices, nutmeg and cinnamon always among them, 100–200 g; leavening and water as needed. Wildflower honey, in place of part of the sugar, and toasted hazelnuts are allowed within limits, and there are no colourings or preservatives. The sugar is dissolved in water without colouring, the dough worked for 35–45 minutes and shaped into a dome with a flat base, 3–35 cm across and 1.5–8 cm high, baked at 180–220 °C for 15–90 minutes by size, matured for 1–4 days at 75–90% relative humidity (or soaked in an orange-flavoured alcoholic solution instead), and then covered entirely in melted extra dark chocolate with at least 54% cocoa, 10–14 kg per 100 kg of dough.",
    "The specification sets ranges for producers, not a household recipe, and the home recipes we compared all fall outside them, with less candied peel and more spice than it allows. The batch on this page is our own composition, about 1.25 kg of dough with every ingredient inside its range, and it has not yet been tested in a home kitchen: the amounts, the water, the size of the cakes, the baking (180 °C for about 55 minutes, until the centre reaches about 95 °C) and the tempering of the chocolate are our guide, the method follows the specification's order, and every step has a check to judge it by. A home kitchen has no room held at 75–90% humidity, so here the cakes mature for two days in a closed box, which keeps their own moisture in but does not control it. The specification's moisture, 5–35%, cannot be measured at home, and this batch has not been measured against it. Made outside the province of Ferrara, it is pampapato in the Ferrara manner, not Pampapato di Ferrara."
  ],
  "serves": 20,
  "minutes": {
    "handsOn": 109,
    "cooking": 90,
    "resting": 3080,
    "days": 3
  },
  "plan": "Our guide: the specification gives ranges per 100 kg of dough, not a recipe; these quantities are ours, about 1.25 kg of dough with every ingredient inside its range, not yet tested in a home kitchen. Start three days before you want to serve it. Day one takes about 4 hours 30 minutes, most of it waiting: 15 minutes for the oven to heat while you weigh everything and dice the peel, 25 to toast the almonds while you make the syrup and the cocoa paste and let it cool, about 40 to knead, 10 to weigh and shape the dough, about 55 in the oven and 2 hours to cool. The cakes then mature for two days in a closed box. Day three takes about 2 hours: 20 minutes to temper the chocolate, about 30 to weigh and coat the cakes, at least an hour for the chocolate to set, and a few minutes to wrap. The batch makes two pampapati of about 630 g of dough each, cut into 20 wedges.",
  "equipment": [
    "Kitchen scale, for the dough and the cakes too; one precise to 0.1 g helps with the spices, which weigh under 2 g in all",
    "Stand mixer with a dough hook: the specification kneads by machine, for 35–45 minutes",
    "Small roasting tin, for the almonds",
    "Small saucepan and a wooden spoon",
    "Baking tray, about 30 cm by 40 cm, and baking paper",
    "Oven thermometer, and a probe thermometer for the cakes and the chocolate",
    "Wire rack",
    "A lidded box or cake tin big enough for both cakes",
    "A board or flat tray that fits on the scale, for coating",
    "Heatproof bowl and a pan that holds it, for the bain-marie",
    "Palette knife or flexible spatula",
    "Nutmeg grater",
    "Cellophane bags or kitchen foil, for wrapping"
  ],
  "ingredients": [
    {
      "group": "The almonds and the candied peel",
      "per": "batch",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 140,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "sweet almonds, unpeeled",
          "note": "whole, with their brown skins; weighed before toasting",
          "text": "140 g sweet almonds, unpeeled (whole, with their brown skins; weighed before toasting)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 140,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "candied orange peel",
          "note": "in pieces if you can, to dice",
          "text": "140 g candied orange peel (in pieces if you can, to dice)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 140,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "candied citron",
          "note": "cedro, in pieces if you can, to dice",
          "text": "140 g candied citron (cedro, in pieces if you can, to dice)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "group": "The syrup and the cocoa paste",
      "per": "batch",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 150,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "granulated sugar",
          "note": null,
          "text": "150 g granulated sugar",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 130,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "water",
          "note": "plus up to 80 g more while kneading, never more than 210 g in all",
          "text": "130 g water (plus up to 80 g more while kneading, never more than 210 g in all)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 100,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "unsweetened cocoa powder",
          "note": "with 22–24% cocoa butter, as the specification asks: about 22–24 g of fat per 100 g on the label",
          "text": "100 g unsweetened cocoa powder (with 22–24% cocoa butter, as the specification asks: about 22–24 g of fat per 100 g on the label)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "group": "The flour and the spices",
      "per": "batch",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 400,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "type 0 flour",
