Stollen and whole grain sourdough panettone. Italian panettone recipe by Julia Vysotskaya and Hector Bravo The best Italian panettone recipe

Preparations for Easter are in full swing. There are only a few days left, and I'm still looking for delicious recipes for Easter cakes. Today I'm making Italian sourdough panettone, a traditional pastry baked in Italy for Christmas. The site already has one recipe for making panettone, which is prepared with sourdough combined with industrial yeast. I decided to cook a new recipe exclusively on Levito Madre.

History of panettone

There are many legends around the history of its origin, and it is still unknown who exactly came up with the recipe for panettone. According to one version, it was invented by the poor Milanese baker Antonio, who gave the name to the pastry. Pan di Antonio. And according to another version, the assistant cook Tony became the creator of panettone, whose name is associated with the name Pane di Tonio.But whatever the origin of panettone, it is still the most delicious Italian pastry.

There are a lot of panettone recipes in Italy. Each baker adheres to his own developed recipe, which for him is the best version.

Therefore, you should not compare panettone recipes, arguing that one of them is the most correct.

Preparation of sourdough for panettone

2 days before baking the panettone, it is necessary to prepare the starter, refresh it and reduce the acidity. I do this at 12 o'clock in the morning so that at 7 in the morning I can start updating the sourdough.

First feeding of the starter

To do this, first take 25 grams of sourdough, add 50 grams of water and 100 grams of premium wheat flour. Mix everything, knead a tight ball and make a cross-shaped incision on top. Wrap the finished sourdough in a clean cotton cloth and place in a deep bowl. Do not cover the top with anything. Leave it in this form for 7-8 hours at a temperature of +30°C.

I put my sourdough in the oven under the light bulb, where I maintain a temperature of + 30 ° C. At this temperature, yeast works well, and lactic acid bacteria do not develop. Thus, after several such feedings, we will completely remove the acid from the starter.

The second refreshment of Levito Madre

7 hours have passed and I start the second feeding of the sourdough at 7 am. To do this, I need 125 grams of the previous sourdough. Then you need to add 50 grams of water and 100 grams of flour. Knead again, form a tight ball and make a cross-shaped incision.

We wrap the finished sourdough in a clean cotton cloth and transfer it to a deep container. We do not cover the top with anything. And again leave at a temperature of + 30 ° C. Its ripening time is now 4 hours.

Third Feeding of the Sourdough

4 hours have passed and again you need to feed the sourdough according to the previous scheme: 125 grams of sourdough + 50 grams of water and 100 grams of flour. I feed at 11:00.

Knead again into a tight ball, make a criss-cross cut and then wrap in a clean cotton cloth. Transfer this bundle with sourdough to a bowl and put it in a warm place where the temperature is kept at +30°C. I have this oven with the bulb on. After 3 hours, you will need to feed the starter again.

The last feeding of Levito Madre

It's been 3 hours and I'm feeding the sourdough for the fourth time. I do this at 3:00 pm. The feeding scheme is the same: 125 g of sourdough + 50 g of water + 100 g of flour. Knead into a tight ball, make an incision and wrap in fabric. I put it back in the bowl and put it in a warm place.

After 3 hours, the sourdough will be ready so that you can put dough on it on panettone.

Dough for panettone

I start making dough at 6 pm (6 pm). For the dough you will need the following ingredients:

• 125 g Levito Madre sourdough with 50% moisture content;
• 120 g of water;
• 50 g of yolks (this is approximately 3 yolks);
• 65 g sugar;
• 250 g of premium wheat flour;
• 85 g softened butter.

First, combine the starter and water. Then, in a separate bowl, mix the yolks with sugar until fluffy. Combine the egg mixture with the sourdough and mix everything. Then add flour and knead until smooth. The dough will seem too wet, but don't add any more flour. Once the dough is smooth, gradually add the softened butter.

Continue kneading the dough until it is smooth and uniform.

