“If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.”
Robert Browning
The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!
So how was the Panettone born? A beautiful bread with a romantic tale. Traditionally it is eaten by the Milanese but now it is available all through Italy and in many parts of the world. There are many stories and legends of the Panettone. The one recounted by Carol Field, whose recipe we use today, is that of a rich young Milanese noble who fell in love with the daughter of a poor baker whose name was Tony (Antonio).
The nobleman wanted to marry the baker’s daughter so he ensured the baker had at his disposal the very best ingredients – eggs, butter, flour, candied orange peel, citron and sultanas. The baker created a wonderful bread which became known as pan di Tonio (Tony’s bread). The baker found his fame and fortune and the nobleman honorably married the baker’s daughter.
Do stop by here and check out some the beautiful Panettone that the Daring Bakers have baked. Thank you Marcella for sharing the beautiful story and recipe with us. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!!
[print_this]Recipe: Traditional Panettone 
Summary: A delicious sweet Italian bread like cake studded with fruit, nuts and candied peel. The Panettone originates from Milan, and is traditionally made around Christmas. Panettone recipe slightly adapted from The Italian Baker by Carol Field. Makes 2 Panettone {I made half recipe} Candied Orange Peel from Use Real Butter
Prep Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours {plus resting and cooling time}
Ingredients:
- Sponge
- 1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
- 1/3 cup (80 ml) warm water
- ½ cup (70 gm) unbleached all purpose flour
- First Dough
- 1 satchel (2¼ teaspoons) (7 gm) active dry yeast
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) warm water
- 2 large eggs, at room temp
- 1¼ cup (175 gm) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour
- ¼ cup (55 gm) (2 oz) sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick) (115 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
- Second dough
- 2 large eggs
- 3 large egg yolks
- 2/3 cup (150 gm) (5-2/3 oz) sugar
- 3 tablespoons (45 ml) honey
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract {I used 1 vanilla bean in half recipe}
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) lemon essence/extract
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) orange essence/extract
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) (6 gm) salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) (225 gm) unsalted butter, at room temp
- 3 cups (420 gm) (15 oz) unbleached all-purpose (plain) flour; plus up to (2/3 cup) 100 gm for kneading
- Filling and final dough
- 1½ cups (250 gm) (9 oz) golden raisins or golden sultanas
- ½ cup (75 gm) (2-2/3 oz) candied citron {I didn’t have this so I made it up with candied orange peel}
- ½ cup (75 gm) (2-2/3 oz) candied orange peel
- Grated zest of 1 orange
- Grated zest of 1 lemon
- 2 to 3 tablespoons (30-45 ml) (15-25 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour
- Note: I used about 3 cups of fruit & nut filling from my Christmas Garam Masala Fruit Cake
- Candied Orange peel recipe
Method:
- Sponge
- Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy. That’s about 10 minutes or so.
- Mix in the flour.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for about 20 to 30 minutes
- TM: I just placed everything in the Thermomix Speed 5, 10 seconds.
- First Dough By Mixer
- In the mixer bowl, mix together the yeast and water and allow to stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so.
- With the paddle attached mix in the sponge, eggs, flour, and sugar.
- Add in the butter and mix for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and even.
- Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours
- Second Dough By Mixer
- With the paddle mix in thoroughly the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey, scraped vanilla bean, essences/extracts, and salt.
- Mix in the butter until smooth.
- Add the flour and slowly incorporate.
- At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough.
- Replace the paddle with the dough hook and knead for about 2 minutes.
- Turn out the dough and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape.
- Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup. Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product. {I didn’t add any extra flour}
- First Rise
- Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover
- Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for 2-4 hours until it has tripled in size.
- Filling and Final Rise
- Soak the raisin/sultanas in water 30 minutes before the end of the first rise. {I used about 3 cups of fruit & nut filling from my Christmas Garam Masala Fruit Cake}
- Drain and pat dry with paper towels.
- Now take your dough and cut it in half. Remember we are making two panettoni.
- Combine all your filling ingredients and mix well.
- Press out one portion of dough into an oval shape.
- Sprinkle over one quarter of the filling and roll up the dough into a log
- Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over another quarter of the filling.
- Roll into a log shape again.
- Repeat with the second portion of dough.
- Shape each into a ball and slip into your prepared pans, panettone papers or homemade panettone papers.
- Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to double in size. If it has been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about 2 hours.
- Baking
- When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 200°C
- Just before baking carefully {don’t deflate it!} cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob {a nut} of butter.
- Place your panettoni in the oven and bake for 10 minutes
- Reduce the heat to moderate 180°C and bake for another 10 minutes
- Reduce the heat again to moderate 160°C and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean.
- Cool completely.
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Before I go, I am happy to announce the winner for the giveaway of the beautiful retro scale and worktop saver from Zansaar. Put your hands together for Kajal @ For the Love of Food. Congratulations Kajal … will mail you soon! BTW, your blog is beautiful!
