One of the things I like the most about
Christmas time is that I get to eat panettone. I have a great aunt in
Italy who traditionally provides me with the best one you can buy. I
then eat it with indecent greed and guard it jealously so noone gets
more than me. Yes, I am that childish.
However, I always really wanted to try
and make it at home as we all know that home-made is generally
better. Panettone has a reputation for being extremely tricky to
make. My grandma, who is a sort of an authority when it comes to
baking with yeast dough, told me that it's supposed to be really
hard, that it takes a lot of time, and that I shouldn't even bother.
Fortunately, I rarely listen to any advice, so I decided to make my
research and at least give it a try.
I really did make my research. In the
end I felt like I read and watched everything that the internet could
provide on the topic of panettone. I decided on a recipe by Laura Vitale that seemed both traditional and simple enough. I made only
two alterations. I substituted the active yeast with 14g of fresh
yeast as fresh yeast is a traditionally used by Italian bakers, and
left out any candied fruit because I just don't like it.
 |
| My first panettone. Don't listen to anyone who tells you it's too hard to make at home. It's not. |
There are two things that I found were crucial for success when making panettone:
- Being gentle with the dough.It's okay to be not so gentle when you're making the dough, but once you put it away to rise you should really be careful what you do with it. Don't poke it. Don't slam the oven door once you put it in. Pretend the dough is asleep and any fast movement would wake it up.
- Creating a warm enough rising environment.The warmer your kitchen is the better. If it's too cold, the dough won't rise properly.
I have to say that when I try out new
recipes, even if they are good in essentials, I usually always find
something that I'm not completely satisfied with - the taste,
sweetness, texture, you name it. This recipe, however, is perfect.
There is not a single thing that I'd want to change. Needless to say,
the panettone was of course better that the store-bought one.
Panettone admittedly does take a lot of
time to make, because the dough has to rise twice. Altogether the
process takes about 8 hours, but don't let that discourage you. It's
more than worth it.
