Festive Favourites: Day Six-Panettone

Panettone is a classic Italian sweet bread, full of flavour. From it's humble beginnings in Milan, Panettone has fast become known as the Italian Christmas Bread. Today, this bread is often used as part of the Christmas gift giving season, and is found in nearly every Italian kitchen. In some families, this includes Easter as well. The bread is very buttery and so it doesn't stale easily. It's often accompanied by coffee or liqueur. It is an extremely labour intensive bread to make, which can take between 13 to 20 hours, due to the multiple risings which must take place. Therefore it is often prepared the day prior to serving.

Many recipes call for hours of fiddling and waiting around for the bread to prove in to it's classic dome shape. However, that doesn't mean that a simple recipe was easy to come across! Here is a recipe you can make in your sleep (literally), and it comes from Maison Cupcake, who was inspired by a Great British Bake Off recipe...

As few people own a Panettone mould, Maison Cupcake suggest using a cutlery holder from IKEA...simple! *Makes enough to fill a 15cm tall cake tin or panettone mould.*

Ingredients:
7g sachet dried yeast
400g strong white bread flour
75g caster sugar
2 large free range eggs 
2 egg yolks at room temperature
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
Half teaspoon vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of one orange and one lemon
Half teaspoon salt
175g softened unsalted butter
75g sultanas
50g mixed peel
50g dark chocolate chips
40g unsalted butter to finish

Method:
Mix 125g of the flour with the yeast and sugar in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre.
Mix the two whole eggs with the water and add to the dry ingredients.
Using your hands, mix the flour into the liquid to make a smooth thick batter.
Sprinkled a little of the remaining weighed flour over the top of the batter to prevent a skin forming then leave in a warm place for around an hour or until the batter is very bubbly (it may just expand at this stage and may have few bubbles, but that's perfectly fine).
Stir in the egg yolks, vanilla and grated zest using your hand.
Gradually work in 175g flour plus the salt to make a soft sticky dough.
Next, add the butter and work in with your fingers. Beat until the butter is fully incorporated.
Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead thoroughly by hand for ten minutes, working in the remainder of the weighed flour to make a satiny soft pliable dough.
Depending on the flour, you may not need it all or you may need a little more.

Cover the bowl with cling film or a tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature until doubled in size, probably 2 to 2.5 hours. Don't leave in a very warm place as the butter will melt.
Next, uncover the dough and punch down to deflate.

Cover again and let it double in size again (1 to 1.5 hours).
Meanwhile combine the sultanas with the mixed peel and chocolate chips. Stir in a teaspoon of flour to stop it clumping in the dough.
Prepare the tin by lining with parchment paper. The paper should extend 5cm higher than the height of the tin.
Punch down the risen dough again and turn onto a floured surface; sprinkle the fruit and chocolate mixture on top and work into the dough gently until evenly distributed.
Shape the dough into a ball and gently drop into the prepared tin. Cut a cross into the top.

Lay a sheet of clingfilm loosely over the top of the tin and leave for another hour or so until doubled in size again.
Towards the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 200C.
When ready to bake, melt 15g of the butter for finishing and brush it over the risen dough. Put a knob of butter in the centre of the cross.
Bake for 10 minutes or until just starting to colour, then brush again with melted butter.
Reduce the temperature to 180C and bake for a further 40 minutes until golden brown and a skewer inserted to the centre comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and place the tin on a wire rack.

Allow to cool for a few minutes before teasing it out of the tin. If your crust is fragile allow to cool further before removing from tin.
Cool completely before slicing.

There you have it, a very fiddly bread bake made reasonably easy to try at home. And it makes your house smell so Christmassy!!

Tomorrow is the last of our Festive Favourites, which means Christmas is only two days away! The excitement. Don't forget to come back tomorrow to check out our fifth and final series blog.

Happy baking, and Merry Christmas.

Charley x

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