Panettone Journey
Hi Community,
First off, what a fantastic resource and community y'all are. Newbie here, and I almost instantly fell down the Panettone rabbit hole. I started in January and finally, FINALLY, this week I have a panettone that is beginning to resemble the image I had in my mind. I read so many past blog posts (especially Susan and MWilson) and consulted many, many recipes online, and even stumbled thru Italian sites with my 2nd grade-level Italian literacy.
My big takeaway: flour strength is paramount. After several failed bakes and poor gluten development, I saw success using flour with vital wheat gluten added. I used Giusto Baker's Choice (11.5% protein) and added some Vital Wheat Gluten (45% protein) to arrive at a blended flour of 14.2% protein. The second dough windowpaned, and the Panettone rose in their molds. I followed all the steps from Breadtopia here, and used the gluten calculator they link to:
https://breadtopia.com/naturally-leavened-christmas-panettone/
I used a stiff starter at 50% hydration, refreshed for a week or so, 2-3x a day, as my schedule allowed. A few times I had to store in the fridge during busy days. On the day of the first dough, I actually had it in the fridge, took it out at noon and then made the dough at 8pm (basically, not sticking to all the strict 4-hour tripling guidance here...still worked out ok somehow). I always stuck to the 60grams starter + 60 grams flour + 30 grams water for refreshments. Regular tap water and Giusto's Bakers Choice flour.
For my next attempts, I'm going to up the protein to 15% and be a little fussier with the starter and try three 4-hour refreshes before mixing the first dough. The crumb was beautiful but I'd like to aim for slightly bigger holes. Nevertheless, this panettone toasted up is heavenly...impossibly light and delicate, considering the amount of yolks and butter. On future attempts, I'll also experiment with flavorings, as I stuck to citrus zests and dark chocolate chips (a minor deviation from the Breatopia recipe linked above).
Thanks again to all the committed, passionate bakers on this site. You inspired me to keep iterating and pushing forward. Baking has been, especially in these times, a soothing way to occupy the mind. The Panettone pathway unspools before me, and I look forward to what it might hold.
Comments
Congratulations! Persistence and adaptation is paying off for you. Must be very satisfying.
I suspect a panettone or pandoro is in my future. I've baked a few kugelhopfs and they convinced me that citrus / fruit enriched breads were a tasty thing to pursue. My wife liked a pandoro I bought last Xmas but my own mind was thinking homemade would taste better :)
Hmmm....haven't really heard of kugelhopf. I'll have to add that to the pile of bakes2be. Thank you!!!
Really nice job. I need to give this another try. Maye the third time will be the charm?
Persistence, and finally success is extremely rewarding. The harder it is to succeed, the sweeter the success…
We share in your excitement!
Danny
My neighbor will attest to the struggle and joy, Dan. After mushy blobs of "panettone" all winter, last night she exclaimed "holy crap!! You did it!!" 🤩
Wow Joey I’m so happy for your success. I would love to go down that rabbit hole of panettone one day, maybe once I’m retired and have more time to care for the LM needed to make a panettone. Until then I’ll enjoy seeing the success of TFL bakers with their panettones.
Benny
Thanks Benny! I was moved to post this to hopefully show others it's not as out of reach as one might think. Time + money certainly help the cause (I went thru an almost immoral amount of high-quality butter and eggs). I'm also fortunate to live in SF, where Rainbow Grocery has just about everything and anything, much of it in bulk bins too.
My next hill to climb is 100% semolina...I've seen your sesame seed works of art, Benny, and I'm coming for you. ;-).
Thank you for being an inspiration. I have a stash of semola rimacinata that I need to use at some point in the near future. I’ve been on such a whole grain kick I’d almost forgotten about it.
Benny
Looks like a decent result. 👍
Thank you...I did another round, this time upping protein to 15%. I also tried to slow down the fermenting time (due to schedule constraints), and the first dough rose at around room temp (~70 F) for about 8 hours, and 8 hours at ~84 F. I made sure the first dough tripled though, and it did so even more than my first batch (maybe the more frequent use of my starter is strengthening it). Added scant chocolate chips, because I wanted more of a blank slate, to see where to take the flavors next time.
I'm pretty happy with how it turned out. The texture is feathery, ethereal, yet has a nice toothiness to it when you bite into it. My neighbor said "DAAAYUMMM", which is good.
As another poster on here said, I'm in the full throes of a panettone addiction and I'm ok with that. ;-)
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