Panettone 2014

December means panettone at Casa Travelmarx. For pictures of panettone from previous years, see Panettone 2011, Panettone 2012, and Panettone 2013. This year, our little inquisitive friend Midnight Blue Warbler (by Shane Fero) is back to help and sample the final product.

Upper Row, Left: Ingredients for panettone. Upper Row, Right: Working in candied citrus, currants, and honey.
Middle Row, Left: The dough rising. Center Row, Right: Third rising in the paper molds.
Bottom Row, Left: Panettone ready to bake. Bottom Row, Right: A slice of panettone.

Panettone 2013

Panettone, the 2013 edition. For other pictures of panettone from previous years, see Panettone 2011 and Panettone 2012.

Left: Starting ingredients [11:44am].  Right: Pounding the butter to plasticize and incorporate more easily into the dough [1:27pm].

Left: Mixing the dough [1:40pm]. Right: The dough with candied citrus and currants incorporated and set to rise [1:52pm].

Left: Third rise in mold, with demerara sugar glaze on top [5:42pm]. Right: Finished panettone with two Lehmann vases [8:32pm].

Panettone 2012

Finished Panettone, Pomegranate Seeds, and Bird

Back with this year’s installment of a day of panettone making. It took about 10 hours on the final day (preparation day), start to finish. On the previous days we were getting the sourdough starter revived and the poolish made. Each picture has the time when the picture was taken. This year we had the inquisitive little Midnight Blue Warbler (by Shane Fero) helping out the in kitchen.

Like last year (see Panettone 2011), we followed the recipe in La Cucina Italiana, a recipe from Tartine Bakery. We made many other small alterations to the recipe which can be found in full here.

12:51 - The Ingredients
 

14:29 – Early Kneading of the Dough

14:30 - Adding Candied Orange Peel to the Currants, Vanilla, Citron Zest Mix
 

14:42 - Plasticizing the Butter Before Incorporating into Dough

15:36 – Mixing the Currant Mixture into the Dough

19:34 - The Dough Has Risen

19:38 – Shaping the Dough

19:40 - Putting Dough Into Forms
 

19:59 – Putting On the Glaze

21:58 – The Dough in the Forms Has Risen and is Ready for Baking
22:54 – Done Baking, Cooling

The Next Day – Trying Some Panettone

Panettone 2011

Panettone seems to have exploded on the American market in the last few years. One can scarcely step into the local grocery store without being greeted with a floor-to-ceiling stack of panettone. Our beef is that many panettone for sale both have goofy flavors and endorsements that seem wrong. (Bauducco features it is made with Hershey. That's enough to make us go running and screaming in the other direction.) Or, when you buy the panettone and take it home it is dry and disappointing. So we decided this year, snobs that we are, to make panettone ourselves. Fatto in casa… as they say. See all those years of Italian language lessons have paid off.

The origin of panettone is not exactly known and it isn’t just an Italian holiday treat as many other countries have either adopted this sweet bread or have a variation that is very similar. However in our minds, panettone and Italy are forever intertwined terms. We spent the days before Christmas one year in Positano and the site of people hustling and bustling about carrying their panettone was memorable to say the least.

The panettone recipe we followed was out of the December 2011 issue of La Cucina Italiana - a recipe from the Tartine Bakery (recipe here). The recipe played out over three days. Day 1: Refresh our starter (we already had a sourdough starter). Day 2: Make the poolish (pre-ferment). Day 3: Follow the rest of the recipe. We used the Fingered Citron or Buddha’s Hand (Citrus medica var. sarcodactylis) as the lemon zest called for in the recipe. See the post Annashaab Vase with Buddha’s Hand for a picture of this citron.

Panettone with Buddha’s Hand Citron

Panettone Waiting to go in the Oven

Panettone with a Slice Missing – Couldn’t Resist