Daring Bakers December 2012 - Panettone

This month we had a new bread to make as part of our DB challenge and I loved the sweet, rich bread. Though I didn't make it the traditional way with the candied fruit, my version with chocolate and nuts got happy responses from all my colleagues.

Blog Checking Lines: The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread!

Recipe 

Special Equipment - One panettone paper or pan. I used a 7 inch round cake pan and attached a collar using parchment paper on the inside. I used butter to stick the paper to the sides and stapled the edges together.

Ingredients - Makes one 7 inch Panettone

Sponge

1 Tsp Instant Yeast

40 ml Warm Water

1/4 Cup (35 gms) Unbleached All Purpose Flour

First Dough 
1 Tsp Instant Yeast

1 1/2 Tbsp Warm Water

1 Large Egg (At room temperature)

1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp (87.5 gms) Unbleached All Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp Sugar

1/4 Cup (1/2 stick/57.5 gms) Unsalted Butter (At room temperature)

Second dough
1 Large Egg

2 Medium Egg Yolks

5 Tbsp (75 Gms) Sugar
1 1/2 Tbsp Honey

2 Tbsp Vanilla Essence
1/2 Tsp Salt

1/2 Cup (1 Stick/113 Gms) Unsalted Butter (At room temperature)

1 1/2 Cups (210 Gms) Unbleached All Purpose Flour plus up to (1/3 cup) for kneading

Grated zest of 1 orange

Filling and final dough 
100 Gms Lindt Orange Intense Chocolate Bar

1 Cup Milk Chocolate Chips

1 Cup Chopped Walnuts/Pecans

Make the Sponge

1. Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl.
2. Mix in the flour.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for about 20 to 30 minutes .

Make The First Dough

1. In the mixer bowl, mix together the yeast and water.
2. With the paddle attached mix in the sponge, eggs, flour, and sugar.
3. Add in the butter and mix for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and even.
4. Cover with plastic wrap and allow double in size, about 1 – 1 ¼ hours.

Make The Second dough

1. With the paddle mix in thoroughly the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey, vanilla, orange zest and salt.
2. Mix in the butter until smooth.
3. Add the flour and slowly incorporate.
4. At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough.
5. Replace the paddle with the dough hook and knead for about 2 minutes.
6. Turn out the dough and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape.
7. Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup (100 gm). Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product.

First Rise

1. Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover with plastic wrap.
2. Now we need to let it rise until it has tripled in size. There are two ways to go about this.
Rise in a warm place for 2 – 4 hours.
Or find a cool spot (64°F -68°F) (18°C – 20°C) and rise overnight.
Or rise for 2 hours on your kitchen bench then slow the rise down and place in the refrigerator overnight. I placed my bowl on the kitchen counter as we have central A/C and it rose perfectly.

Filling and Final Rise

1. Place a large piece of parchment on the counter and press out the dough onto an oval shape.

2. Sprinkle over half of the filling and roll up the dough into a log
3. Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over the remaining of the filling
4. Roll into a log shape again.
5. Shape into a ball and slip into your prepared pans, panettone papers or homemade panettone papers. (I rolled the parchment paper into a cylinder and used it to slip the dough in my prepared pan.)
6. Cut an X into the top of the panettone and allow to double in size.
7. Rising time will vary according to method of first rise. If it has been in the refrigerator it could take 4 hours or more. If it has been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about 2
hours.

Bake The Panettone 

1. When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and adjust your oven racks
2. Just before baking carefully (don’t deflate it!) cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob (a nut) of butter.
3. Place your panettoni in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
4. Reduce the heat to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 and bake for another 10 minutes
5. Reduce the heat again to moderate 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3 and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean.
6. Cooling your panettone is also important. If you have use papers (commercial or homemade) lie your panettoni on their side cushioned with rolled up towels. Turn gently as they cool. If you have used pans
cool in the pans for 30 minutes then remove and cushion with towels as above.

Happy Eating!!