Chef John’s Panettone

Description

It takes three days to make this panettone, which I thought was otherwise a pretty straightforward bread recipe. Besides dried fruit, there are so many other things you can include, such as nuts, and chocolate chips, just in case this seems too healthy. Serve plain, with butter, or even better, toasted with butter.

Ingredients

  • ½ cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ cup cold water
  • ¼ cup sourdough starter
  • ½ cup golden raisins
  • ½ cup dried cherries, quartered
  • ½ cup diced dried pineapple
  • ¼ cup rum
  • ¼ cup warm water
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
  • 2 large eggs
  • ⅓ cup white sugar
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon zest
  • 1 tablespoon freshly grated orange zest
  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons fine salt
  • 6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon water

Instructions

  1. The day before baking
  2. mix flour
  3. cold water
  4. and sourdough starter together in a bowl. Cover and leave out at room temperature
  5. 8 hours to overnight.
  6. At the same time
  7. combine raisins
  8. cherries
  9. and pineapple in a separate bowl. Stir in rum. Let fruit soak
  10. tossing occasionally
  11. 8 hours to overnight.
  12. Pour warm water into large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add yeast and let dissolve for 10 minutes. Add eggs
  13. 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
  14. vanilla extract
  15. orange zest
  16. and lemon zest. Whisk together. Scoop in the panettone starter. Add flour and salt.
  17. Knead until dough is very smooth and elastic
  18. about 10 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides if needed. Add butter; knead until butter is completely mixed in and dough is soft and somewhat sticky
  19. about 5 minutes. Transfer to your work surface.
  20. Toss and fold your dough into a rough ball shape using wet fingers and a bench scraper. Transfer dough back to the bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled
  21. about 3 hours.
  22. Transfer dough back to your work surface and shape into a rough ball. Place into a resealable plastic bag. Refrigerate
  23. 8 hours to overnight.
  24. Remove dough from the bag and press out into a flat rectangle. Sprinkle with flour and roll out to at least 1/2-inch thickness. Spread the dried fruit all over the surface. Roll dough up into a log
  25. sealing in the fruit. Roll both ends of the log toward the middle and smooth it over into a ball.
  26. Place dough ball into a short
  27. wide paper panettone mold. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until dough is at least 2/3 of the way up the sides
  28. 3 to 4 hours.
  29. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  30. Mix egg and water together and brush mixture on top of the panettone. Cut 2 slits crosswise on top.
  31. Bake in the preheated oven until beautifully browned
  32. 40 to 45 minutes. Poke 2 skewers through either side of the panettone and flip it over into a panettone hole or a Dutch oven. Let cool upside-down for 2 hours.
  33. Pull out the skewers and slice into pieces.

Prep Time: 45 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 1 day

Servings: 12

Leave a Comment