For kneading, use a planetary mixer or dough mixer. I kneaded with my hands, it is quite difficult and it took about 20 minutes.

After kneading, transfer the dough to a deep bowl, cover with a film on top and put in a warm place where the temperature is + 28-30 ° C for 12-15 hours. I put the bowl in the oven with the light on. During this time, the dough should triple in size.

Italian panettone dough

My dough was ready in 13 hours. And at 7 o'clock in the morning I started kneading the dough on panettone. For this you will need the following ingredients:

• all dough;
• 65 g flour;
• 60 g sugar;
• 4 g salt;
• 78 g of yolks (this is approximately 4 yolks);
• 10 g vanilla sugar or 1 vanilla pod;
• 100 g of softened butter;
• 88 g raisins;
• 88 g dried apricots;
• 175 g candied oranges.

Please note that all cold ingredients must be used to knead the dough.

Follow this step by step guide:

1. First, in a separate bowl, beat the yolks with sugar, vanilla and salt until fluffy.
2. Add the resulting mixture to the dough and mix everything.
3. Then add flour and knead into a smooth dough. The dough is very wet, sticky to hands, but after active kneading it will become smooth and elastic.
4. After 20 minutes of kneading, add the softened butter in batches to the dough. And continue kneading until the oil is completely incorporated into the dough.
5. At the very end of the batch, add raisins, dried apricots and candied fruits. Add only clean and dry dried fruits to the dough. They must first be poured with boiling water and left for 10 minutes. Then drain the water and dry.
6. Transfer the finished dough into a bowl and leave to ferment for 45 minutes at a temperature of + 28-30 ° C.

Preparation of molds for panetone

In the meantime, you need to prepare the forms for the panettone. I will use regular paper molds, which need to insert long wooden skewers. We do this in order to hang the panettone upside down after baking and leave to cool in this form.

I will have 3 forms: one form is 8 cm high and 12 cm in diameter, and 2 forms are the same - 8 cm high and 10 cm in diameter.

Filling out forms with tests

After 45 minutes, transfer the entire dough to the work surface and divide it into the desired number of parts. Each part of the dough must be rounded with a plastic scraper. Then cover the rounded blanks with a film and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, you need to shift the dough into molds, filling them 1/3. Cover the molds from above with a film and leave for 8-12 hours at a temperature of +28-30°C. Forms filled with dough, I immediately put on a baking sheet, and send to the oven for proofing under the light bulb.

panettone baking

It took my panettone 12 hours to get well spaced. The dough filled almost the entire form. Now you can start baking. I preheated the oven to 140°C with convection and put the panettone pan on the middle rack. I bake for 40-50 minutes. I check readiness with a toothpick.

Remove the panettone from the oven and immediately hang upside down. I leave them to cool in this form until the morning. Once they have cooled, remove the skewers.

I decided to weigh the finished panettone. The average size of 2 panettones turned out to be 240 g, the largest - 385 g.

This panettone is made without the use of industrial yeast. Its structure is very porous, and the crumb is moist, airy and fibrous. And it has no equal in taste and smell. Prepare such a panettone according to this recipe. You will definitely like it!

Always cook with a good mood, and you will definitely succeed! If you have any questions - write in the comments. And I wish you inspiration in the kitchen and bon appetit!

Ingredients

Opara

• 125 g sourdough Levito Madre(humidity 50%)
• 120 g water
• 50 g yolks
• 65 g sugar
• 250 g premium wheat flour
• 85 g butter 82.5%(softened)

Dough

• the whole dough
• 65 g flour
• 60 g sugar
• 4 g salt
• 78 g yolks
• 10 g vanilla sugar
• 100 g butter(softened)
• 88 g raisins
• 88 g dried apricots
• 175 g candied oranges

We prepare the dough: dissolve 30 g of fresh yeast or 10 g of dry yeast in milk, add 1 tbsp. sugar and 4-5 tbsp. flour. We bring the dough to the consistency of sour cream and leave to approach for an hour and a half

In the meantime, steam the raisins with boiling water, chop the nuts and beat the eggs in sugar, salt and vanilla.

