1890's Panettone With Baking Soda

Toast
tpassin on 13 Jan 2025 at 09:18

Here's a fun video from Tasting History on a panettone recipe from the 1890s that uses baking soda instead of yeast. It also includes some history - mostly debunking the history - of the bread. There is an embedded commercial, but you could fast-forward past it.

https://www.tastinghistory.com/episodes/quickpanettone

TomP

Won't let me in Tom - says private site.

Lance

Here is the recipe...

Ingredients:

  • Butter, for greasing
  • Flour, for coating the mold
  • Powdered sugar, for coating the mold
  • 7 tablespoons (100 g) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 whole egg
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2 3/4 cup (300 g) sifted cake flour
  • 4/5 cup (200 ml) milk
  • Heaping 1/3 cup (80 g) sugar
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • Zest of 1 lemon
  • Heaping tablespoon (20 g) candied fruit in tiny pieces
  • 1/2 cup (80 g) sultanas, or raisins, soaked in a little water, rum, or whiskey to plump them
  • 1 tablespoon (10 g) cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon (5 g) baking soda

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Whisk together a bit of flour and powdered sugar. Butter the inside of the panettone mold(s), then dust the inside with the powdered sugar mixture.
  2. In a large bowl, whip the butter, then add the egg and egg yolks. Beat until smooth-ish. Add 1/3 of the flour and mix, then add 1/3 of the milk and mix. Alternate between the two, 1/3 at a time and mix well between the additions. When you’re done, the batter should be smooth and the consistency of a very thick pancake batter.
  3. Mix in the sugar, salt, lemon zest, and candied fruit. Beat with a hand mixer or in a stand mixer for 7 to 8 minutes.
  4. Stir in the sultanas. In a separate bowl, mix the baking soda and cream of tartar together, then add them to the batter. Stir until combined.
  5. Fill the prepared molds a little more than halfway with the batter. Set the molds on a baking sheet and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour. The panettone is done when the top has puffed up into a dome, has a couple of cracks on it, and is a nice golden brown. Remove from the oven and let cool (no need to cool them upside down).
  6. Serve the panettone forth with a cup of coffee or a bit of mascarpone cheese.

 

P.s. the recipe calls for cream of tartar + baking soda. Isn't that baking powder? If so, how much baking powder could one use to replace both? 15g? 

 

P.s. the recipe calls for cream of tartar + baking soda. Isn't that baking powder? If so, how much baking powder could one use to replace both? 15g? 

There are several formulations for baking power, at least in the US. For one thing there are the double-acting vs single-acting ones.  But yes, adding cream of tartar is one. 

When I looked into baking soda a while ago, I learned that 1/4 tsp is enough to leaven 1 cup of flour.  I would expect to use 1.5 tsp of baking soda per cup of flour for biscuits (UK: scones).  OTOH, I've also seen statements that you need 2 - 3 times as much baking powder as baking soda, so I'm a little confused.

One search result gave me a 2:1 ratio of cream of tartar + baking soda, to make baking powder, which is exactly like in the recipe. So i'm assuming one could swap the 10g tartar and 5g baking soda for 15g baking powder.