          "note": "soft wheat flour, the specification's type",
          "text": "400 g type 0 flour (soft wheat flour, the specification's type)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 8,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "baking powder",
          "note": "about 2 level teaspoons",
          "text": "8 g baking powder (about 2 level teaspoons)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 1.3,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "ground cinnamon",
          "note": "about half a level teaspoon",
          "text": "1.3 g ground cinnamon (about half a level teaspoon)",
          "recipe": null
        },
        {
          "quantity": 0.5,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "nutmeg",
          "note": "freshly grated, about a quarter of a level teaspoon",
          "text": "0.5 g nutmeg (freshly grated, about a quarter of a level teaspoon)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "group": "The coating",
      "per": "batch",
      "items": [
        {
          "quantity": 180,
          "unit": "g",
          "item": "dark chocolate",
          "note": "at least 54% cocoa; at least a tenth of the dough's weight must end on the cakes, and no more than 14%: the coating is weighed",
          "text": "180 g dark chocolate (at least 54% cocoa; at least a tenth of the dough's weight must end on the cakes, and no more than 14%: the coating is weighed)",
          "recipe": null
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "method": [
    {
      "phase": "Day one: the almonds, the peel and the syrup",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 1,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-1",
          "title": "Heat the oven",
          "text": "Heat the oven to 150 °C, static (top and bottom heat). Meanwhile weigh all the ingredients and line the baking tray with baking paper.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": 15,
          "celsius": 150,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "The oven has reached 150 °C: its light has gone off, or the oven thermometer reads it.",
          "tips": []
        },
        {
          "n": 2,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-2",
          "title": "Dice the candied peel",
          "text": "While the oven heats, cut the candied orange peel and citron into small cubes, about 5 mm across.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 10,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Even cubes, none bigger than a pea; pull apart any that stick together.",
          "tips": [
            "Candied lemon peel is allowed too, alone or with the others, within the same 280 g.",
            "The specification lets the candied orange peel go in as cubes or as a fine paste (see the variants); the 5 mm cubes are ours."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 3,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-3",
          "title": "Toast the almonds",
          "text": "If the almonds are not already toasted, toast them in the oven for 25 to 60 minutes at no more than 200 °C.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": 25,
          "celsius": 150,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "Fragrant; an almond broken in half is pale gold inside, never brown.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: spread them in the small roasting tin and toast them at 150 °C for 25 minutes, stirring halfway. Then turn the oven up to 180 °C, ready for baking, and leave the almonds to cool in the tin.",
            "Our guide: leave them whole. The specification wants sweet almonds, toasted and in their skins, and they give the cake its crunch."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 4,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-4",
          "title": "Dissolve the sugar in water",
          "text": "Dissolve the granulated sugar in water until it is completely liquid. When it is done, the sugar must not be caramelised or show any light or dark brown colour.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "low",
          "official": true,
          "check": "A clear, colourless syrup, with no crystals left on the spoon or on the bottom of the pan.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: while the almonds toast, put the 150 g of sugar and 130 g of water in the small saucepan over low heat and stir until clear, 3–5 minutes. Take it off as soon as it is clear. It needs no boiling: boiling drives off water the dough needs, and boiled long it would colour, which the specification forbids."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day one: the dough",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 5,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-5",
          "title": "Make the cocoa paste",
          "text": "Work the unsweetened cocoa powder together with the sugar dissolved in the water until it makes a dough, which must be dense and well mixed.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 3,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "A thick, glossy, very dark paste, with no dry lumps of cocoa.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: put the cocoa in the mixer bowl, pour the warm syrup over it and stir with a spoon until smooth.",
            "The specification's main method works all the ingredients together at once; it also allows this order, cocoa and syrup first, which this page follows."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 6,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-6",
          "title": "Let the paste cool",
