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Panettone


jackal10

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After sampling my panettone a few more times last night, I'm more inclined to agree with you about the recipe, DiH. I still like it, but its really only a pale reflection of the one I bought at the store. I might try it one more time with a few changes. The panettone I bought had a texture something like King's Hawaiian bread, whereas the one I made had a texture more like plain white bread. I don't know if I need different flour, longer proofing, longer kneading, more sugar. . .

I think just make a bunch of french toast with what's left.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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After sampling my panettone a few more times last night, I'm more inclined to agree with you about the recipe, DiH. I still like it, but its really only a pale reflection of the one I bought at the store. I might try it one more time with a few changes. The panettone I bought had a texture something like King's Hawaiian bread, whereas the one I made had a texture more like plain white bread. I don't know if I need different flour, longer proofing, longer kneading, more sugar. . .

I think just make a bunch of french toast with what's left.

For what it's worth, I've followed a discussion about panettone on a good Italian baking forum and the opinion of the pros was simply: "Panettone at home? Forget it". I know, it does not sound very encouraguing. According to their explanation panettone making really needs special kneading machines and techniques not available to the home baker.

It is always possible that the experts were just trying to stop people from making delicious panettone at home, you never know :wacko::laugh: . Having tried a few recipes at home in the past and never coming close to anything that resambles the airy buttery dough real panettone should have, I'm prone to believe them. I would be more than happy to be proved wrong, though.

Il Forno: eating, drinking, baking... mostly side effect free. Italian food from an Italian kitchen.
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Thank you, Alberto, for crushing my dreams :angry:

Just kidding, of course. :biggrin: I'm sure you're right. I will probably try a few more recipes though. Even if I cant replicate the panettone I bought, I might still find something delicious and panetonne-ish. Or not.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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Thank you, Alberto, for crushing my dreams  :angry: 

Just kidding, of course.  :biggrin:  I'm sure you're right.  I will probably try a few more recipes though. Even if I cant replicate the panettone I bought, I might still find something delicious and panetonne-ish. Or not.

Patrick,

I was actually hoping you'd prove the experts wrong and become my hero :biggrin: .

With the little experience I have, my impression is that home made panettone never has the same texture as industrial or artisanal one, but it can taste very close to the original. And that's not too badd, is it?

Il Forno: eating, drinking, baking... mostly side effect free. Italian food from an Italian kitchen.
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The Nick Malgieri recipe I use, combined with a yeast formulated for rich, high-fat doughs, and a slow, cold 2 day raise, comes pretty damn close to the texture of an industrial loaf, and tastes loads better.

I don't soak my fruit in anything, and I found that candying my own citrus peels was the biggest improvement I could make to my panettone. I have a tough critic at home, because he loves the commercial panettoni. Even he likes mine better now, but it took a few years! If you are looking for that orangy-vanillay taste a lot of them have you can look for what goes by Fior di Sicilia here in the US to add as a flavoring agent.

regards,

trillium

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If you are looking for that orangy-vanillay taste a lot of them have you can look for what goes by Fior di Sicilia here in the US to add as a flavoring agent.

King Arthur sells this stuff, but it's really just orange oil mixed with vanillin, so you can easily duplicate the flavor without buying a special product.

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I stayed up til about 3am this morning trying out Malgieri's recipe. This time I baked 1 panettone in a parchment-lined coffee can (that's why there are lines on the side of bread), and the other in an 8" springform. I used about twice the zest and about 20% more fruit than the recipe called for. When the bread was done I brushed it all over with melted butter mixed with honey. The bread made in the springform was a little overdone, but even so I can already say I like it alot better than the Yard version. I took out the cylinder shaped bread when it reached an internal temp of about 170F, about 10F cooler than the round bread and the Yard bread.

I did inrease the fruit above what is called for in the recipe, but I wish I had gone ahead and doubled it as trillium recommended. I'm not sure if I like the large quantity of orange peel though. I think I might prefer subbing a bunch of orange zest for some or all of the peel, and maybe adding dark raisins and chopped apricots.

gallery_23736_355_1104515714.jpg

Edited by Patrick S (log)
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"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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That's lovely looking... now show us your crumb!

For the candied fruits, I use a combination of sour orange/tangerine, lemon and citron peel instead of just orange...sorry, shoulda mentioned that. Sometimes I will also add dried sour cherries in addition to the dark raisins. I don't like the bleached taste of those so-called "golden" raisins, so I rarely add them. Maybe I should make my own raisins now that I have a dehyrator...hmmm. Homemade candied citron (I like Buddhand best) is really tasty and has almost no resemblence to even the fancy European ones sold by King Arthur flour and the like.