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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India
wow..Now I see what a pannetone is. Such a rich bread.. lovely pictures.
Loving that wreath , those scalloped parchment borders and everything that you do with your pictures. Magical. 🙂
I love how you have subtly added an xmas flavour to all your pics. Absolutely lovely.
vewry well done! Your panettoni look amazing and really tempting.
Happy Holidyas, dear.
Cheers,
Rosa
Awesome job! I love how you dressed them all up, they look spectacular!
they all look pretty, great picture!
thanks
I love seeing miniature versions of a recipe.. panetonne looks soo festive..with the fruit and the way you’ve dressed them up!!!! its a terrible end to the year with the events in delhi.. lets look with hope to 2013!! happy holidays and happy new year!!
Your photographs are beautiful, as usual. Love the idea of dressing up the breads with decorated parchment. Hope 2013 brings you all good things. Happy New Year.
Awesome,
wow! your photography is absolutely beautiful, as is your styling! i love how elegant your panettone is! wonderful!
How beautiful is this!
Deeba,
Lovely post and a gorgeous panettone ….my colleague had brought one to office a week back and that was my first taste of this lovely Italian bread. I wish I had seen the Daring Bakers challenge earlier, wouldnt have definitely given it a try.
Pics are stunning as always!
(hope Mr.PAB is doing well now and enjoyed your Panettones too 🙂 )
Regards,
Manju
http://manjuseatingdelights.blogspot.com/
Your pictures are breath taking as always Deeba 🙂
I love how you dressed up the parchment and I love the idea of the mini cupcake ones. If I ever make panettone again (I think there is a very good chance I might) I will try the cup cakes
I hope Mr PAB is doing better
Wishing you a wonderful and blessed new year
Girl, you made panettone?
Your kitchen must have smelled like heaven!
You bet it did. Happy Holidays Colette!
Happy holidays, love!
Love panettone! Ans these look delicious!!
Oh…… WOW. Those are seriously beautiful, The prettiest panettone I’ve seen so far. Well done!! I love the glaze on top and the frilly little papers you made. I’m Pinning this for inspiration next Christmas!!
Deeba, your Panettoni are beautiful as all your food always is! I’m so glad you could complete the challenge! My warmest wishes to you for the New Year.
Mamma mia !!!!
Awesome !! Candied fruits are beautiful and they change a lot from traditional Panettone.
Well done, I’m sure they tasted great !
WOW – so impressive. I love the papers you used, too, that you threaded the ribbon through – beautiful! As always, amazing job on the challenge.
The pictures tell a thousand story…I can imagine how this panettone would have tasted…
They look gorgeous Deeba! and love how you’ve dressed them up – so festive! 🙂 Hope Mr PAB is better now!
and thanks for the giveaway Deeba! am super thrilled! this is my first and i’m so glad it came from you! Hugs!
Oh my god Deeba everytime I look at your page I just stare at with awe. This cake looks delish. I ate panettone for the first time this here. Every shop in Australia sells it and it was delicious. I hope one day I can bake this and also take part in the daring bakers challenge too 🙂 Although I might not do justice to it as you do 🙂
I have neber had panettone before but it surely looks so good! i started out with love-hate relationship with baking but over a year or so, I feel pretty therapeutic and every ingredient, every minute actually is soo worth the final product. your photographs are perfect as usual 🙂 hope Mr. PAB is feeling better now. Happy Holidays 🙂
Sorry to hear about Mr PAB’s fever- hope he is better, or well enough to gobble up those delicious panettone. They are really pretty, Deeba, you did an excellent job with the challenge!
A beautiful bread and such a holiday classic!
Everytime I visit your blog I admire the way you add love in your recipes. So detailed work…Wonderful looking bread.
Hope Mr. PAb is doing good now.
Oh wonderful perfect Panettone. I really enjoyed your photography, especially the first photo.
Sometimes its really difficult to find molds in India. when I try to explain the vendor what I want, they won’t understand and if I show them the picture they bring me something else which isn’t what I am looking for. Somebody should start a specialized baking store in the cities (and goa!).
I wish you a Happy New Year Deeba! =D
I did panettone when I hosted ‘fresh from the oven’ last Christmas – I didn’t realise Daring Bakers hadn’t done it yet? I think I’ve dropped out of their program and I’ll have to reapply if I want to join in again…
I absolutely LOVE your pretty paper wrappers in the tins! Beautiful pictures and I hope you had a wonderful Christmas with your family xx
Your pictures are the essence of festivity. I LOVE the papers you made and will definitely keep the idea for next year.
So many beautiful photos! And the homemade candied peel looks delicious – not to mention the panettoni themselves. I love the ribbon threaded through the wrappers – so clever!