Panttone

May 3, 2023

4 min read

by Lady Scholastica Joycors - The Culinary Bard

PANTTONE IS AN ITALIAN CHRISTMAS TRADITION, and many families all across the country indulge in this fruity delight. When it was created it was considered a luxury bread being made with wheat, butter, yeast, raisins, candied fruit and nuts and baked in a tall, cylindrical mold. The final result has a light, airy texture. This tradition of Panettone dates back for centuries, all the way to the Medieval ages where sweetened wheat bread on the occasion of Christmas became an official decree in Milan in 1395 stating that all bakeries make pan de' sciori that is affordable for all classes on Christmas Eve. The pastry Panettone is first mentioned in a manuscript from the 1470s, written by the Duke of Milan , Ludovico il Moro Sforza, who encouraged the launch of the new cake-like bread: pan del Ton (or Toni's bread). A traditional Panettone loaf is cylindrical in shape with a cupola (domed) top. It should always be taller than it is wide, with a soft and airy interior beneath a dark exterior.

Italians love Panettone so much that every year they produce 7.100 tons! The regulation for a product to be named Panettone is very strict in Italy: it has to contain at least 20% candied fruit, 16% butter and eggs with at least 4% yolk.

The traditional way of serving panettone is simply remove the paper liner and slice the loaf with a serrated knife as you would a cake, to get triangular wedges. A word of warning though, whichever way you choose to serve your Panettone: it’s worth noting that Italians consider it bad luck to remove the domed top and to consume it on your own.

In the European collection of recipes from 500 C.E. to 1600 C.E., there are very few recipes for bread recorded, because of everyone baked bread, it was common knowledge so they saw no need to write it down. What we do know about this recipe is that it was a sweet bread most likely based on Roman sweet breads and that the ingredients were fine wheat flour, eggs, butter, candied citrus peel and raisins.

I find that the bread-cake like texture is like a brioche and fruitcake combined, but guess what, we don't have any extant recipes for that bread either. For grins and giggles here is a quote about making bread by Platina's De Honesta Voluptate in The Good Huswife's Handmaide for the Kitchen:

I recommend to anyone who is a baker that he use flour from wheat meal, well ground, and then passed through a fine sieve to sift it; then put it in a bread pan with warm water, to which has been added salt, after the manner of the people of Ferrari in Italy. After adding the right amount of leaven, keep it in a damp place if you can and let it rise. That is the way bread can be made without much difficulty. let the baker beware not to use more or less leaven than he should; in the former instance, the bread will take on a sour taste, and in the latter, it becomes heavy and unhealthful and is not readily digested, The bread should be well baked in an oven, and not on the same day; bread from fresh flour is most nourishing of all, and should be baked slowly.

Now that I have given you some background here is a recorded version of Panettone, but not in period, it is not for the beginning baker but is well worth the time spent making it.

Panttone

Ingredients:

¼ cup warm milk

2 pkgs of dried yeast

½ cup sugar

¾ cup butter, softened

5 medium eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract

Grated zest of 1 lemon

Grated zest of 1 orange

3 cups white bread flour

½ cup raisins

½ cup sultanas

3 tbsp dark rum or water

½ cup candied lemon/orange peel

Instructions:

Grease the panettone tin, if you don't have a tin or panettone paper case use a regular 8-inch cake pan, but line the base and sides with greaseproof paper standing at least 2 inches above the rim.
Pour the warm milk in a bowl, add the yeast and 1 tsp sugar together and leave it for 1 minute.
Add the remaining sugar in the bowl and mix it in with the butter and vanilla extract, until creamy and pale.
Stir in the lemon and orange zest, then add the beaten eggs one at a time until it’s well incorporated in the mix. If the mixture starts to get lumpy, then place a tbsp of flour and beat it in with an egg.
Tilt the flour into a bowl and mix it in with a pinch of salt, creating a well in the centre. Add the yeast, butter and egg mixture, and fold the mixture until it forms a dough. Keep kneading the dough, making sure all the ingredients are combined.
Keep kneading and dusting your surface with flour for about 10 minutes until the dough turns light and stretchy. Once done, place the dough in a greased bowl and leave it to rise for up to 3 hours until it has doubled in size.
Put the raisins and sultanas in a pan, increasing the heat. Then, pour the dark rum and stir for a few minutes until the fruits have absorbed the liquid. Once done, set it aside to cool.
Once the dough has risen, take it out of the bowl and place it on a floured surface. Knead the sultanas, raisins and candied fruits until evenly spread throughout the dough.
Place the dough in the panettone tin that has been lined with parchment paper. Put cling film on top and let the dough rise for another hour.
Preheat the oven to about 180° celsius (or 350° -375°F), once warm, place the tin in the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes. Once it’s done, let the bread cool and start cutting it into wedges to serve.