          "text": "Leave the paste in the bowl for about 10 minutes, until only lukewarm.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 10,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Barely warm against a fingertip.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: the flour and baking powder go in only now, so that the baking powder does not start working in hot syrup."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 7,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-7",
          "title": "Knead everything for 35–45 minutes",
          "text": "Add the remaining ingredients and work everything mechanically for 35 to 45 minutes, adding as much water as needed to make the work easier, until the dough is even.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": [
            35,
            45
          ],
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "A firm, even dough that holds together in one mass and leaves the bowl almost clean; slightly tacky but not sticky, with the almonds and peel spread right through.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: mix the flour with the baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg, and add it to the paste with the diced peel and the almonds. Knead with the dough hook on the lowest speed; if the motor runs hot, stop it for a few minutes.",
            "Our guide: the specification kneads by machine. Without a mixer, kneading by hand on the worktop for the same time is this page's departure from it.",
            "Our guide: if after 5 minutes the dough is still crumbly, add water a tablespoon (15 g) at a time, up to 80 g more. Never go past 210 g of water in all: much more and the flour falls below 30% of the dough, the specification's minimum. If it is still dry, knead on rather than add more."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day one: shaping and baking",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 8,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-8",
          "title": "Shape two domes",
          "text": "Portion the dough by hand, then shape and finish each piece into a round dome, the ‘calotta’, with a flat base and a convex top.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 10,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "Two smooth domes about 14 cm across and 5 cm–6 cm high, flat underneath, with no cracks; the dough's weight written down.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: first weigh the whole dough and write the weight down: on day three the chocolate coating is measured against it.",
            "Our guide: divide the dough into two equal pieces of about 630 g. With lightly floured hands, roll each into a ball, set it on the lined tray and press the base flat, keeping the top rounded like a skullcap. Leave at least 6 cm between them.",
            "The specification allows any size from 3 cm to 35 cm across, 1.5 cm to 8 cm high and 10 g to 3 kg in weight; smaller or bigger cakes need a shorter or longer bake, within its 15–90 minutes."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 9,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-9",
          "title": "Bake them",
          "text": "Bake in the oven at 180 °C–220 °C for 15 to 90 minutes, according to size.",
          "kind": "passive",
          "minutes": [
            50,
            60
          ],
          "celsius": 180,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "The top is firm and dry; a skewer pushed into the centre comes out with no wet dough, and a probe there reads about 95 °C.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: the tray on the middle shelf, at 180 °C static, for about 55 minutes. Check from 50 minutes, and never go past 90, the specification's limit.",
            "Our guide: the dough is dark with cocoa, so its colour tells you little. Watch for a smell of scorching instead: burnt, it turns bitter. If the top darkens too fast, lay a sheet of foil loosely over it."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 10,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-10",
          "title": "Let them cool",
          "text": "Lift the cakes onto the wire rack and leave them until cold right through, about 2 hours.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 120,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "The base and the middle of the top feel cool to the touch.",
          "tips": [
            "Cold before they go in the box: warm cakes closed in would sweat."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Days two and three: maturing",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 11,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-11",
          "title": "Let them mature for two days",
          "text": "After baking, keep the cakes for 1 to 4 days in a room at 75–90% relative humidity.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 2880,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "No mould or damp spots; pressed gently, the top gives a little more than when it went in.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: a home kitchen has no room held at that humidity. Put the cold cakes in a lidded box or cake tin, close it and keep it in a cool place, out of the sun, for 2 days. The box keeps their own moisture in, so the crust can soften as it evens out with the inside, but it does not control the humidity: this is where the home version differs most from the specification.",
            "The specification also allows the maturing to be replaced by soaking the baked cakes in an orange-flavoured alcoholic solution: see the variants."