After the dough has come up, add beaten eggs, zest of one lemon, cognac to it, knead until smooth.

Then gradually add flour and knead the dough. The total amount of flour in the recipe is 500g. The dough is a bit watery and sticky, but no more flour is needed. If you knead the dough with a dough mixer - this is not a problem, if you knead the dough with your hands, you need to knead for 10-15 minutes. Then add softened butter and when the butter is completely kneaded, the dough stops sticking to your hands.

We leave the dough to rise for an hour and a half, then add nuts and raisins, lay out the dough in forms and leave to proof for another hour. For baking such a portion of the dough, I used 2 large molds, approximately 15 * 15 cm in size.

We bake Easter cakes in the oven, heated to 180 degrees for 45-50 minutes

Easter cakes are very soft and airy, sweet, rich and fragrant. This recipe definitely deserves your attention. Bon appetit!

Traditional Panettone is very similar to Easter cake, but there are still differences in the method of preparation and in the taste of the final product. This is a long cooking recipe with two long stages of fermentation and then proving the dough into molds. The whole process of making an Italian Christmas cake (Panettone) - from kneading to cooling - takes almost a day.

This recipe has been translated from an Italian site and the weight of the food has been converted from European cups to grams. Since the recipe is long, for reference I will indicate the approximate start time of each stage.

In the evening (at 23.00), pour the raisins with a mixture of rum and hot water, cover the dishes with raisins and put them in the refrigerator overnight. During this time, the raisins should absorb almost all the liquid and flavor from the alcohol.

Other dried fruits/candied fruits can be taken to taste, as for example in the photo - in equal parts candied papaya, dried cranberries and finely chopped candied ginger. Remove the zest from the lemon and orange and grind it, the eggs and butter for the dough should be at room temperature, the water for dissolving the yeast should be pleasantly warm.

12.00 next day. Knead the dough, for this, add honey, sugar, vanillin to warm water and mix everything with a whisk until the sugar dissolves. Then add yeast and stir until yeast dissolves. Add eggs and mix again until a homogeneous mixture is obtained.

Next, add flour, starting kneading with 500 grams of flour, add salt. Knead the sticky and still liquid dough with your hands. As soon as there are no lumps of dry flour left in the dough, we begin to gradually mix in soft butter, adding it literally 1 tablespoon at a time, kneading the dough well each time.

A large amount of butter will make the dough even more liquid, gradually add the remaining flour (250 grams). Flour may need a little less/more. Let's put the infused raisins on a sieve so that the liquid that has not been absorbed during the night is glassed. Add the raisins to the dough along with the rest of the candied fruits / dried fruits and chopped zest. We mix dried fruits and candied fruit into the dough, the result should be a soft, sticky dough that holds its shape.

In total, the test took 30 minutes to complete. We round the dough, transfer it to a spacious bowl, greased with vegetable oil. We cover the bowl with the dough and leave it at room temperature for 3 hours (from 12.30 to 17.30).

During this time, you can make a couple of punches, but the dough rises very slowly, because there are a lot of muffins and the dough is heavy. However, after 3 hours the dough has risen noticeably. We crush it again and put it in the refrigerator until 10.00 in the morning.

Chilled dough does not stick at all, which is very convenient when forming panettone blanks. We knead the dough. Depending on the size of the panettone baking pans, divide the dough into parts and form each into a tight, smooth ball. The ball of dough should take up a little more than 1/2 of the volume of the baking dish. It is better to take paper forms for baking, due to the fact that ready-made panettones cool in a special way, but more on that later.

We cover the molds with the dough and leave at room temperature for the final proofing for about 5 hours (until 15.00). During this time, the dough will warm up and rise almost to the edges of the molds. As soon as this happens, carefully with a very sharp knife or blade, make deep cross-shaped cuts on each cupcake, put a piece of chilled butter in the middle of the cut.

