Yellow Bread with Oranges or “Pangiallo” is an ancient Italian sweet that in its simplicity has many different versions. Some say the name came from a thin layer of pasta that was yellow in color because of saffron that people wrapped around the sweet. I think it probably gets its yellow bread name because the dried fruit on top is this color when coming out of the oven.
Yellow Bread is a typical Italian Christmas sweet made of nuts and citrus fruits. Some of the recipes have a very hard crust, but I love the following that is soft and light.
Ingredients for two loaves:
50 gm. hazelnuts
50 gm. almonds
50 gm. walnuts
30 gm. pine nuts
150 gm. dark chocolate
50 gm. whole wheat flour
100 gm. raisins
100 gm. unrefined sugar
1 grated orange peel
Preparation:
Put the raisins in warm water for 30 minutes. Then drain and set apart. In the meantime, cut all of the dried fruit into large pieces. Mix with the raisins.
Heat 1/4 glass of water and add the sugar. After a few minutes, add the orange peel that has been cut into small pieces. Add this syrup to the dried fruit and mix well.
Grate finely the chocolate and heat in a double boiler. Then add the dried fruit mixture. Slowly add the flour while continuing to mix. Put some flour on your hands, make two bread loaves, and put them on an oven pan leaving space between them. Wait one hour and then put them in a heated oven of 160°C (320°F) for 25 minutes. When taking them out of the oven, remake the borders of the loaves while they are still hot. They can be eaten the next day.
