Cake for Christmas or just something for tea? Check out this Panettone recipe that will make any day a holiday wannabe!

Panettone in an Italian tall, sweet bread, enriched with dried fruit and sometimes chocolate. The main characteristic of the bread is its distinctive tall shape that builds upon its predecessor, the also Italian Pandoro.

Fun fact that Pandoro or rather “pan do oro” which literally means “golden bread” got its name from its stellar price, due to the rarity of its ingredients such as refined white flour, sugar or honey, and butter.

Because of their rarity, such luxuries were reserved for the nobility, similarly to gout, obesity, and other gastrointestinal problems that large part of the modern society is affected by today.

Unfortunately, tempting as it is to stuff ourselves with refined, sweetened fat filled food all day long, our body is not really prepared to handle them on a daily basis and we should treat them as they are, luxuries reserved for special occasions only, like Christmas.

Panettone is an old cake that’s history reaches back to the times of Roman Empire, but its tall form factor is the result of modern industrialized food production that started at the beginning of the 20^th century Milan, Italy.

Generally, when something goes into mass production, it gets simplified, Panettone on the other hand made more complicated by increasing the number of raisings (necessary before baking) to three.

The extra 20 hours, that’s required to make the cake tall with a dome shape on top, is what also gave the cake its special fluffy body.

Although Panettone stepped out of the glamorous world of noble culinary rarities into the industrialized food production, due to the price of the ingredients, production times and two World Wars, it needed almost a half century to get its price down to an affordable level where everybody could get one at least for Christmas.

Nowadays Panettone can be obtained all year around in many countries, but production still switches into higher gears around Christmas. In many shops seeing strategically placed Panettone is the definite sign of the proximity of holiday season.

Thanks to the low cost of acquiring a Panettone and the fairly high initial cost, hassle and learning curve of making one at home doesn’t make it the favorite choice of all the newbie bakers. Although, if we want to skip on sugar, other sweeteners, and preservatives, we have no choice but to plunge into the world of intricate procedures and excruciating raising times.

There are some crucial kitchen gears, that lack of, will prohibit us to achieve perfection, no matter how many times we let the dough raise or how long or what temperature we set it.

A special high walled Panettone spring-form will sure come handy if we are after that tall shape that makes Panettone what it is. Lack of that, we can use oven safe mugs to create a collection of individual mini panettones or now popular, overpriced paper mold.

The most important part, apart from the raising, is the hanging of the Panettone after the baking is done.

Without suspending the Panettone upside down by its base, the bread structure collapses and becomes dense, which makes a tasty dense bread but not Panettone. There are special tools to get this crucial job done but if we have two chopsticks lying around, our Panettone is saved from shame and suffering, we must endure while tearfully eating it alone in the kitchen.

Armed with these special bits of knowledge, we shouldn’t have much problem creating our own version of this much beloved Italian treat. The only thing, we have to watch out for -apart from, of course the temperature and raising times when baking with yeast – is to reserve our enthusiasm to special occasions when it comes to gobbling up cakes.

Ingredients

Starter

¾ cup / 100g Plain flour
½ cup / 100g Water
¼ teaspoon / 1g Fresh yeast

Dough

1 teaspoon / 5g Fresh yeast
2¼ cup / 260g Plain white flour
2 medium / 100g Eggs
4 tablespoons / 60g Butter
1 teaspoon /5g Vanilla extract
½ teaspoon / 2.5g Orange oil – flavoring
1¼ teaspoon / 7.5g Salt
3 tablespoons / 60g Honey
2 tablespoons / 30g Orange zest
¼ cup / 75g Water
½ cup / 80g Raisins
½ cup / 65g Dried apricots
½ cup / 80g Prunes
Optional dried fruits
- ½ cup /60g Dried cranberries
- ½ cup / 80 Dried pineapples

How to make Panettone

Starter

Combine flour, water and the yeast in an airtight container and put it into the fridge for at least 8 – 12 hours. It will double in size so choose a big enough box.

Dough

Knead starter, flour, eggs, butter, vanilla extract, orange flavoring, salt and honey together. No need to do it in batches, except if we want to work the dough by hand. Depending on the flour’s water content add during kneading if necessary.
It will take about 15 minutes of kneading with a machine until we get a smooth and elastic dough.
Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 60 – 90 minutes.
Get the dried fruit ready by chopping them to the same size.
Stretch the dough out on a mildly floured work surface. No need to be perfect. If we don’t like folding, we can simply knead into the fruit too.
Sprinkle half of the dried fruit onto the dough then lightly press them in.
Close the dough up by folding one third of the dough in then the remaining third on top.
Roll the dough out again.
Sprinkle the other half of the dried fruits onto the dough then lightly press them in.
Close the dough up by folding one third of the dough in then the remaining third on top again.
Fold them again into thirds or into a size that will fit into the Panettone pan.
Place the dough into the Panettone pan. Or any straight-sided oven proof dish. Cups work too but use parchment paper for easier extraction.
Cover the dough then place it into a 68°F – 81°F /20°C – 27°C corner to raise for 60 minutes. Don’t let it raise too much. When the dough side reaches the rim of the pan, the Panettone is ready to be baked. The small ones in cups may be just too much.
Place the Panettone into a 390°F / 200°C preheated oven for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°F/190°C then bake for additional 10 minutes. Reduce heat again to 350°F / 180°C and bake for 25 – 35 minutes. Since its a tall bread, the top may start to get brown earlier than it should. Using aluminium foil to cover the crust may will be necessary. Panettone should be ready when its internal temperature registers 195°F / 90°C which should happen when the crust is deep golden brown and gives a hollow sound when tapped. Sure, smaller size things will be done much quicker. The Panettone in the other cup has not survived the extraction process.
Although it seems ready to be sliced and served, Panettone needs one more crucial step for perfection. Panettone needs to be cooled by hung upside down. There are some special equipments used for this but we can solve it just fine with two sturdy enough sticks like chopsticks. Remove Panettone from the Panettone pan and drive through two sticks at its bottom. Smaller Panettones don’t need so sturdy ones.
Hang them upside down, either by using the same spring form they were baked in or using any other taller-than-Panettone means available.