We preheat the oven to a temperature of 170-180 degrees, bake pies in a preheated oven for 60-70 minutes or until cooked.

While baking, Italian Christmas panettone muffins can be garnished with almond icing, similar to nutty meringue crunch. To do this, 15 minutes before the products are ready, mix almond flour (or finely ground nuts), corn starch, sugar and egg white in a small bowl.

We mix everything, quickly take out the form with panettone from the oven, generously grease the top with glaze, sprinkle with almond petals, powdered sugar. You need to do everything as quickly as possible, because the icing from hot products strives to drain on the sides. It is necessary to apply the icing on an almost ready cake when it has already browned enough, otherwise the middle of the cake may settle. Quickly put the molds back into the oven to bake until fully cooked.

Products (not glazed) will turn out very ruddy, almost brown. Glazed pannettones will have a crispy crust. A wooden stick stuck in the middle of the panettone should come out clean and dry.

These Italian pies are baked in paper cups for more than just aesthetic reasons. Panettone is usually chilled upside down. To do this, we pierce hot products through with skewers at a height of 1-2 cm from the base and hang them upside down until they cool completely. This is done because of the peculiarity of the dough - it is very tender and while hot it can settle under its own weight. Therefore, in order to preserve the structure of the dough and the shape of the panettone, they need to be cooled in this way.

There may be a problem with almond icing - it can partially crumble with such unceremonious handling, but flaws can be masked by sprinkling an additional layer of powdered sugar on the cooled cake.

The long journey of making the Italian Christmas cake Panettone is over. And let me tell you one beautiful legend about the origin of this "bread of luxury".

In the 15th century, a Milanese nobleman fell in love with the daughter of a baker, Toni, whose bakery was going through hard times. But the noble family did not like this choice. In order to continue to see his beloved, the nobleman, dressed in a mask, got a job in a bakery with the girl's father. Having bought butter and sugar, he added them to the mixture from which bread was baked in the bakery. Soon this bread became popular. And to please his beloved, before Christmas, the nobleman in love added raisins and candied fruits to the dough. Bread became so popular that the noble family relented and allowed the lovers to marry. And the bread got the name pan-del-ton or Tony's bread.

Enjoy your meal!

Panettone - Italian sweet bread with candied fruits, dried fruits. It is believed that this is exclusively Christmas baking. But many Italians claim that panettone is baked in Italy for both Christmas and Easter. Panettone is lighter and more porous than our usual Easter cakes and pastas, more juicy and tender, rich. It is customary to soak candied fruits and dried fruits for panettone in rum, this gives a special flavor. It can be prepared with both yeast and sourdough.

But Colomba is just Easter pastries in Italian traditions. It is prepared in the shape of a dove, decorated with almond icing, sugar cubes and almonds or almond flakes. Candied orange peel and zest are traditionally added to colomba.

In this recipe, we will decorate the panettone like a colomba, but we will leave the shape familiar to our Easter cakes - a cylinder.

After posting this recipe on my social media, I received hundreds of enthusiastic messages and comments about the unreal taste and magical texture of the resulting panettone. This Italian pastry does not give a chance to remain indifferent to literally anyone, even the most inveterate "dislikes" of Easter baking highly appreciated the panettone. And how pleased I am that with my participation so many families and people decorated their festive table with such deliciousness and beauty!

If you are not yet very familiar with yeast dough, I recommend reading first.

Flour for panettone is of great importance, namely, the protein content in 100 g of flour. Most often in supermarkets you will find flour with 10-11 g of protein per 100 g. For baking, it is recommended to use “strong” flour with a protein content of about 13 g. Such flour can be found in Metro or other hypermarkets, it is called Manitoba, and also at Nordic there is flour with such protein content. You can try making panettone with plain white flour, but the process will be much more labor intensive and the end result may still be different from the original. It is categorically impossible to replace wheat flour with another type of flour;

All products for panettone should be at room temperature by default, except for milk, which is heated to a maximum of 35°C.

