Wishing you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2013 !
Panettone is a type of sweet bread loaf originally from
Milan (in Milanese it is called "paneton" Milanese dialect usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas
and New Year in Italy, southeastern France, Brazil, Peru, Malta, Germany and
Switzerland, and is one of the symbols of the city of Milan. In South America,
especially in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Colombia, Peru and Chile,
it is a Christmas dinner staple and in some places replaces roscón de
reyes/bolo rei (King cake).
Folk legends abound about how Panettone became associated
with Christmas. Some say the sweet Milanese bread was developed in the 1400's
by the Duke's falconer and his love Adalgisa, a poor baker's daughter. Working
in secret at night, the two created a rich bread that revived the bakery's
business. At Christmas, they added dried fruit and citron, a resounding success
that made the baker wealthy, and allowed the couple to marry. A less romantic
possibility is that as a "Pane di Tono" or luxury bread, the lofty
loaf with it's expensive ingredients, and long proofing and preparation time it
was reserved for Christmas.
As with all ancient
recipes, several legends circulate about how one came into being. The most
popular are the romantic versions. How typical of the Italians to meld together
romance and food. Today, the bread is produced and shipped throughout the
world. It is always given away as gifts and graces the tables of all Italians
at Christmas.
I had made the panettone right in time for the Daring baker,
but was very busy after that did not have time to come up with the post. So I am posting this delayed. Even though the whole process is time
consuming and takes a whole day, it’s worth the time spent.
When I visited Italy I eat lot of Panettone, but still
wanted to do this for Daring baker. The
satisfaction of doing your own Panettone cannot be explained in words, it needs
to be experienced.
This is my first post for new year 2013 and I wanted to
start the year with a sweet bread which is rich in history and taste.
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!
Panettone
Makes 2 Panettone
I halved the recipe and made 12 mini Panettone with 6 Panettone glazed and 6 Panettone without
Glazing.
Ingredients :
Sponge:
Active dry yeast - 1 sachet (2¼ tsp) (7 gm)
Warm water - 1/3 cup (80 ml)
All purpose flour - ½ cup (70 gm)
First Dough:
Active dry yeast - 1 sachet (2¼ tsp) (7 gm)
Warm water - 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Eggs - 2 large, at room temp
All-purpose - 1¼ cup (175 gm)
Sugar - 1¼ cup (175 gm)
Unsalted butter, at room temp - ½ cup (1 stick) (115 gm)
Second dough:
Eggs - 2 large
Egg yolks - 3 large
Sugar - 2/3 cup (150 gm)
Honey - 3 tbsp (45 ml)
Vanilla extract - 1 tbsp (15 ml)
Lemon essence/extract - 1 tsp (5 ml)
Orange essence/extract- 1 tsp (5 ml)
Salt - 1 tsp (5 ml) (6 gm)
Unsalted butter - 1 cup (2 sticks) (225 gm) at room temp
All-purpose flour - 3 cups (420 gm) plus up to (2/3 cup) 100
gm for kneading
Filling and final dough:
Golden raisins or golden sultanas - 1½ cups (250 gm)
Candied citron - ½ cup (75 gm)
Candied orange peel - ½ cup (75 gm)
Grated zest of 1 orange
Grated zest of 1 lemon
All-purpose flour - 2 to 3 tbsp
Method:
Sponge
1. Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to
stand until creamy. That’s about 10 minutes or so
2. Mix in the flour.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for
about 20 to 30 minutes.
First Dough:
1. Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl and allow to
stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so
2. Mix in the sponge and beat well with a wooden spoon
3. Stir in the eggs, flour and sugar.
4. Mix in the butter well
5. This should only take about 5 – 6 minutes
6. Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1
– 1 ¼ hours
Second dough:
1. Be sure to have your dough in a large bowl as above.
2.With a wooden spoon mix in eggs, egg yolk, sugar, honey,
vanilla, essences/extracts and salt.
3.Mix in the butter.
4. Then add the flour. Stir until smooth.
5. At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like
cookie dough.
6. Turn it out 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 (100 gm). Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished
product.
First Rise:
1. Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover
with plastic wrap.
2. Now we need to let it rise until it has tripled in size.
There are two ways to go about this.
3. Rise in a warm place for 2 – 4 hours Or find a cool spot
(64°F -68°F) (18°C – 20°C) and rise overnight Or rise for 2 hours on your
kitchen bench then slow the rise down and place in the refrigerator overnight.
If you do this it will take some time to wake up the next morning but I
preferred this method.
Filling and Final Rise:
1. Soak the raisin/sultanas in water 30 minutes before the
end of the first rise. Drain and pat dry with paper towels.
2. Now take your dough and cut it in half. Remember we are
making two panettone.
3. Combine all your filling ingredients and mix well.
4. Press out one portion of dough into an oval shape.
5. Sprinkle over one quarter of the filling and roll up the
dough into a log.
6. Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over
another quarter of the filling.
7. Roll into a log shape again.
8. Repeat with the second portion of dough.
9. Shape each into a ball and slip into your prepared pans,
panettone papers or homemade panettone papers.
10. Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to
double in size.
11. Rising time will vary according to method of first rise.
If it has been in the refrigerator it could take 4 hours or more. If it has
been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about
2 hours.
Baking:
1. When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left
to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 400°
F/200°C/gas mark 6 and adjust your oven racks
2. Just before baking
carefully (don’t deflate it!) cut the X into the dough again and place in a
knob (a nut) of butter.
3. Place your panettone
in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to moderate 350°F and bake for another 10
minutes.
5. Reduce the heat again to moderate 325°F and bake for 30
minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the
panettone comes out clean.
6. Cooling your panettone is also important. If you have use
papers (commercial or homemade) lie your panettone on their side cushioned with
rolled up towels. Turn gently as they cool. If you have used pans cool in the
pans for 30 minutes then remove and cushion with towels as above.
7. Panettone can also be cooled suspended. How to do this?
Firstly you need to use papers (commercial or homemade), insert clean knitting
needles into the bottom of the panettone in a X shape. Flip over and support
the knitting needles on the edges of a large saucepan with the panettone
suspended within the saucepan.
8. For Small Panettone it took 20 to 22 minutes altogether
first 10 minutes in 350°F and after that 12 minutes in 325°F. If you check
inside the internal temperature it has to be 185F.
For the Glaze :
If you are not glazing follow the above procedure with the x
mark with blob of butter. Otherwise
follow this procedure with glazing.
This measurement is for 6 mini Panettone
Vanilla sugar - 25 g
Ground almonds - 1.5 g
Vegetable oil - 2 g
Corn flour - 2 g
Cocoa powder - 2 g
Egg whites - 15 g
Method :
To mix the glaze, whisk all ingredients together. Brush the
glaze evenly onto the top of the Panettone.
Sift powdered sugar over the
tops, then sprinkle with pearl sugar and a few whole blanched almonds. Then
Bake as said above.
