Italy's answer to Christmas cake, but times 10.
At Christmas time, the shops in Italy are filled with panettone in wonderful boxes with silk ribbons.
The cake is light as clouds with thin layers of dough, flavored with citrus, chocolate, pistachio or liqueurs. Do Sicilians bake panettone themselves? No. It is far too complicated and takes too long. It's a bit surprising, because if you like to bake yeast cakes and don't let yourself be intimidated by long processes, then it's perfectly fine to bake yourself. It's a bit like baking sourdough bread. Don't be tempted to take any shortcuts. The baking should rise to 3 and 4 times its own size, and needs the time written here. The cake is so airy and light that it must be cooled upside down, otherwise it will collapse. So follow the trick with barbecue sticks and find a place where they can hang. For example between two chair backs.
Size form • 15 cm (2 pcs)
Ingredients
raw materials in total / shopping list
20g |
Yeast, fresh (or 6 g dry yeast) |
550 g |
Tippo 00 wheat flour (regular wheat flour will be too heavy) |
150g |
Sugar |
290 g |
Water |
300 g |
Dairy butter |
80g |
Melis |
4 pcs |
Egg yolks, large |
1 pc |
Big Egg |
7 g |
Flakalt |
1 pc |
Vanilla bean, use seeds only |
2 pcs |
Organic oranges, finely grated peel only |
200g |
Candied fruit, dark raisins or other dried fruit |
100g |
Bright Raisins |
1 ts |
Dark Space |
1 Egg and 2 tbsp milk |
|
Icing powder for serving |
|
How to
STEP 1
- 20 g fresh yeast or 6 g dry yeast (approx. 1 tablespoon)
- 70 g wheat flour, tipo 00
- 15 g sugar
- 50 g water
Put the ingredients in a baking bowl and stir until well mixed. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled in size, 30–60 min.
STEP 2
- 100 g wheat flour, type 00
- 30 g sugar
- 60 g water
- 25 g room temperature dairy butter
Add all the ingredients to the well risen dough, and knead together with Wilfa Probaker in approx. 5 min. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled in size, 30–60 min.
STEP 3
- 125 g wheat flour, type 00
- 50 g sugar
- 60 g water
- 30 g room temperature dairy butter
Add all the ingredients to the well risen dough, and knead together with Wilfa Probaker in approx. 5 min. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubled in size, 30–60 min.
STEP 4
- 200 g cold butter
- 80 g powdered sugar
Cut the butter into small cubes and mix with the icing sugar in a bowl. Cover the bowl and set aside at room temperature.
STEP 5
- 250 g wheat flour, type 00
- 60 g sugar
- 60 g water
- 40 g room temperature dairy butter
- 4 egg yolks
- 1 egg
- 7 g flake salt
Add all the ingredients to the well risen dough and knead together with Wilfa Probaker approx. 5 minutes. Knead in little by little the butter and icing sugar. When all the butter has been kneaded in, increase the speed to medium and knead for 5-10 minutes until the dough is shiny and comes away from the bowl. Go straight to step 6.
STEP 6
- The outer peel of 2 organic oranges, finely grated
- Seeds from 1 vanilla pod
- 200 g mixed dried fruit, e.g. candied fruit or homemade candied orange peel
- 100 g light raisins
- 1 tsp dark rum
- Add the ingredients to the dough and knead together on low speed with The with the Wilfa Probaker. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured kitchen counter, and stretch it a few times like a sourdough.
- Place the dough over the the baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest for 45 minutes.
- Turn the dough back onto the floured surface and fold the dough in 3 like an envelope.
- The first board goes ⅔ across, and the last part goes on top of the first. Sprinkle lightly with flour, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into two parts and form them into 2 tight balls. Grease two 15 cm tins, and put a circle of baking paper in the bottom of the tins. Make a long strip of baking paper that is 5 cm wider than the height of the tin. Place the strip in the form, and fasten the top with a paper clip.
- Put the dough into the molds with the seam down.
- Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise until they are 3 times their size.
- Leave them in a cold oven until next morning.
It can be tempting to roast them after 3 hours, because then they can be wonderfully tall and have doubled in size. But put ice in your stomach and wait until the following morning. The reward is 3 and 4 times as tall dough, so don't bake them too early.
STEP 7
- 1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk
- Icing powder for serving
- Take the molds carefully out of the oven and set the oven to 170 degrees top and bottom heat.
- Remove the plastic foil from the molds.
- Whisk the eggs and milk together and brush the top of the panettones.
- Bake a little lower than in the middle of the oven for approx. 45 minutes, until they are golden and make a hollow sound when tapped.
- Pour them out of the molds and insert grill sticks into the panettones, 5 cm from the bottom and all the way through. Hang them upside down until they are completely cooled, approx. 2 hours.
- Sprinkle with icing sugar and serve.
TIP!
To cheat a little on the rising in steps 1–3, you can turn on the light inside the oven and put the baking dish in the oven to rise. The light bulb provides just enough heat to create a small warm room for the dough. (Do not put the bowl on the bathroom floor. It will be too hot.)
Watch video how to do it: