Italian Panettone Baking Guide: Tips and Pro Secrets

Panettone is sweet Italian bread with candied fruits, dried fruits or other fillings. It is believed that this is purely a Christmas pastry, but Italians claim that panettone is baked in Italy for both Christmas and Easter. I’m not afraid to say that this Italian panettone recipe is one of the best, because it has been tested and approved by 1000+ people over the years.

Since posting this recipe on my Instagram and Facebook in 2018, I have received hundreds of delighted messages and comments about the extraordinary taste and magical texture of the Italian panettone. This pastry leaves literally no one indifferent, and even the most ardent “non-lovers” of sweet bread have praised the panettone.

The Italian panettone is light and airy, juicy and tender, buttery sweet bread. Dried fruits for panettone are usually soaked in rum or other flavored alcohol, which gives a special flavor to the future pastries. You can cook panettone with both yeast and sourdough.

The most convenient way to make panettone is with a stand mixer, but you can do it by hands as well. The only thing I have to warn you about is that you’ll have to work hard, but it’s worth it, believe me and the hundreds of girls who have cooked this recipe and written me their rave reviews.

It is extremely important not to add too much flour to the dough, as this will “kill” it, and you will get a regular bun: dry, hard, and uninteresting.

If you don’t feel confident with yeast dough, I recommend you firstly read my article Why Yeast Dough Not Rising.

In addition, I advise you to check out the recipe for an equally delicious and unusual sweet bread – Cruffin (pictured below).

Flour for Italian panettone

Flour is of great importance in the cooking of panettone, namely the protein content per 100 g of flour. Or, to be even more precise, the gluten content in flour.

Most often, you will find flour in supermarkets with 10-11 g of protein per 100 g of flour. For panettone, it is recommended to use “strong” flour with a protein content of about 13 g. However, the amount of protein indicated on the package does not always mean a high gluten content.

Suitable flour for panettone can be found in some hypermarkets as well as online stores. This flour is made from a soft type of wheat and is called Manitoba.

You can also try to make panettone with all-purpose wheat flour, but the process will be much more laborious and the final result will still be different from the original.

I do not recommend replacing wheat flour with another type of flour in any case: they do not develop gluten as needed for this type of dough. Whole wheat flour will not work either.

Italian panettone decoration

Traditionally, panettone is decorated with almond glaze, pearl sugar and almonds or almond flakes. Panettone is baked already decorated. That is, after baking and cooling, you get a finished product, you don’t have to do anything else with it, you don’t even have to remove the paper mold; this is the norm for serving panettone. I think it’s very convenient.

But the main thing is the taste and play of textures of the panettone. Since the almond glaze caramelizes and becomes crispy during baking, it is really impressive in combination with the delicate center. In addition, the almond glaze itself is very tasty.

By the way, in addition to panettone, there is also the Colomba ⎻ which is an Easter pastry in the Italian tradition. It is made in the shape of a dove and decorated with almond glaze, sugar granules, and almonds or almond flakes. Orange candied fruit and zest are traditionally added to the colomba.

So, here is the Italian panettone recipe

This amount of products makes 3-4 medium panettone.

Ingredients:

• candied fruits and dried fruits (I use homemade orange candied fruit, dried cranberries, raisins and dried apricots)
• rum + water (for soaking dried fruits)

Pre-ferment

• milk
• fresh or dry yeast
• Manitoba flour
• sugar

Dough

• pre-ferment
• egg yolks (you will need the whites for the almond glaze)
• sugar
• vanilla extract (I recommend this one)
• orange zest
• salt
• turmeric
• Manitoba flour
• unsalted butter at room temperature

Almond glaze for panettone

• almond flour
• egg whites (use the remaining whites for an omelet, meringue or such a cake)
• sugar
• vanilla sugar
• whole almonds
• almond flakes
• pearl sugar (make your own or look for it at confectionery stores)

Firstly, prepare the filling for the panettone.

Soak dried fruits in rum for two days at room temperature. As a result, they will swell and become very juicy. Candied fruits do not need to be soaked.

Pre-ferment for panettone

Combine the milk, yeast (break the fresh yeast), sugar, and flour. Stir, cover with plastic wrap, and put in a warm, quiet place (kitchen cabinet or oven with just the light on) for 1 hour.

During this time, the pre-ferment will double in size and a foamy cap will appear on it.

Making dough for panettone

Add the egg yolks, sugar, vanilla extract, orange zest, turmeric and salt to the pre-ferment mixture. Stir to combine. Sift the flour and stir it into the dough. Knead the dough for about 15–25 minutes.

Initially, the dough will be quite liquid – this is normal. During kneading, gluten will begin to develop in the dough, and it will stop sticking to your hands, become homogeneous, elastic and tender.

Check the dough for gluten windows: the dough is well stretched to a translucent thickness.

Now add soft butter and stir it into the dough.

Grease a large bowl (given that the dough will double or triple) with odorless vegetable oil, put the dough in it, cover with foil and put in a warm place for 2–3 hours.

Pour off the excess rum from the soaked dried fruits, mix them with candied fruits and 2-3 tbsp of all-purpose flour (so they will be better distributed in the dough).

Knead the dough with your hands, add the candied fruit and dried fruit in the flour. Knead to distribute them throughout the dough. If the dough becomes a little wet from the fruits and starts to stick to your hands, you can sprinkle a little flour on it.

Put the dough portions into the molds, filling them ⅓ full. Put the molds on a baking sheet, cover with foil, and put them in a warm place to proof for 2–4 hours, until they have at least doubled in size. Now the dough will rise more slowly due to the presence of the filling and alcohol. And depending on the conditions in your kitchen, the dough can rise for up to 4–5 hours, which is normal.

Almond glaze for Italian panettone

While the dough is rising, make the almond glaze.

Combine the almond flour with the egg whites, sugar and vanilla sugar and mix well.

Baking the panettone

Note. The temperature and baking time are very dependent on your oven and may differ from those given in the recipe. Please note the differences in your oven.

Preheat the oven to 170°C (340°F). After proofing, carefully spread the almond glaze over the panettone, sprinkle with whole almonds and/or almond flakes and pearl sugar.

Bake the panettone for about 45 minutes (for average size of the mold, other sizes will take more or less time). If the top browns much earlier, you can cover the cakes with foil.

Check readiness with a wooden skewer, it should be dry.

Take the panettone out of the oven and cool upside down: pierce each panettone with two skewers close to the bottom of the mold, crosswise, and hang it on these skewers until completely cooled.

You need to hang the panettone to keep its airy texture. Since the hot crumb is very delicate, without hanging the panettone, it can “sit down” under its own weight. However, it will still be delicious, but the texture will become denser.

Store the Italian panettone in an airtight container, then they will remain fresh for up to 7–10 days.

If you try this recipe, I’d love to hear how it turned out! Share your experience or any creative twists you made in the comments below. Let me know if you have any questions. Your feedback helps me create even more delicious content. Enjoy your homemade treat and happy baking!

Related recipes:

• German Christmas Stollen
• Marzipan Stollen
• English Christmas Fruit Cake