Panettone

Last Updated on August 10, 2024

Traditional Italian Christmas dessert. This sweet bread is one of the most popular Christmas desserts in Italy. Right behind it, the sweet bread Pandoro has gained great popularity.

Ingredients:

650 g of wholemeal flour 200 g of vegetable fat 150 g candied fruit 150 g caster sugar 150 g raisins 50 g raisins 250 ml milk 4 pcs yolks 2 pcs egg 1 pcs egg for rubbing 1 tsp salt grease pencil for blotting parchment paper speck of grated nutmeg peel of 1 lemon form 12 cm high by 16 cm in diameter parchment paper

Procedure:

Mix the yeast with a teaspoon of sugar and half of the lukewarm milk, mix well, add 2 more tablespoons of flour and whisk everything together, leave the sourdough starter in a warm place to rise.

Mix the sifted flour with the egg yolks, eggs, nutmeg, lemon zest, salt, raisins and finely chopped candied fruit, add the risen sourdough, work briefly and finally pour in the melted vegetable fat.

Thoroughly work the dough and leave it in a warm place for about 30 minutes to rise.

Then lightly work the dough and form it into a loaf.

Lay out the mould with parchment paper, grease it, put the loaf in it and leave it to rise for another 30 minutes or so.

Before baking, cut the surface of the panettone into a cross and brush with beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 190-200 °C and bake the pastry first for about 15-20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160-170 °C and bake for about 35-45 minutes.

After baking, leave the panettone in the tin to cool for about 30 minutes, then turn it out, preferably onto a wire rack (so that it cools underneath) and remove the parchment paper once it has cooled completely.

Recommendation:

A pot of the same size and width can be used instead of the original panettone mould, but it must not have plastic handles! It’s funny to replace the mould with a clay pot.

And if you don’t dare to make this recipe, it doesn’t matter, you can buy already finished Panettone here, for example: Panettone – Italian Christmas cake.

Note:

Live yeasts need a warm and liquid environment (lukewarm milk) and also a nutrient medium (sugar and flour) to multiply properly, and proper leavening also requires enough air, so we need to whisk the leaven sufficiently during preparation and then let it rise in a warm place.