Recipe of the week: Panettone

[Bear Bibeault]

Bear’s Panettone

Starter

3 oz all-purpose Flour
1/16 t (just a pinch) instant yeast
2 5/8 oz cool water

1. Combine the starter ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.

2. Cover, and rest overnight (8 to 12 hours).

Dough

all of the starter (above)
9 1/2 oz all-purpose flour
2 oz lukewarm water
2 large eggs
2 oz softened butter
1 t vanilla
1/8 t orange oil
1 T instant yeast
1 1/4 t salt
2 3/8 oz sugar
3 oz golden raisins
2 1/4 dried dried apricots, chopped
3 oz dried cranberries
2 1/2 oz dried pineapple, chopped
2 T grated orange or lemon zest

1. Combine all of the dough ingredients except for the fruit and zest. Mix and knead them together until it becomes a soft, smooth dough.

2. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 1.5 hours, until it's puffy.

3. Gently deflate the dough, and knead in the fruits and zest.

4. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a panettone pan or other straight-sided, tall pan.

5. Cover the pan and let the dough rise about 1 hour.

6. Preheat oven to 400ºF.

7. Bake the bread for 10 minutes at 400ºF, then reduce  to 375°F and bake an additional 10 minutes. Then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for another 25 minutes.

8. Remove the panettone from the oven and cool completely.

9. Store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for up to a week.

Kitchen Notes:

You may substitute any dried fruit of your choosing, just keep the total amount of fruit the same.

[Tim Cooke]

That looks pretty delicious Bear.

[Bear Bibeault]

Tim Cooke wrote:That looks pretty delicious Bear.

It was!

[Claude Moore]

Panettone is typical Italian cake for Christmas period. Looks very good and well cooked - only for note: in Italy we use dried oranges and lemon instead of apricot and cranberries, but in Sicily
pistachio cream and toasted pistachios are used as well.

Just for curiosity: is Panettone eaten all year long in USA, not only for Xmas ?

[Ron McLeod]

Claude Moore wrote:Just for curiosity: is Panettone eaten all year long in USA, not only for Xmas ?

Panettone and real hot chocolate a Christmas tradition in my home.  Supermarkets here (Vancouver) only bring it in for the Christmas / New Years time, but you can find it all year round at some Italian delicatessens / grocery stores.

[Paul Clapham]

You can tell Ron has Italian roots from his surname (seriously, I knew people with Scottish surnames who were sent to Ukrainian school as children, and than there's Emanuel Sandhu)...   ... but anyway, yes, I only see panettone in Vancouver around Christmas. For me the cost of buying a panettone (especially after Christmas when they get sharply discounted) is much less than the aggravation involved in making one, so kudos to Bear for doing it!

[Ron McLeod]

I married into the tradition - in Perú Panetón and Hot Chocolate is a must-have around Christmas time.

[Bear Bibeault]

Claude Moore wrote:Just for curiosity: is Panettone eaten all year long in USA, not only for Xmas ?

It's generally considered a holiday treat.