
I recently received a 25 Kg bag of Pasini Millebolle panettone flour, and this was the first test. The panettone is a simple variation on my usual formula, meant to evoke a Danish pastry with pecan and apple. I added cardamom in addition to vanilla bean, plus a variety of inclusions totaling approximately the weight of flour in the recipe.
I maintain two lievito madre starters, one for Shokupan and one for Panettone. The panettone one is considerably older, and behaves differently in a number of ways. I am able to take it out of storage and have a highly active LM in two or three days, while the Shokupan starter is less aggressive but also more sugar tolerant. Here is the panettone LM on day two:

I am also finding that ambient fermentation works quite well while in maintenance mode on the LM. Just prior to a bake, one or two warm refreshes help establish the leavening characteristics that will go to work in the panettone process.
Recently I re-watched an interesting presentation by Michael Ganzle, where he discussed the competitive environment in SD starters, confirming the value of consistent, long-term refreshments. However for home bakers, this kind of continuous feeding is inconvenient and expensive, so finding cyclical equilibrium is important. This LM has become much more stable over the last year despite periods of refrigeration. It does oxidize and lose power if left more than two weeks in storage, but can be revived.
For the first dough, I used 3/4 panettone LM and 1/4 Shokupan LM. This was to try to help insure staying in a “safe” zone for pH after the overnight fermentation. Other factors include hydration, temperature, and sugar saturation in the dough.
This dough stayed right on the trajectory and tripled in 12 hours. Temperature was 23C until the last two hours, when I increased it to 26C. The pH was 4.79, which I have found is acceptable for my process. Dough was strong with lots of gluten development.

The Millebolle flour mixed very well and the second dough came together quickly. Since this was my first test, I was conservative with hydration, but I am confident that next time this can be increased. The dough handled extremely well at all stages, and rounded well in the pans.

The biggest surprise is how quickly the final rise went. It was under four hours, and actually rose a bit too much in the pans before baking, leading to some “mushrooming”. However, the loaves had dramatic oven spring, very satisfactory!

These are 1 Kg loaves in paper pans which are 6 5/8” in diameter. They are scaled at 1050g per loaf.
The loaves turned out light, high and moist, extremely shreddy, with delicate flavor and lots of pecans.


I would recommend the Pasini Millebolle flour to anyone interested in brioche baking or other long fermentation baking. It has a noticeably greater strength than other flours I’ve used, while also being a good base for lievito madre.
- SueVT's Blog
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Again you achieved a stellar results. If I didn't know of all the work you put into your specialized baking preference, I would say you must have been born with the skill. However, saying such a thing would be a discredit.
Best regards
Will F.
Much appreciated!
Those look spectacular Sue, you've really become a master at this :) I love that you're getting so much of the inclusions in --- that must help your flavor profiles come through. Does it taste like the danish you were aiming for?
Yes, if you close your eyes it is very much like a Danish! Next time, I will increase the cardamom, the hydration (for more open crumb), and a more pronounced accent flavor. Maybe a candied rather than dry fruit, or some pecan praline bits, even the red version they have in France….
This Danish idea for the panettone has possibilities. Maybe some kind of semi-dry cheese danish filling that could be folded in just before shaping… hmmm
But whatever. The “food court” in Lyon, Les Halles de Lyon - Paul Bocuse, had a booth entirely devoted to the red praline products.
Do you candy your own fruit? I have been playing around ever since getting a copy of Camilla Wynne's Nature's Candy after reading Andrew Janjigian's post over on Wordloaf. It's amazing how much better and more fruity things can taste when you candy them yourself. You can control the sweetness level or add other flavors. I candied and dried my own cranberries during the holidays --- so much better than store bought!! I'm sure it would be the same with apples although I haven't tried those yet.
Love your cheese filling idea. If the semi-dry cheese doesn't work out, there is cream cheese powder and cream cheese chips to play with.
I concur with, lift off. Sue, don't be surprised if Government agents show up at your house, wanting the formula for future propulsion systems!
If I can parlay it into a job at SpaceX, I’m interested, lol
Now I am going to have to look into this!! LOL, sounds like a possibility! I could make little chunks like Lindy’s cheesecake and sprinkle them through.
I have been thinking about almond paste in a similar vein. I have frozen thin sheets of almond paste that I was going to use as croissant filling. I also have a bag of “almond cream” filling that I made for the galette des Rois I made in January. Little pieces of that would be good if they bake properly.
I saw that book on Wordloaf and now I am going to have to buy it!! I bought some very nice candied pears from a website “Oh Nuts dot com”…. The apples I’ve been using are dehydrated with no sulphur.
Hoosier Hill Farm, Judee's, and Z Natural Foods are 3 brands I've seen. Maybe there are more. I'm sure you can come up with multiple ways to incorporate it.
And if you make your own almond paste you could sub pecans just as easily. KAB has a recipe for DIY paste on their site.
Thanks, I will check these sources out! To go with the almond…. I’ll check in The Flavor Thesaurus, which I bought a couple of weeks ago
Maybe apricot
Wonderfull crumb! I’d say this is perfect fermentation! Very nice panettone! I like the combination of pecan, apple, cardamom, etc. Did you use dried apples?
Thanks for sharing your experience with Pasini Mille Bolle. The last days I was looking for new panettone flour from Pasini. I could find only Panettone, was hoping for Panettone Riposato. No luck until now. It looks like Mille Bolle is a good alternative. If I can find it ;)
Thank you!!
On the flour: Got this from brick oven baker dot com..
It was a preorder, so I don’t know if they are stocking it right now. Maybe!
TomP
Thank you for the kind words!