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Italian Panettone Easter Bread
The Easter Italian bread Panettone is distinguished by its special lightness and airy structure. The fine-crumbed crumb easily springs back to its original position after being compressed, indicating the high quality of the baking. To make the proper dough for this bread, soft types of wheat flour with a protein content of at least 12% are used. This type of flour is called "Manitoba." If this condition is not met, Panettone will not turn out well.
Preparation time: 8 hours.
Caloric content: 319 kcal per 100 grams of the dish.
Ingredients
Show ingredients
- warm milk (35-40 degrees) – 150 ml;
- dry yeast – 3 g;
- white sugar – 120 g;
- flour – 270 g;
- butter – 50 g;
- egg yolks – 3 pcs;
- zest of 1/2 lemon and 1/2 orange;
- vanillin – 1 packet;
- candied fruits – 45 g;
- raisins – 45 g;
- strong tea (or orange juice or rum or cognac) – 100 ml.
Preparation
- Prepare all the ingredients. If using fresh yeast, you will need 9 grams. The butter should be at room temperature and have a soft consistency. Strong tea can be replaced with orange juice, cognac, or rum.
- Wash the candied fruits along with the raisins and soak them in strong tea. It is better to do this overnight.
- In a separate container, prepare the starter. For this, mix the milk with the yeast and a spoonful (from the total amount) of sugar. Then sift in 3 tablespoons of flour from the amount specified in the ingredients. After mixing, cover the top with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.
- Grate the zest of the lemon and orange on a fine grater.
- After an hour, the starter will ferment vigorously.
- Place it in the mixer bowl, add the yolks.
- Also add the sugar, vanillin, and the citrus zest.
- Now add the flour, sifting it through a sieve.
- Start kneading the dough. If you are using a mixer, begin kneading at the lowest speed. The dough should be soft and not overloaded with flour.
- When all the ingredients are combined, add the butter. Overall, kneading should last half an hour.
- To check the dough for readiness, a small piece should be stretched to a very thin film, and if it doesn't tear, kneading can be finished.
- Grease a large bowl with vegetable oil. Place the dough in the bottom. Cover with plastic wrap and send it to a warm place to rise. A great place for this is a turned-off oven with a cup of boiling water inside.
- After 2.5-3 hours, the dough will increase threefold.
- Punch it down and fold in the dried candied fruits and raisins.
- We proceed to shape the loaves. You can make homemade bread molds or buy ready-made ones. Place them directly on the baking sheet to disturb the rising dough as little as possible later. Divide the dough among the molds, filling them a third of the way, as the dough will rise significantly later. Cover the tops with plastic wrap and place everything back in the turned-off oven for proofing.
- Approximately after 2 hours, the dough will rise almost to the edge of the molds. Now the breads can be baked at 170 degrees for about half an hour. If the tops are browning too much, cover them with foil. Doneness can be checked with a skewer – it should come out dry after being inserted through the top to the bottom.
- Traditionally, Italian breads are cooled in an unusual way. The reason is that the rich dough can collapse under its own weight when cooling. Therefore, hot breads are pierced through at the base with wooden skewers and hung upside down for drying. Any device can be used for this, on which two sticks can be set, between which the finished products will dry.
- The Italian Panettone breads are ready. Typically, this Italian bread is not decorated, but for the celebration of Bright Easter, the tops can be adorned more festively – sprinkled with powdered sugar, almond flakes, or coated with egg white glaze.
The incredibly delicate and weightless center does not stick together when pressed, and the aromas of vanilla and zest create that magical flavor.