I should have also mentioned that I never cut the cross in it, because no matter how sharp the blade is, it always causes the loaf to deflate a little on top, it looks like it happened to yours as well. If you leave it uncut it makes a nice dome shape and I've never had one split. When I'm ambitious and baking them for gifts, I buy those paper panettone molds, but it looks like the coffee can worked well for you, doesn't it?

If you want to get really crazy, you can experiment with doing your proofing at colder temps and stretching out the time to a day or two.

regards,

trillium

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Here's the first little slice. I like it, its good, but I still have a ways to go. Its still much more dense and not as moist or elastic as the store-bought panettone. I definitely need to try longer proofing times as you suggest trillium. The recipes Ive done call for a total of 4-5 hours proofing. Maybe I should try 2 days in the fridge? And yes, the coffee can worked just fine for me. I just turned it upside down, and it slid right out, no problem.

gallery_23736_355_1104547187.jpg

Earlier tonight, I saw someone's baking blog entry on panettone with chestnuts made from a recipe in Berenbaum's The Bread Bible. This blogger wrote that:

The end result was exciting if not exactly perfect. It looked and smelled exactly like a panettone but the texture and taste was far more wonderful than any store bought I have ever had. It was rich and fragrant and dense and moist.

That's a pretty emphatic endorsement, so it looks like I might be checking out the bread bible soon.

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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On my lunch break today, I went to the little Italian shop and found mini-panettone on sale for $1 a piece. As I was heading back to work, gobbling my mini-panettone, I noticed that the ingredients lists wheat flour. That makes my wonder how much of the textural differences between what I buy and what I make are due to the different flour type? Does wheat flour make for a softer, lighter bread?

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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On my lunch break today, I went to the little Italian shop and found mini-panettone on sale for $1 a piece. As I was heading back to work, gobbling my mini-panettone, I noticed that the ingredients lists wheat flour. That makes my wonder how much of the textural differences between what I buy and what I make are due to the different flour type? Does wheat flour make for a softer, lighter bread?

Hi Patrick,

If you look at the second link that I posted towards the top of this topic string, it says that the Italians use 00 flour for Panettone and add a little glucose to keep the bread softer for a longer period of time.

Edited by Swisskaese (log)
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I am going to try the Cranberry-Pistachio Panetonne from Leite's Culinaria website next weekend.

Michelle, please let me know how it turns out. I always appreciate more feedback. Happy 2005.

David

Hi David,

I will be happy to let you know how it turns out. I am going to buy a Panettone collar on Friday.

I also look forward to testing January's recipes.

Take care,

Michelle

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I was thinking of making one with a sourdough starter. When I feed the starter I plan on using it to make the bread a little faster as to not make it too sour. I was wondering how that would work, a pannetone made with a sourdough starter?

Polack

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I have 7 of them in my house right now- everyone here gets them in the company xmas package (complete with a bottle of bad spumante, torroni, a bag of Lindt chocolates, 2 packs of coffee, and a torrone) so from now until Easter people bring them over .. usually I give them all to my xhusband as he likes them.

Once in awhile a slice is nice but when there are too many it is just too much!

My xneighbor freezes hers and then gives them to us in June - its a nice thought (in exchange I use to bring her over bowls of fresh pig blood - no joke)

Having said that your home made panettone looks great!

Bread pudding made with Panettone is wonderful (every so often)

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i make panettone with a sourdough starter and my results have been popular in the chicago market. it will be more challenging to pull off at home but i used to do stuff like that when i was an amateur.

good luck

[/quote

Great I'll try it and leave the starter feed normally since yours is a hit at the market.

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I have more panettone than I know what to do with too. Last night I went to the store I bought my first panettone at, a Meijer's store in Louisville. In december, they had the 2.2lb Maina Gran Panettone for $6. I checked back just to see if they were on sale, and they were - 50% off. But here's the thing - I go to the check-out and scan it, and its not $3, its $1.50! This is the very same panettone that Amazon 'gourmet' sells for $15! The box has an expiration date sometine in June, so I bought 4 of them. Of course I will give some away as gifts. Maybe.

Looks like my new year's diet might have to wait!

"If you hear a voice within you say 'you cannot paint,' then by all means paint, and that voice will be silenced" - Vincent Van Gogh
 

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