Ingredients:

200 g candied fruits and dried fruits (I have candied oranges, cranberries, raisins, dried apricots)
150 dried fruit rum

Opara
200 ml milk
12 g live yeast (or 5 g dry)
70 g strong flour
50 g sugar

Dough
5 yolks
100 g sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract (can be replaced with vanilla sugar or vanilla bean seeds)
zest of 1 orange
a pinch of salt
1 tsp turmeric
350-400 g strong flour
70 g softened butter

Decoration
80 g almond flour
whites of 2 eggs
50 g sugar
10 g vanilla sugar
Almond
almond petals
Sugar sprinkles (sold in confectionery stores or).

Soak dried fruits in rum at least overnight. Candied fruits can not be soaked.

Combine warm milk, yeast (crush live), sugar and flour. Stir, cover with cling film and put in a warm, quiet place (locker or turned off non-hot oven) for 1-2 hours. During this time, the dough will increase by 2-3 times and a foam cap will appear on it. If this did not happen, then the yeast did not work, there is no point in working with such dough further.

Add yolks, sugar, vanilla extract, zest, turmeric, salt, oil to the dough. Mix. Sift flour, knead the dough and knead it for 15-25 minutes. At first, the dough will be quite liquid - this is normal, as you knead it, gluten (gluten) will begin to develop in it, and it will stop sticking to your hands, it will become homogeneous, elastic and tender. We check the dough for gluten windows: the dough stretches well to a translucent thickness.

Lubricate a large bowl (taking into account the increase in the dough by 3-4 times) with odorless vegetable oil, put the dough in it, cover with a film and put it in a warm, quiet place for 2-3 hours.

Drain excess rum from soaked dried fruits, mix them with 1-2 tbsp. flour (so they are evenly distributed in the dough). Knead the raised dough with your hands, add dried fruits, candied fruits, knead so that they are distributed over the dough. If the dough becomes a little wet from dried fruits and starts to stick to your hands, you can sprinkle it with just a little bit of flour.

Arrange portions of the dough into molds, filling them by ⅓, no more. Put the forms on a baking sheet, cover with a damp towel or film and put in a warm place for proofing for 2-3 hours. Now the dough will rise more slowly due to the presence of candied fruits in it.

Combine almond flour with proteins, sugar and vanilla sugar, mix well.

Preheat the oven to 160-170°C. After proofing, gently brush the Easter cakes with the almond-protein mixture, sprinkle with almonds and/or flakes, thermostable sugar.

Bake Easter cakes for about 40 minutes (medium size panettone). If the top browns much earlier, you can cover the cakes with foil. Check readiness with a toothpick by sticking it vertically into the panettone hat, it should be dry.

Remove the panettone from the oven and cool upside down: close to the bottom of the mold, pierce each panettone with two skewers crosswise and hang on these skewers.

Store panettone in an airtight container so they stay fresh for up to 7-10 days.

Phew, I didn't seem to forget anything. If you have questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.

Ingredients

• 200 g candied fruits and dried fruits (candied orange, cranberries, raisins, dried apricots)
• 150 dried fruit rum
• 200 ml milk
• 12 g live yeast (or 5 g dry)
• 70 g strong flour
• 50 g sugar
• 5 yolks
• 100 g sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract (can be replaced with vanilla sugar or vanilla bean seeds)
• zest of 1 orange
• a pinch of salt
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 350-400 g strong flour
• 70 g softened butter
• Decoration
• 80 g almond flour
• whites of 2 eggs
• 50 g sugar
• 10 g vanilla sugar
• Almond
• almond petals
• Thermostable sugar topping