          ]
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "phase": "Day three: the chocolate",
      "intro": null,
      "steps": [
        {
          "n": 12,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-12",
          "title": "Temper the chocolate",
          "text": "Chop the chocolate finely. Melt 125 g of it in the heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, the bowl clear of the water, to about 50 °C. Take it off the heat and stir in the other 55 g until the chocolate has cooled to 31 °C–32 °C.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 20,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": "low",
          "official": false,
          "check": "A dab on a strip of baking paper sets glossy and snaps cleanly within about 5 minutes in a cool room.",
          "tips": [
            "Why: the specification wants a glossy, dark brown surface and counts cocoa butter rising to the surface as a fault. Chocolate that has not been tempered sets soft, dull and streaked.",
            "Our guide: if pieces are still whole when it reaches 31 °C–32 °C, lift them out. If it falls below 31 °C, warm it over the water for a few seconds, stirring, never above 32 °C.",
            "If the test stays soft or streaky, stir a few minutes more and test again. Work in a cool room, below about 20 °C."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 13,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-13",
          "title": "Weigh the cakes",
          "text": "Line a board or flat tray with baking paper, set both cakes on it upside down, weigh it all and write the weight down.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Two weights written down: the dough's, from shaping, and this one.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: the specification wants 10–14% of the weight of the dough in chocolate on the cakes. Work out your limits now: a tenth of the dough's weight is the least, 14% the most, and about an eighth is the aim. For 1260 g of dough: at least 126 g, at most 176 g, about 158 g."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 14,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-14",
          "title": "Coat the bases",
          "text": "With the palette knife, spread a thin layer of chocolate over the flat base of each cake, leaving the cakes upside down on the paper.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Each base is covered edge to edge, with no dough showing.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: spread, never pour: poured chocolate runs off, and what runs off is not on the cake."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 15,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-15",
          "title": "Let the bases set",
          "text": "Leave the cakes base-up for about 10 minutes, until the chocolate on the bases has set.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 10,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "The chocolate on the bases has set: firm to a light touch, and no longer wet.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: meanwhile keep the bowl at 31 °C–32 °C: if it falls below, warm it over the water for a few seconds, stirring, never above 32 °C."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 16,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-16",
          "title": "Cover the cakes entirely",
          "text": "Once the maturing is over, cover each cake entirely with the melted extra dark chocolate.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 10,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "No dough shows anywhere; the coat is smooth, even and glossy, and nothing is left running on the paper.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: turn the cakes right way up on the same paper. Spoon chocolate onto the tops and spread it down the sides with the palette knife until no dough shows. Scrape anything that runs onto the paper back up onto the cake while it is still soft."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 17,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-17",
          "title": "Check the coating's weight",
          "text": "Weigh the board with the cakes again. What they have gained is the chocolate on them.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "They have gained at least a tenth of the dough's weight and no more than 14%; about an eighth is right.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: if they are short, spread on more from the bowl, warmed over the water for a few seconds if it has thickened, never above 32 °C, and weigh again. The 180 g allows for what stays in the bowl and on the knife."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 18,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-18",
          "title": "Let the chocolate set",
          "text": "Leave the cakes to cool until the coating has completely set.",
          "kind": "rest",
          "minutes": 60,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "The coat is hard and glossy, and a light touch leaves no mark.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: at least an hour in a cool room, about 15 °C–20 °C; not in the fridge, where damp can mark it."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 19,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-19",
          "title": "Wrap each one",
          "text": "Wrap each cake in at least one sealed protective wrapper of cellophane, aluminium or another food-grade material.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 5,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": true,
          "check": "Each cake is closed on every side, with no gaps.",
          "tips": [
            "Our guide: slide each into a cellophane bag and tie it tight, or wrap it in foil, holding it by the base and as little as possible.",
            "Handled further, the specification says, the coating loses its gloss, can melt, and the cocoa butter rises to the surface."
