King of Christmas cakes, panettone is a soft, naturally leavened baked product with a typical cylindrical shape due to the baking mold that remains attached to the finished product. The upper crust is cracked and cut in a characteristic way (scarpatura). The dough has a soft and honeycomb structure and a typical aroma of sourdough leavening.
INGREDIENTS for the first dough:
- Maritoba flour: 250 g
- Sourdough (refreshed three times during the day): 65 g
- Room temperature water: 125 g
- Soft butter: 70 g
- Sugar: 65g
- Malt: 2 g
- Yolks: 50 g
- Maritoba flour: 62 g
- Sugar: 50g
- Soft butter: 40 g
- Egg yolks: 50 g
- Sultana raisins: 150 g
- Fine salt: 2 g
- Vanilla pod: 1
- Acacia honey: 16 g
- Candied citron: 30 g
- Candied orange: 70 g
- Orange paste: 75 g
- Mandarin paste: 30 g
- Lemon paste: 20 g
PREPARATION:
- To prepare the panettone, start making the first dough. Pour the malt, 65 g of granulated sugar and 125 g of water at room temperature into a bowl
- Mix with a whisk until the sugar dissolves; then pour the syrup into a planetary mixer equipped with a leaf whisk. Then add the 250 g of manitoba flour all at once and start kneading.
- It will take about 5 minutes and as soon as the dough has taken on a consistency add 65 g of sourdough refreshed 3 times throughout the day and continue to knead at moderate speed. Meanwhile, prepare an emulsion of butter and egg yolks. Transfer 70 g of soft butter into a small bowl and work it with a hand whisk until you obtain a creamy consistency. Add about half of the egg yolks and mix.
- Then add the remaining and mix again to obtain a homogeneous emulsion. At this point, add half of it to the planetary mixer in operation.
- To facilitate absorption, use a dripping pan to remove the dough that will have remained attached to the leaf and operate the planetary mixer again. When the dough is dry and the butter has been completely absorbed, add the remaining part of the emulsion of butter and egg yolks. Work again until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough, then transfer it to a work surface, helping you with a tarot.
- Give the dough a spherical shape, transfer it into a glass bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 12 hours at a temperature of about 26° until the dough has tripled in volume. In the meantime, if you prefer to prepare the mandarin, orange or lemon paste at home, look at the box at the bottom.
- For the second dough of the panettone, using a tarot, remove the first dough (leavened) from the glass bowl and transfer it to the planetary mixer, again equipped with a leaf. Add 65 g of manitoba flour and operate the machine at moderate speed until it is completely absorbed. Then add the aromatic masses, i.e. the orange paste, the mandarin paste and the lemon paste; then add the honey and the seeds of the vanilla bean.
- Operate the mixer again until the aromas are completely absorbed. In the meantime, prepare the emulsion again with 40 g of butter and 50 g of egg yolks, combining them twice as done previously.
- As soon as your dough is elastic, turn off the machine and add 50 g of sugar. Run the machine again for a few minutes and add a pinch of salt. Let it absorb and turn off the mixer again. Always add the butter emulsion in two batches and finish kneading the dough, until it is well blended. In the meantime, soak the raisins and cut both the citron and the candied orange into cubes.
- At this point, drain the raisins well and pour them into a bowl, add the orange and citron and mix. To be sure that the dough is ready, turn off the machine, take a portion and if spreading it with your hands it will be thin but will not break easily, it means that it has reached the right elasticity; if not, knead the dough for a few more minutes, otherwise add the mix of candied fruit and raisins in the planetary mixer and operate it again at moderate speed.
- When the mix of candied fruit and raisins are well incorporated, turn off the machine, remove the leaf and let the mixture rest for about 20 minutes in the bowl of the planetary mixer, covering it with a cloth. Then transfer it to a surface, fold it a few and let it rest for another 30 minutes at room temperature; there will be no need to cover it. Don't worry if the dough is a little sticky, help you work it using a tarot.
- After 30 minutes, take 1050 g of dough, gently round it into a spherical shape and transfer it into a 1 kg paper mold (the exact dimensions are 22 cm in diameter and 8 cm in height). Use the remaining dough (about 150 g) to prepare two small panettoncini using the muffin moulds. Heat the oven to 35°, then turn it off, cover the panettone with a glass dome and place the panettone and the panettone in the oven to rise for 6-8 hours.
- Once leavened leave it uncovered at room temperature for about 30 minutes, in this way a thin skin will form on the surface. With a cutter, make a cross incision and place a knob of butter in the center of the cross. Bake at 175° in static mode for 50 minutes, after 20-25 minutes take the panettone out of the oven and continue cooking the panettone for the remaining minutes. Then take it out of the oven and stick it with 2 steel toothpicks on the two outer edges. Let it cool upside down overnight, using two saucepans or two bowls of the same height to fix it. The next morning, turn it over, remove the toothpicks and your panettone will be ready to enjoy!