Milanese panettone, one might say, is a relative of the Venetian pandoro, with the difference that the latter is more golden, baked in Milan and its environs before Christmas and eat it at that time. With us, its form and content are primarily associated with Easter. And that was one of the reasons why I didn't post the panettone recipe for so long. I was tormented by dilemmas like how appropriate it is to publish it on a Ukrainian site in winter, but does it make sense to publish Christmas pastries in spring?! And then I realized that there is no perfect pore. Let it appear when it is most appropriate for my favorite readers. So, hold on! But I’ll warn you right away, panettone pastries are not easy to prepare: long fermentation, critically wet dough and cooling upside down. Definitely do not recommend for your first baking and if you are afraid of wet dough. But if ambitious and technically interesting pastries are your thing, then panettone is definitely for you. And this luxurious bread, as it is called in Italy, and we will have it for Easter, will give you an unforgettable taste pleasure!

Like most classic pastries or dishes, the history of panettone is very complicated and there are many legends about it. I would say much more than usual. One of the legends tells that it was invented by a poor Milanese baker Tonio (pane de Tonio), who had a beautiful daughter, with whom a Milanese nobleman fell in love, but could not marry her, since the girl had no dowry at all. And so the pre-important baker created pastries that received majestic fame and enriched him, allowing him to quickly collect a dowry for his daughter (fortunately, we do not live in those days of conventions!).

The following legend tells that there was a modest assistant cook in the kitchen of Lodovico Moro, named Toni, and he invented one of the most traditional pastries in Italy. As if, on the eve of Christmas, the chef of the Sforza family burned the cake prepared for the ducal feast. Then Tony decided to donate a piece of the dough he had saved for his own celebration. He mixed it with flour, eggs, sugar, raisins and candied fruits, kneaded everything several times until a very airy and voluminous dough was obtained. The result was an unprecedented success, and in honor of its creator, Lodovico Moro named him "Pan de Toni".

There is also a church legend that ties the shape of the top of the pannetone to the hats of the then Milanese monks. There is also a legend about the "generosity" of the then rulers, who, for one period of the year, allowed commoners to eat not ordinary millet bread, but sumptuous "pan del ton" bread. And all these legends somehow connect the invention of baking with the etymology of the name. And there is also a very mundane and realistic version of the origin of the name, which, unfortunately, does not indicate the origin of the pastry itself, that the word "panettone" comes from the Italian word "panetta", a small sweet bread. The amplifying Italian suffix "-one" changes to "big bread". But whatever the origin of this muffin, panettone is a very tasty pastry that is worth trying to bake it at home.

By the way, despite the mention of such pastries as far back as the Roman Empire, panettone became what we perceive it now only at the beginning of the 20th century, when two enterprising Milanese bakers began to produce panettone in large quantities in the rest of Italy. In 1919, Angelo Motta launched his eponymous brand of baked goods. Motta also revolutionized the traditional panettone by giving it a tall, domed shape, making dough that rises three times for almost 20 hours before cooking, giving it a now-familiar light texture. Once, in Italy itself, the Motta brand was almost synonymous with panettone. Now it is owned by Nestle. Which is a bit sad, because where there are corporations, there is a lack of authenticity, strict costing and shelf life of baked goods, which directly affects its composition (emulsifiers, flavors, palm oil, preservatives, etc.), and, accordingly, taste.

And now, after such a long introduction about history, I will write about the recipe and technique. I created my panettone recipe after reading everything I could about panettone, in printed form and on a large network, mainly in English and a little in Italian (fortunately, knowledge of Spanish allows you to intuitively understand Italian), translated everything into my experience and go ahead! It turned out very well! And I’ll tell you, I still had such an airy cake!

And to everyone with professorial complexes: "but in the present ..... it should be like this!", I will write that real classic dishes and pastries have thousands of correct versions. The most famous Italian culinary classic Pellegrino Artusi, for example, in his famous cookbook, gives a recipe for panettone not with yeast, but with soda with cream of tartar (then baking powder). Here is the doctrine for you. For those who don't like something, take a deep breath and smile. And for readers and cooks who are interested in the recipe, I continue to write instructions.

