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Panettone

Panettone

Panettone - a traditional Italian Christmas cake.

Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Author Recipe adapted from AlterKitchen and Menta e Cioccolato

Ingredients

First dough, 6 AM

  • 13 gms – 0.5 oz. water
  • 2 gms – 0.07 oz. fresh brewer's yeast
  • A pinch sugar
  • 20 gms – 0.7 oz. high protein flour

Second dough, 7 AM

  • Previous dough
  • 7 gms – 0.25 oz. egg yolk
  • 18 gms – 0.6 oz. water
  • 37 gms – 1.3 oz. high protein flour
  • 3 gms – 0.1 oz. sugar

Third dough, 8:30 AM

  • Previous dough
  • 33 gms – 1.15 oz. water
  • 7 gms – 0.25 oz. egg yolk
  • 67 gms – 2.35 oz. high protein flour
  • 2 gms – 0.07 oz. fresh brewer's yeast
  • 3 gms – 0.1 oz. sugar

Fourth dough, 12 noon

  • Previous dough
  • 333 gms – 11.75 oz. high protein flour
  • 33 gms – 1.15 oz. egg yolks
  • 180 gms – 6.35 oz. whole eggs
  • 113 gms – 4 oz. sugar
  • 100 gms – 3.5 oz. unsalted butter softened
  • 2 gms – 0.07 oz. Panettone essence or lemon + orange essences
  • 1/3 vanilla bean
  • 5 gms – 0.18 oz. salt
  • 167 gms – 5.9 oz. raisins soaked in warm water and dried very well
  • 67 gms – 2.35 oz. candied orange peel finely chopped
  • 33 gms – 1.15 oz. candied citron peel finely chopped

Instructions

First dough, 6 AM

  1. Warm up the water, add the sugar and dissolve the yeast in it. Make sure the water is not too hot or the yeast will not work. Add this mixture to the flour and knead well with your hands. Make the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl covered with cling wrap and keep it in a warm place to rise until doubled ( this will take approximately 1 hour).

Second dough, 7 AM

  1. Knead all the ingredients together with your hands. Make the dough into a ball, put it in a bowl covered with cling wrap and keep it in a warm place to rise until doubled (this will take approximately 1 hour).

Third dough, 8:30 AM

  1. Put all the ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and knead well. Make the dough into a ball and re-put it in the bowl. Cover it with cling wrap and keep it in a warm place to rise for 2 hours.

Fourth dough, 12 noon

  1. Add the whole eggs, the egg yolks, half the sugar and flour (but reserve 3 tablespoons) to the bowl with the previous dough (the one of 8:30AM). Knead well with the paddle attachment for a few minutes until your dough looks smooth.
  2. Now add the remaining sugar and essences and keep kneading to string up the dough.
  3. Dry the soaked raisins well with a paper towel and scrape the seeds of the vanilla bean (I followed Giulia’s suggestion and I rubbed them on the butter… so I did not waste any!).
  4. Divide the butter in 3 pieces and add it (one piece at a time) to the dough, alternating it with a tablespoon of flour at a time. Add the second and third piece/tbsp. only after the previous ones have been well incorporated in the dough.
  5. Add the salt and continue kneading with the paddle attachment until your dough becomes very smooth and elastic. You will know it is ready when it starches around the paddle attachment, like a mozzarella string stretching out of a pizza!
  6. Now add the chopped candied fruit and dried raisins and knead everything together.
  7. Make a ball with the dough and put it to rest, covered, on a lightly floured surface for 30 to 40 minutes.
  8. Now you are ready to put the dough into the cardboard mold. To do this, first place the mold onto a baking sheet (so you don’t need to move it after the panettone has risen – you don’t want to risk that it deflates!), and then you will need to do what is known as pirlatura, which basically means shaping the dough into a ball. You do this by putting your hands with your palms facing each other as if you're about to clap on the sides of the ball. Then move your hands forward and backward to try and round up the dough. Make sure your hands are well greased with melted butter as the dough is a bit sticky! It is much easier than it sounds. Click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGjLNfQREdg to see a video on how to do the pirlatura.
  9. Put the rounded dough into the mold, cover it with cling wrap and put the dough to rise until it reaches the edge (or it is just below – it will keep rising while baking). This will take at least 5 hours, depending on the temperature, yeast and other factors. I kept mine to rise for about 8 hours (I put it in the mold at around 1 PM and baked it at about 9 PM), but I could have kept it a bit longer too!

9 PM

  1. Take the cling wrap off so that the top dries out a bit and pre heat the to 175°C – 347°F.
  2. Take a sharp knife and grease it with butter to make the cut at the top. You have 2 options: make a cross shaped cut and put some butter in the cuts; or make the cross shaped cut, then, using a very sharp knife, “peel” the “ears” backwards, brush the inside with melted butter and reposition the ears on the top. Here are two videos on how it’s done – click here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmCnv4J-zpg and here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJP4mT48Xog.
  3. Bake the panettone for 50 minutes, covering the top with aluminum foil if it is getting too brown. Make sure to check if the panettone is fully cooked by inserting a thin wooden skewer in the middle (if it comes out dry and clean, it is ready). But do not over bake it or it will dry out (I kept mine for a few minutes more and I wished I hadn’t – remember it will keep cooking even after you take it out of the oven)!
  4. When ready, you’ll need to let it cool upside down (so that it does not deflate). I inserted 2 long skewers from side to side (or you can use knitting needles) at approximately 2 cm – 1 inch from the bottom and I hung it between 2 chairs. Let it cool down like this overnight.
  5. To store it, wrap it in a plastic bag (I used the bag of a store bought panettone that I had kept) until you eat it, so it will remain soft. It is best eaten after 3 or 4 days.

Recipe Notes

1. Flour – The original recipe calls for a very strong flour (that we call Manitoba in Italy as it is made from Canadian wheat). I was unable to find it in Sydney! I did some research and apparently, the higher the protein level, the stronger the flour. I looked everywhere for a flour with a protein level of 14% or 15% (like the Manitoba flour), but found nothing. The only thing I found was an Italian bread flour (yes… straight from Italy!), that had a content of 12.6%… and I had to settle for that! The other varieties of bread flour I saw here only had an 11.5% proteins! A bit disappointing… 2. I let the dough rise in my oven. I keep the oven off, but turn the light on… this is enough to warm it up just enough to help the dough rising. 3. Use a VERY sharp knife to make the cross shaped cut on the top, it will make it much easier and cleaner. 4. Making panettone is not hard, but it takes time (the whole day!) and you need to be precise in measuring the ingredients… you do need a digital scale! 5. I got the paper molds from Italy… but I am quite sure you should be able to get them online too. Or you could substitute them with a high round tin. 6. For all Sydneysiders… I got my fresh brewer’s yeast in Haberfield at Zanetti’s.