Panettone | Rich Italian Christmas Bread

After traversing through time to know about the British Christmas Cake and moving southwards from there to know about the German Christstollen, let us know traverse further down-south of Europe, to Italy to know about the Panettone. The Panettone is a tall, towering cake like bread enriched with rum-soaked dry fruits, almonds and candied peel, with origins in the city of Milan and enjoyed usually during Christmas, either as a dessert or as a breakfast treat.

I like to call this an Italian labour of Love, as the whole process of making the panettone needs you to give it a lot of time and love. Before we get into the process of making the Panettone, let us briefly look into its history.

The History of the Panettone

The history of this Labour of Love is quite varied, with numerous folk-tales about its origins. But invariably all of these do mention Milan – the global capital of fashion and design, as its birthplace. No wonder, this is one stylish looking bread! The word ‘Panettone” is derived from the Italian word “panetto” used for a small loaf of cake. The addition of the augmentative Italian suffix “-one” changes the meaning to “large cake”.

The early origins of the Panettone, traces its roots back to Ancient Rome to the invention of a sweet bread that used honey. Although it doesn’t resemble the present day Panettone, the roman sweet bread is behind the principles of the Panettone, with the knowledge being passed on through the ages, ending up in Milan.

Coming back to the folktales surrounding the origins of the Panettone, the most popular one is from the late 15th century about Ughetto degli Atellani, a rich young man living in Milan. He fell in love with Adalgisa, the daughter of a poor baker named Toni. Although poor, Adalgisa’s family was very very talented. Her father Toni, worked in the kitchen of Ludovico Sforza, the Duke of Milan.

To win Adalgisa over, Atellani disguised himself as a baker, imitating Toni and invented a rich bread in which he added to the flour and yeast, butter, eggs, dried raisins, candied peel and citrus zest. The bread was an enormous success and he won the girl over. The Duke loved this dessert and encouraged the launch of this cake like bread “Pan del Ton” (Toni’s bread) named after Adalgisa’s father Toni. This bread became a huge hit in Milan for generations to come.

Another interesting story is that of a young kitchen helper Toni. It was Christmas and the court chef had no dessert to offer as he had burnt the dessert he was making. Toni saved the day by preparing something with the ingredients available and hence the name panettone, “il pan de Toni” (Toni’s bread).

There is also the story of an ecclesiastical brother Fr. Antonio, who always wore his ecclesiastical hat and was said to be very fond of this ‘pane’ (bread). The shape of his hat was widely adopted to shape this bread and hence the name Panettone.

After World War I, two Milanese bakers discovered the hidden potential of this bread and want to make it in large numbers and send it all across the country. In 1919, Angelo Motta, who gave his name to one of Italy’s now best-known brands, revolutionized the traditional way of making panettone by giving it its tall domed shape. He achieved this by making the dough rise three times, over a period of 24 hours, before cooking, which is what makes it so light.

In 1925, another baker Gioacchino Alemagna discovered this method and created his own brand. Stiff competition ensued between the two bakers, leading to industrial production of the Panettone. Their fierce business rivalry is what ensured Panettone becomes famous globally.

Making the Panettone

Like I mentioned earlier, this is a labour of love. You need to give the dough enough time and love and it will reward you with the most beautiful Panettone. By planning right, we can reduce our physical presence during this and let the dough work for us.

First up, we need a starter sponge to kickstart the process. The process of making it is quite simple. Just activate the yeast, add in some flour and mix well to get a cake like batter and let it rise till it doubles. If you have a sourdough starter, you can use that and it would save you an hour. But, if you are making a sourdough starter from scratch, it would take over a day, while the starter sponge takes about an hour. The savings in time is very much evident here.

As the sponge is rising, use the time to soak the dry fruits and the candied peel. Cover and keep it aside until the next day. After this we start of with the dough by beating the eggs one by one into the starter sponge, followed by the sugar, vanilla and zest and part of the flour. blend until it all comes together. Add the remaining flour and blend until you get a smooth elastic dough.

Add the butter little by little and knead until it is well incorporated and the dough is shiny, soft and sticky. if it is overly sticky, do add some flour. Shape it into a ball, smear with oil, loosely cover and let it rest until it rises and doubles in size. We can save time here by giving the dough a slow rise in the fridge while we sleep. Leave it in the fridge for atleast 8 hours or even upto 2 days.

Hence, it is ideal to do these above steps before you go to sleep and let the dough work for you in the fridge while you sleep and a well risen dough will be waiting for you in the morning. You can then plan for the next steps based on your convenience during the day.

Gently stretch this risen dough into a rectangle and placed the soaked fruit and the almonds over it. Fold the dough over, trapping the fruit in between and gently, lovingly knead the dough until the fruit is well incorporated and we get a homogeneous fruit dough.

Leave this to rest for sometime. To achieve a beautiful panettone, we need to trap as much air in the dough as possible. Hence, do not over knead the dough or roll it but only gently stretch it. Another important step to incorporate more air into the dough is folding the dough. For this, again stretch the dough into a rectangle, fold it into thirds along the length.

Do not press down the folds but gently lay them over each other, trapping the air in between the folds. Follow this by folding in thirds along the width. You can rest the folded dough for sometime and repeat the stretch and folds. But if the dough has risen well and is soft and stretchy, one cycle of folds would suffice. Tuck in the edges of this folded dough towards the bottom, shaping it into a ball and prep the mould for hanging.

The height and the dome is what characterises the panettone. Once it is baked and taken out of the oven, the dome would slightly collapse, thanks to gravity acting on the still warm panetonne. To prevent this, we take advantage of gravity, hanging the panettone upside down and let it stretch further until it cools down completely. For this, either poke a couple of skewers through the base of the paper mould or pass a couple of kitchen strings through the base and you can later hang the mould upside down with them.

if you do not have panettone paper moulds, you can use an oven safe vessel of similar dimensions. But, butter the walls of the vessel very well, enabling the dough to slide up and rise as it bakes

Once you have prepped the mould for hanging, place the folded dough, with the seam side down into the mould. Cover and set aside for the final rise for a couple of hours or until the dough rises to the top of the mould. Score the surface of the dough – edge to edge in the shape of a cross. Ensure that you just score and not cut into the dough, deflating it in the process.

Give it a egg wash to ensure a shiny golden brown dome and place a knob of butter on the top to moisten it further and also add to the sheen. Again ensure that you just place the butter on top and not try pushing it into the dough and deflating it. Finally place it in a preheated oven and bake until golden brown. Finally, if possible hang it upside down to cool.

Serving and Storing the Panettone

The Panettone is sliced into wedges, cutting through the paper moulds. You can slice it thick or thin. The Italian way of enjoying it during the holiday season is with a flute of champagne. Around the world, it is accompanied with hot chocolate, ice-cream or even egg-nog. However, you are free to enjoy it as it is or with some butter.

Wrapped well in foil, the panetonne will last atleast 4 days but may be a bit dry. For longer storage, wrap in cling film and foil and freeze upto a couple of months.