So, if you decide, then I will warn you a second time that the dough for panettone is so wet that even if you are used to working with wet dough, it can even amaze! Or turn away :-). Do not be afraid, you will put it into the forms with a spoon. It keeps its shape after growing up! The main thing in working with such a batter is caution after rising. When the panettones are already laid out in forms, it is better to put them on a baking sheet and carefully place them in the switched off oven and close the door slightly. Then there will definitely be no drafts and Easter cakes will fit well. And do not clap, do not knock with that baking sheet. And in general, shake them less, so that in fact, they do not fall off. (There is some sense in the fact that once Polish women, when they baked their Easter grandmothers, locked themselves in the kitchen and did not let anyone in until grandmothers, they are relatives of our Easter cakes, completely cooled down. No one went back and forth , did not make drafts, did not knock with anything and did not interfere with concentrating on the process :-)). So, I think you know what needs to be done to ensure the success of your panettones.

Pay attention to an important nuance in the dough recipe, where strong flour with a high gluten content is used for the main batch, as indicated by the protein content in the flour on the packaging. With it, the panettone will keep its shape better. And it's worth looking for. With us, I found the Finnish brand Nordic, which produces flour with a protein content of up to 13 grams, against the standard 10 grams in our flour. This flour is perfect. But if you don’t find such flour, you can bake from ordinary flour, maybe only panettone will not grow so much, even though they will grow anyway. In the case of using ordinary flour, you need to reduce the amount of milk in the dough by 50 ml, since strong flour absorbs more moisture.

By the way, that in the process of baking panettone has already become a legend, it is really better to cool them upside down. In Italy, in bakeries, there are even special forms and other devices for this, at home this can be done using long wooden skewers, with which you need to pierce the bottom of the panettone crosswise, immediately after taking it out and turn them over, hang them until they cool completely. I hung on the reduced walls of two chairs. And to make this possible, I advise you to bake panettone EXCLUSIVELY in paper forms. I have no idea how to get such a soft, baked dough out of ordinary forms and how to cool it so that it does not settle when it cools. By the way, do not be afraid, even when you check the readiness of baking with a skewer, deep inside the panettone, and it comes out dry, to the touch, they will continue to seem soft. It's okay, that's what this panettone is. After cooling, it will no longer be so soft, but then it will be very airy.

For those who doubt this practice, I will write that I also doubted, I conducted an experiment, leaving one of them to cool on the grate, as usual. And despite the fact that the panettone was baked in a paper form and was supported all the time by a frame of paper walls, the middle sagged when it cooled, unlike those that cooled upside down. It was delicious, but the muffin itself was more beaten down (See photo below). Therefore, it is worth considering this step too and not skipping it.

Please note that panettone is a pastry that is fermented for a long time, calculate your time. The preparation of Italian mature dough, the so-called biga, is a must. In the big, the yeast is even more active, but their aroma is weaker and the muffin itself has a somewhat nobler taste and the same aroma.

As for panettone, most often it is not covered with anything at all, sometimes it is lubricated with an egg, but rarely, sometimes it is sprinkled with almonds. Also, I found an interesting pre-bake panettone coating from the Italian pastry chef Andrea Tortora, which I somewhat adapted for ease of use. And this coating gives a very interesting, crispy almond crust on the surface of the panettone. Highly recommend. But it is better to cover panettone with it immediately after putting the dough into molds, so that later you do not once again disturb the tender dough that has come up.

For lovers of icing, I offer another option for chocolate icing, which must be applied already on the cooled panettone. It is very tasty, unlike the standard cocoa glaze, but does not harden with a hard crust, remaining a little soft.

And remember, when it comes to baking something that takes time and focus, read the recipe twice beforehand, imagine how to do everything step by step, and get down to business, with love!

