The best of panettone

A new year is here! And I am sure it’s going to be another big, exciting gastronomical adventure ahead. 2013 was filled with delectable food finds — some overrated, some too edgy for taste, some absolutely divine. But it took 11 months, near the end of the year, to discover what I consider my sweetest find for the year 2013: the Italian holiday bread panettone.

Ah, panettone ... the sound of the word alone is music to my ears, the smell of it is aromatically heady and each bite of it makes me giddy with pleasure.

Panettone originates from the phrase “pan de Tonio” (Tony’s bread). Legend has it that panettone was invented by a poor baker named Tonio. When an Italian nobleman proposed to Tonio’s daughter, she couldn’t marry him because the family didn’t have a dowry to offer. Tonio created a special cake to sell to his customers over the holidays, and soon, word spread: everyone raved over the exceptional cake — pan de Tonio — and people came from far and wide to try it. The baker made a fortune, and his daughter was happily married. A staple of many an Italian home, panettone (pronounced “pan-eh-TOH-nay”) is a sweet, moist yeast bread that dates back more than 500 years to the Venetian aristocracy. It’s a Christmas sweet bread similar to the traditional fruitcake, yet unlike fruitcake, and everybody who tastes it seems to love it!

Last November, on a trip to New York to visit my daughters, I was introduced by Elizabeth Daniels, former GM of William Sonoma Home at the Times Warner Center, to try what I now consider my favorite holiday bread — panettone with golden raisins and marron glacé. I have eaten different kinds of panettone in the past — in fact, it is one of the holiday breads that I teach at my cooking school — but this panettone was different; it was heavenly. I am a fan of marron glacé, candied chestnut that originates from Italy and Southern France. The traditional panettone is baked with candied fruits and citrus peel. So imagine a panettone combined with marron glacé — it’s very different from the traditional one. This is why the panettone she had me try got me hooked on this costly, indulgent fix!

Elizabeth tells me that this is the fastest-selling baked product of the store come holiday season. Pasticceria Scarpato is the bakery behind this particular panettone sensation and it has been making the cake since it opened in Verona over a century ago. Their pastries are made according to tradition, using the best ingredients: specially designed, high-protein wheat flour, ideal for long proofing times; fresh, pasteurized eggs; butter from pure cow’s milk; and Madagascar vanilla. A natural yeast forms the foundation for all of their leavened goods. The yeast has been handed down from the original 1888 recipe, refreshed every day of the year by their chefs to nourish the microorganisms that help the dough rise. The resulting cake is tasty and fragrant, made over the course of three days, with calm, patience, and care taken in every step of the process.

At first, I wasn’t really keen on trying it. I am not a fan of any food produced in commercial quantities. And for this reason, I was not really expecting much from it. I am quite skeptical of food packaged in tins or boxes. In this case, I thought, it will probably taste like cardboard. (You must be thinking that I ingest cardboard right after I dunk it in coffee. No, but you get my point, right?) Well, I was wrong! The moment I took a bite of the bread, I guess you could say I ate my words. I apologize and take back what I said because it was sooo good! To-die-for good — as in you’re in the middle of a most beautiful dream and you dread waking up! And to describe something utterly delightful beyond words is a challenge, but let me try. It was moist like buttery ensaymada, it was aromatic and light as cotton ... kind of like French brioche. I just had to purchase and hand-carry two more and save them for the New Year celebration despite the cost! No regrets, but in hindsight, I should have even bought more. Elizabeth recounts that this holiday phenomenon has been in demand for years, but once upon a time, the makers changed the formulation of the recipe, to the dismay of their regular clientele. The demand for it dropped. So, learning a lesson (“Do not mess with perfection”), they brought back the original recipe and it became more popular than ever. People were willing to buy it, despite the extravagant cost, without batting an eyelash. The justification for the splurge? Well, for me, it’s marron glacé, of course! Creamy chunks of glazed chestnuts found throughout the spongy bread.

Hand-wrapped and packaged in a festive, reusable gift tin, it weighs two pounds, three ounces (almost a kilo). And among hardcore panettone lovers, this marron (candied chestnut) cream-filled Italian cake by Pasticceria Scarpato is said to be the best in the world.

Once opened, it will last several days under a domed cake stand, and when not-so-fresh anymore, it makes a heavenly French toast or bread pudding. It is even more delicious served several days old. Leftover panettone makes delicious toast. Served alone or with butter, fresh mascarpone, or your favorite jam, topped with ice cream or eaten with coffee or Vin Santo.

In Italy, Christmas and New Year’s would be incomplete without a panettone on the table. And now, it’s a must at my dinner table as well, when the “ber” months come around. Well, the festive season is technically over, but I’d like to keep the holiday season alive as long as the morning chill is still in the air and there are still gifts to give. So, consider this as my present to all of you. Where words fail me, I hope to make up and share with you my exquisite experience with this quintessential Italian Christmas bread.

I have replicated the bread in my kitchen and what resulted was my humble version for you to try at home and serve anytime — not only during the holidays, because, as they say, every day should be Christmas Day!

They say the first 30 days of 2014 profoundly shape the way the whole year will unfold. So, let us be positive, radiate with optimism, be productive and proactive, be wildly passionate, and in love with our loved ones! And let our tables always be filled with good, hearty, soul-nourishing food prepared with love from our kitchens.

Panetonne

Ingredients:

Sponge:

1/2 cup and 2 tbsps. Magnolia fresh milk

10 grams dry yeast

140 grams all-purpose flour

Dough:

170 grams Magnolia Gold unsalted butter

1 tsp. salt

110 grams sugar

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

1 tbsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsps. dark rum

6 eggs

560–600 grams all-purpose flour

110 grams marron glacé, cut into chunks

220 grams yellow raisins

Melted Magnolia Gold Butter for finishing

Procedure:

1. For the sponge, heat the milk to lukewarm, whisk in yeast and stir yeast mixture into flour. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature about 45 minutes, until almost triple in volume. 

2. For the dough, beat the butter with the sugar and salt until light. Add the flavorings and beat until smooth. Add two eggs, then continue beating until the mixture is emulsified and smooth and looks like buttercream. If the mixture remains curdled, warm the bottom of the mixing bowl in a pan of warm water for a second or two, continue beating and renew the application of heat again if necessary, until smooth. Add 1/3 of the flour and mix in, then another two eggs. Repeat with another third of the flour, the last eggs, and the last flour. Beat in the sponge and beat the dough smooth. 

3. Beat in the marron glacé and golden raisins just until incorporated. Turn the dough into a buttered bowl and allow to ferment until double, up to two hours.

4. Pour the dough out on a floured surface and deflate by folding it over on itself several times. Divide dough into two pieces and shape each into a ball. Place each piece of dough into a well-buttered 2 to 2-1/2 quart charlotte mold or other straight-sided mold. Cover loosely and allow to proof until it reaches the top of the mold, about two hours. 

5. Slash an “X” in the top of each panettone with buttered scissors and bake at 375°F about 50 minutes. Unmold immediately and pain the panettone all over with melted butter. Cool on a wire rack.