Panettone is a slightly sweet Italian bread, studded with fruit, that’s common over the Holiday season both for gifting and serving guests. But really, it’s so delicious you’ll want to find any excuse.
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I have been waiting to make this panettone for quite a while. You see, I was given a panettone pan
for Christmas last year and have been plotting using it ever since. To be honest, I could probably eat panettone any time of year.
In fact, when I lived in London I kind of did as there was a cafe I sometimes went to that sold mini ones so I couldn’t resist now and then as I got my coffee. However I know for many people they are more associated with this time of year so I held off. Plus, to be honest, I just didn’t get round to it.
What is panettone?
Panettone is an Italian sweet bread, originally from the Milan area, typically eaten over Christmas and New Year. The dough is light and a little like a sweetened sourdough with bits of dried fruit spread throughout. It’s typically round and tall and served as tall, thin slices.
These days it is popular in other areas as well, and you get variations in Latin American due to immigrants recreating their beloved treat. You can find more on the history here.
I remember seeing rows of bright red boxes full of panettone in the run up to Christmas that were always so tempting, although it’s the small individual ones, as I say, that tended to tempt me more often.
Having been given one of the traditional tall pans, though, it was only a matter of time until I made one. I debated quite what to put in it, since traditionally it’s candied peel and raisins, maybe with a few other things, but I decided to go for a little more varied.
I’ve used a mix of cranberries, golden raisins/sultanas and dried papaya. If you’re regular here, you might remember I have used papaya before instead of candied peel, in my Christmas pudding, as I’ve never been convinced by the candied peel I find here. Really I should make my own, or order some online, but in the meantime papaya is a great alternative.
How to make panettone
If you’ve made bread before, then the process for making this panettone will be very familiar. The main difference is the dough is richer with a number of eggs and some butter, and so mixing the non-yeast ingredients starts off more like a cake, creaming the butter and sugar.
- First let the yeast bubble up while you mix together the other ingredients.
- Mix everything together then knead a little before leaving it to rise.
- Knock back the dough, add the fruit then leave to rise again, this time in the pan.
- After the second rise, bake until golden.
Make sure you let it cool fairly well before cutting or you can make the middle a bit gooey, as I did – it still tastes fine but the clumps don’t look quite as good.
Panettone is something I have fond memories, and making it myself brings them all flooding back. But it’s something I think so many people would love, and it’s perfect to share. So get baking, and sharing this delicious sweet bread.
Try these other international Christmas treats:
- Dried plum stollen (German Christmas bread)
- Lighter Christmas pudding (British Christmas dessert)
- Brunkaker (Danish spiced Christmas cookies)
- Kolache cookies
- Plus get more Holiday recipes in the archives.
Panettone
Ingredients
For the basic dough
- 1/2 cup milk 120ml, warm
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/2 oz instant yeast 14g - 2x 1/4oz/7g sachets
- 6 tbsp unsalted butter 85g
- 1/3 cup sugar 70g
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 lemon zest ie from 1 lemon
- 1 orange zest ie from 1 orange
- 3 cups all purpose flour 420g plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
For the additions
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries 80g
- 1/2 cup golden raisins 70g sultanas
- 3 tbsp dark rum or brandy, marsala wine
- 1/2 cup dried papaya 100g, or good quality candied peel (not artificially colored kind)
Instructions
Making the dough/1st rise
- Put the warm milk in a small bowl and stir in the 1tsp sugar. Sprinkle over the yeast and leave for around 5min in a draft-free spot while you prepare the rest.
- Beat together the butter and sugar until slightly glossy (can use a stand mixer, food processor or handheld mixer). Add the eggs one at a time to combine, along with the vanilla. Mix in the lemon and orange zest. Add the flour a cup at a time and mix to combine, adding the yeast mixture and salt as well with 1st or 2nd cup.
- Bring the dough together and remove from mixer/bowl. Put onto a lightly floured surface and knead for around 5 minutes to stretch it out. Add a little extra flour as you go, if needed - it should be soft but not too sticky.
- Lightly oil a large bowl, put the dough in and cover with a cloth or loose cling wrap/film. Put the bowl in a warm, draft-free place for around 2 hours until doubled in size.
While dough is rising
- While the dough is rising, put the cranberries and raisins in a small pan with the rum, warm over a medium heat and simmer for around 5 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Finely chop the dried papaya.
- Also prepare the pan - either use a panettone pan or a large cake tin. For a panettone pan, line the sides with parchment and cut a circle for the base. I suggest cutting a piece slightly taller than the pan, fold over a slight edge and snip into the paper up to the fold to give you little 'feet' to keep the paper in place and go under the circle so there's some overlap (see photo above). For a cake tin, you'll also need to tie some brown paper/doubled-over parchment around the outside of the pan to build it up a bit higher.
Finishing dough/2nd rise
- After the dough has risen, gently knock back the dough (press out the air a bit) and incorporate the cranberries, raisins and papaya. I find it easiest to press out the dough a bit, put the fruit on top then roll up the dough. Then knead the dough to spread the fruit evenly.
- Put the dough into the prepared pan, cover and leave to rise for around 1 - 1 1/2 hours until it is at least double the size (it may be to the top of your pan, depending on the size of your pan).
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Place the pan in the oven and bake for around 40 minutes until golden brown. You can test it by tapping the bottom (out of the tin) and it should be hollow, or you can put a metal skewer in the middle and it may well be moist but not sticky. Leave to cool on a baking rack.
Notes
Nutrition
See some of my favorite cooking tools and ingredients in the Caroline’s Cooking Amazon store.
See all the other recipes being shared for today’s final Cranberry Week post – we hope you’ve enjoyed following along and will try some of the many cranberry creations!
- Cranberry Bliss Bars (Starbucks Copycat) from Family Around The Table
- Cranberry Clementine Gin from Culinary Adventures with Camilla
- Cranberry Clusters by The Freshman Cook
- Cranberry Cream Cheese Bars from Sew You Think You Can Cook
- Cranberry Jello Salad from House of Nash Eats
- Cranberry-Pistachio Dark Chocolate Bark from Books n’ Cooks
- You Make Me Blush Cocktail by A Day in the Life on the Farm
- Warm Cranberry Punch from Everyday Eileen
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