Panettone di Milano

I couldn’t pass along this recipe without a story. This bread is

of course another traditional Holiday treat. But like many things from Italian

Kitchens it has the ability to last a good long time. Much of this is due to the many rises required that impart a certain robust character that blends so well with the essence of the citrus and richness of the egg in this bread.

If you’ve only had the imported Panettone in the box you have to make this once in your life. It is however a laborious process but worth it, at least to me. This cake should be started early in the morning or in the afternoon the day before the actual baking. Allow 17 hours total time from start to finish.

I’m including directions here for making your own candied citrus peel. I’ve yet to find any suppliers who offer candied peel with sufficient “zest” for my use.

You’ll need something tall to bake it in. Traditionally it is baked in a 5” tall ramekin type pottery. I have taken to using 8” short flower pots. Either way you’ll need to line these well, including the bottoms with parchment paper.

5 cups pastry flour, plus some for dusting.

(2 cups cake flour and

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour).

1 package yeast

4 egg yolks, room temp.

2 eggs, room temp.

1 cup sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

3/4 cup lukewarm water

2/3 cup seedless raisins

3/4 cup melted butter

1/2 cup candied citrus peel, (see recipe below)

cut in small pieces. (1/4 cup lemon, 1/4 cup orange)

Step 1:

Sift and measure flour. Blend yeast with 1/2 cup water and let

stand 5 minutes. Add 1 cup flour and blend well. Make a

ball of the dough and let proof in bowl 2 hours or tripled. When the

ball has risen, put 1+1/2 cups of flour on pastry

board, place yeast dough in middle, add 1/4 cup more water

to make a soft pliable dough and knead carefully. Cover well

and let stand in warm place 3 hours. Place 1 cup flour and yeast

dough on pastry board. Knead well and let stand in warm place 2

hours.

Step 2: by hand. *** See warning ***

When dough has risen again, place remaining flour on

pastry board, add dough, salt, and melted butter and knead

together well. Beat together egg yolks, whole eggs and sugar.

Beat until frothy. Add to dough a little at a time, kneading

constantly until everything is well absorbed.

*** Warning ***

During step 2, you may be convinced that the recipe was in

error. It will appear far too wet. Avoid the temptation to

add more flour! It will take quite a while, but the dough

will absorb all that butter and egg eventually. You will be

left with an extremely soft dough but if you keep it

lightly floured it can be handled.

Step 3: On floured pastry board, add citron and raisins and

knead well to distribute fruit evenly.

You may make one large or two smaller panettone. I

prefer to bake mine in 8 inch clay flower pots lined with

parchment. You may choose free formed round loaves.

After placing dough in bakware, or forming loaves, brush with butter well and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 4 to 6 hours, or until nearly doubled in size. This will be a very slow rising dough. Place in hot oven

(400 deg.) for 5 minutes.

Remove momentarily and brush again with about 1/2 tbsp. butter.

Return to oven and bake 15 minutes at 400 deg. Lower heat to

375 deg. and continue baking 45 minutes, or longer, according

to the size of the loaf. When done, the loaf should have a medium to dark brown top crust.

This cake-like bread stays fresh a long time and is ideal when served with coffee, espresso or dessert wine for either breakfast or dessert. Bread may be kept quite a while in a plastic bag at room temperature. Bread may be frozen (2-3 months).

Candied Citrus Peel

For Lemon try to use the thick skinned lemons. These usually are the more oblong football shaped lemons. Any Orange will do, but I have found the best to be the early harvest Valencia oranges.

Peel fruit so skins are in six sections cutting from stem to blossom. Using a filet knife, holding peel side down against cutting board, remove the white pith from the inside of the peel. Remove enough so that you are just seeing dots of peel through the remaining pith. This is frequently much of what is left on in commercially available peel, this pith is bitter and lacks flavor.

Determine what size you want your final product to be and cut appropriately. For baking, 1/8” to ¼” pieces are common. For decorating or candy making you may wish to make some julienne of different shapes. I generally make small 3/32 to 1/8 pieces.

Boil the skins three times for 5 minutes in simmering water, pouring off and draining the water each time. This removes the remaining bitterness of the pith and the peel.

Finally, immerse in a 50% simple syrup of sugar and water. Bring to boil and let simmer slowly for several hours, covered, until syrup begins to thicken.

This is process not well hurried. The infiltration of sugar into the peel takes time. If the water is boiled off too quickly you will have thick syrup but not well candied peel. So be patient and leave the cover on.

Store in sealed plastic containers when cooled enough not to melt them along with the syrup. Rinse syrup off before use. During long storage the syrup will sometimes crystallize, this is not a problem. Just return to the heat with a tbsp of water and dissolve and repackage.

I’m sure you’ll find other uses for this zesty garnish and pastry ingredient. I also use some of this making Cannoli filling and cake icings.