Approximately 4 medium or 3 large:

For the big:

• 35 grams fresh yeast
• 200 grams regular wheat flour
• 200 ml water

For the first batch:

• 200 ml milk
• 5 yolks
• 100 grams of sugar
• 500 grams strong flour (protein content from 11 grams and above)
• 200 grams

For the second batch:

• 150 grams regular wheat flour
• 150 grams of sugar
• 4 yolks
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 75 grams butter, room temperature
• Orange zest, finely grated
• 150 grams of raisins
• 150 grams of candied fruits
• 50 ml rum (vodka, grappa or cognac)

For the nut crust:

• 80 grams blanched almonds or almond flour
• 120 grams of powdered sugar
• 10 grams of flour
• 2 grams cocoa (about 1/2 tsp)
• 3 grams starch
• 2 squirrels

For chocolate glaze:

• 75 grams of powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp cocoa
• 2 tbsp milk
• 30 grams dark chocolate, chopped
• 50 grams butter

1) The day before baking the panettone, prepare the mature biga dough. To do this, place yeast and water in a deep bowl. Stir until the yeast is completely dissolved. Add flour and mix everything.

2) Leave the bean to ferment for 1 hour at room temperature, then refrigerate for 12 hours.

3) On the day of baking, remove the biga from the refrigerator, leave for 1 hour at room temperature to warm up.

5) Continuing to knead the dough, add softened butter in parts. Knead until the oil is completely integrated into the dough.

6) Transfer the dough to the largest bowl you have, cover the bowl with a lid or cling film and leave to ferment at room temperature for 6 hours.

7) While the dough is fermenting, immediately after kneading, place the raisins in a deep bowl, pour boiling water over it and drain. Add rum or other alcohol to the raisins and leave to swell, stirring them from time to time.

8) At the end of the fermentation process, knead the dough, transfer it to the bowl in which it was kneaded, or leave it in the bowl in which it fermented and continue to knead there. Add 100 grams of flour, yolks, sugar, salt and zest. Mix well and add oil. Knead in the same way until the oil is completely integrated into the dough.

9) Add dried fruits along with rum, sprinkle them with the rest of the flour on top and knead the dough well again.

10) Prepare paper forms for Easter cakes and with a large spoon for imposing dishes or even a scoop, spread the soft and sticky dough into forms, filling them no more than 1/4 - 1/3 of the height of the form.

11) With oiled fingers, hide dried fruits and candied fruits hanging on the surface in the dough. The forms themselves with the dough immediately put on a baking sheet, so that after they grow up, immediately insert them with the baking sheet into the oven. Cover them with a slightly damp towel and leave them to rise at room temperature or put them in the switched off oven to make sure there are no drafts. Leave until the dough reaches almost to the top of the form, for 2-2.5 hours.

12) If you want to bake panettone with a nut crust, place all the ingredients for it in the bowl of a hand blender and beat everything until smooth. You should get a smooth and thick mass.

13) Generously cover the Easter cakes that have not yet come up with the nut mass. If desired, sprinkle with pearl sugar and garnish with almonds.

15) When the oven is preheated, insert the panettone tray and bake for 30-40 minutes. Their surface should be well browned. You can also make a test with a wooden skewer, sticking it deep in the center. If it comes out dry, the panettone is ready. If baking different sizes of panettone, take out the smaller ones first and bake the larger ones a little longer.

16) Take one baked panettone out of the oven, crosswise pierce the bottom of each with wooden skewers and hang them upside down to cool. And so get one after the other. Leave until completely cool.

17) When the panettone has cooled, prepare the chocolate icing. To do this, place the powdered sugar, milk and cocoa in a small saucepan and heat, stirring constantly, until the powdered sugar dissolves. Remove from fire.

18) Add chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely dissolved, add cold butter and mix again until smooth and heat, stirring until the mass is homogeneous.

19) Brush the surface of the cooled panettones with chocolate icing and decorate as you wish.

Leave the decorated panettone at room temperature until the glaze has set.

Enjoy your meal!