          ]
        },
        {
          "n": 20,
          "url": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/#step-20",
          "title": "Serve",
          "text": "Unwrap a cake and cut it into 10 wedges with a sharp knife, its blade warmed in hot water and dried.",
          "kind": "active",
          "minutes": 2,
          "celsius": null,
          "heat": null,
          "official": false,
          "check": "Cut, it is brown inside, compact with small holes, with the almonds and candied peel spread through it; the coating and the almonds crunch against the soft dough.",
          "tips": [
            "The specification describes its scent: chocolate first, then the spices, nutmeg and cinnamon above all, the candied peel and the toasted almond."
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "quick": [
    "Toast 140 g of unpeeled almonds at 150 °C for 25 minutes, then turn the oven up to 180 °C; dice 140 g each of candied orange peel and citron.",
    "Dissolve 150 g of sugar in 130 g of water over low heat without letting it colour, and stir it into 100 g of unsweetened cocoa to a dense paste.",
    "Add 400 g of type 0 flour mixed with 8 g of baking powder, 1.3 g of cinnamon and 0.5 g of nutmeg, then the peel and the almonds, and knead for 35–45 minutes, adding up to 80 g more water, to a firm, even dough.",
    "Shape two domes of about 630 g, 14 cm across, with flat bases, and bake at 180 °C for about 55 minutes, until the centre reaches about 95 °C.",
    "Leave them to cool, then keep them in a closed box for 2 days.",
    "Temper 180 g of dark chocolate with at least 54% cocoa and spread it over the cakes, bases first, until they have gained about an eighth of the dough's weight, never less than a tenth.",
    "When the chocolate has set hard, wrap each cake closely in cellophane or foil."
  ],
  "when": {
    "text": "Christmas: in Ferrara it ends the big Christmas lunch, though more and more it is eaten at other times of the year too.",
    "source": {
      "label": "Travel Emilia-Romagna, the regional tourism agency's blog: the pampapato of Ferrara, its recipe and tradition (Italian)",
      "url": "https://www.travelemiliaromagna.it/pampapato-ferrara-ricetta-tradizione/"
    }
  },
  "keeps": {
    "text": "Once the chocolate has set, each cake is closed in a sealed wrapper of cellophane or foil and handled as little as possible: handled further, it loses its gloss, the coating can melt and the cocoa butter rises to the surface.",
    "source": {
      "label": "EU Official Journal C 238 of 21 July 2015: the application to register the PGI, with its single document (EUR-Lex, Italian)",
      "url": "https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/IT/TXT/?uri=CELEX:52015XC0721(01)"
    }
  },
  "variants": [
    {
      "name": "With honey",
      "text": "The specification allows wildflower honey, up to 5% of the dough, in place of part of the sugar. On our reading, the sugar stays at or above 10% of the dough, its own minimum: in this batch, up to about 20 g of honey in place of the same weight of sugar, stirred into the syrup once it is off the heat.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF): the production specification of the PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’ (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/b%252Fe%252F8%252FD.7da76618ed542103a410/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3347/E/pdf?mode=download"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "With hazelnuts",
      "text": "The specification allows toasted hazelnuts as well as the almonds, never instead of them, at 5–8% of the dough. In this batch that is about 70 g, toasted with the almonds, with the water kept to 175 g in all so that the flour stays above 30% of the dough.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF): the production specification of the PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’ (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/b%252Fe%252F8%252FD.7da76618ed542103a410/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3347/E/pdf?mode=download"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "With the orange peel as a paste",
