Panettone
Milan's great Christmas bread: a tall, golden dome of enriched dough scented with orange and vanilla, threaded with raisins and candied peel. It asks for a weekend and gives back a week of breakfasts.
The whole recipe in 60 seconds
Panettone, in 5 ideas
- This is an enriched dough, and enrichment slows everything down. Butter, yolks and sugar make the crumb feathery, but the yeast needs long, patient rises to get there.
- The starter does the heavy lifting. A small preferment built the night before gives the dough its strength, its sour hint, and its keeping power.
- Fruit goes in late, and soaked. Raisins plumped in warm water or rum, added after the dough is strong, stay suspended instead of tearing the crumb.
- The paper mold is not packaging. It supports the tall rise in the oven and keeps the sides tender; the baked loaf cools right in it.
- Hang it upside down or lose the dome. The crumb is so soft that cooling right side up lets the loaf settle and compress. Skewered and inverted, it stays tall and airy.
What you need
Ingredients
- 4 cups bread flour, divided
- 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast, divided
- 3/4 cup warm milk, divided
- 6 egg yolks
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, soft
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Zest of 1 orange and 1 lemon
- 1 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup raisins, soaked and drained
- 1/2 cup candied orange peel, diced
How to make it
Method
The night before, make the starter: whisk 1 cup of the flour, 1 tsp of the yeast and 1/2 cup of the warm milk into a thick batter. Cover and leave at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours, until bubbly and domed.
Add to the starter: the remaining flour, yeast and milk, the yolks, eggs, sugar and honey. Mix to a rough dough, rest 20 minutes, then knead for 8 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Knead in the soft butter a spoonful at a time, then the vanilla, zests and salt, and knead 5 minutes more, until the dough is glossy and pulls thin without tearing. Cover and rise in a warm place for 2 to 3 hours, until doubled.
Stretch the dough into a rectangle on a floured counter and scatter over the raisins and peel. Roll up and knead gently for 1 minute to distribute the fruit evenly. Rest 20 minutes.
Shape into a tight ball and place seam side down in a panettone paper mold (about 6 inches wide) or a parchment-lined deep cake pan. Cover and rise in a warm spot for 3 to 4 hours, until the dough reaches the rim of the mold. This rise cannot be rushed; a cold kitchen may take longer.
Heat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Cut a shallow cross in the top and lay a small knob of butter in the center. Bake for 20 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F (175°C) and bake 25 to 30 minutes more, until deep golden and an inserted thermometer reads 190°F (88°C). Tent with foil if it browns too fast.
Push two long skewers through the base of the mold, then hang the panettone upside down between two pots or chairs. Cool completely, at least 4 hours or overnight, before unmolding and slicing with a serrated knife.
No paper mold, no problem: use a deep 7 inch cake pan lined with a tall collar of parchment that stands 3 inches above the rim, and hang the loaf the same way.