      "text": "The candied orange peel may go in minced very finely to a paste instead of in cubes, as long as the paste is no more than 40% of the candied fruit: here up to 110 g of the 280 g.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF): the production specification of the PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’ (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/b%252Fe%252F8%252FD.7da76618ed542103a410/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3347/E/pdf?mode=download"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "Soaked instead of matured",
      "text": "Instead of maturing for 1 to 4 days, the baked cakes may be dipped in an orange-flavoured alcoholic solution to bring them to the specification's moisture; traces of the soak may remain on them. The specification gives no recipe for the solution.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Ministry of Agriculture (MASAF): the production specification of the PGI ‘Pampapato di Ferrara / Pampepato di Ferrara’ (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.masaf.gov.it/flex/cm/pages/ServeAttachment.php/L/IT/D/b%252Fe%252F8%252FD.7da76618ed542103a410/P/BLOB%3AID%3D3347/E/pdf?mode=download"
      },
      "recipe": null
    },
    {
      "name": "A smaller home batch, with more cocoa and spice",
      "text": "200 g of type 0 flour with 100 g each of toasted unpeeled almonds, coarsely chopped, granulated sugar or honey, cocoa with 22–24% cocoa butter and diced candied orange, lemon and citron peel, 2 g of cinnamon and 2 g of nutmeg or ground cloves, kneaded for 35–45 minutes with water as needed until firm, shaped into small domes, baked at 160 °C for about 1 hour 15 minutes and, once cool, covered with 80 g of dark chocolate melted in a bain-marie. With less candied peel than the specification's minimum, more than twice its most spice and a cooler oven, it falls outside the specification, so it is not PGI pampapato.",
      "source": {
        "label": "Travel Emilia-Romagna, the regional tourism agency's blog: the pampapato of Ferrara, its recipe and tradition (Italian)",
        "url": "https://www.travelemiliaromagna.it/pampapato-ferrara-ricetta-tradizione/"
      },
      "recipe": null
    }
  ],
  "variantOf": [],
  "usedIn": [],
  "mistakes": [
    "Letting the sugar syrup boil until it colours: the specification wants it fully dissolved but never caramelised or brown.",
    "Using blanched almonds: the specification wants sweet almonds, toasted, in their skins.",
    "Adding eggs, milk, butter or oil: the dough has none, only water to bind it.",
    "Spicing it like gingerbread: the specification's spices are only 0.1–0.2% of the dough, here under 2 g in all, with nutmeg and cinnamon always among them.",
    "Adding much more than 210 g of water in all: the flour falls below 30% of the dough, the specification's minimum.",
    "Baking below 180 °C, as some home recipes do: the specification bakes at 180–220 °C.",
    "Coating the cakes straight after baking: the specification matures them for 1 to 4 days first.",
    "Coating them with chocolate that has not been tempered: it sets soft, dull and streaked, not glossy as the specification wants it.",
    "Pouring the chocolate over a rack and losing the drips: the coat can end up under the specification's minimum, a tenth of the dough's weight. Spread it, and weigh the cakes before and after.",
    "Using milk chocolate, or dark chocolate under 54% cocoa, for the coating.",
    "Handling the coated cakes, or leaving them unwrapped: the gloss dulls, the coating can melt and the cocoa butter rises to the surface."
  ],
  "abroad": [
    "Type 0 is an Italian soft-wheat flour: plain flour (all-purpose in the US) is the nearest equivalent.",
    "Candied citron (cedro) is the candied peel of the citron, not of the lemon. Italian delicatessens sell it, and candied orange peel, in large pieces; dice both yourself.",
    "For the cocoa, look on the label for about 22 g–24 g of fat per 100 g: the specification asks for 22–24% cocoa butter.",
    "Buy natural almonds with their brown skins, not blanched ones.",
    "Any baking powder will do: lievito per dolci, the Italian kind, is one.",
    "For the coating, choose a dark chocolate labelled 54% cocoa or more."
  ],
  "image": null,
  "video": null,
  "versions": {
    "page": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara/",
    "markdown": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara.md",
    "json": "https://nonnario.com/recipes/pampapato-di-ferrara.json"
  },
  "cite": "Cite the recipe's page and the month its sources were checked; for the official text itself, cite the document listed under its sources."
}