The Great Panettone Adventure

2023: Round 2: You can see the original adventure down below with all the steps. I haven't documented every one this time, but at last victory! The proofing box made all the difference! One thing I hadn't really realized is that a properly proofed bread takes a lot less time to bake. The recipe itself doesn't specify time for baking, just the goal temperature (201F). Last year, that took 75 mins. This year, I checked it at 60 mins and it was already at 205F, so not perfect but pretty damn good. A few highlights below

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Mixing the first refresh

There is so little substance in the first round that it was nigh on impossible for the dough hook to work effectively, so this year I used a paddle just for this first mixing. I didn't do the full 7 mins so as to not overwork it as using the paddle is more efficient.

The First Panettone Dough

You can see how nicely developed the gluten is during this mixing/kneading.

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First Dough Overnight Rise

You can see how much the dough has risen overnight from the mixing to the morning (as seen through the window of the proofing box - note how it is now near the top of the bowl).

Second Panettone Dough Rise

Compare to how it rose last year in 9 hours to this year (at the proper temp) in 6 hours (to the left).

Post Bake: hanging overnight

I could feel how delicate it was when I took it out. This year, I did have metal skewers, which worked great. You also visibly see how much higher it rose than last year. I just did an egg wash on both (plus pearl sugar) knowing I was taking at least one to school (so no nuts). As with last year, I used a mix of golden raisins, candied orange and lemon peel, and dried cranberries.

The Next (3rd) Day

I took one loaf to a friends' house for tea. Below you can see the interior texture. Now that I've made it with proper proofing, I do see why the recipes, even those with an overnight rise, don't compare to true panettone - not only do they lack the time to develop, but they are much lighter on both butter and egg yolks (there are over a dozen yolks and no whites in this).

2022: So I've never been happy with the texture of my panettone -- TJ's made a better one than me. But I was determined not to give up. So I tried this 48 hr recipe this year. I used metric for weights and imperial for temperature. First thing I wished I had was a proofing box -- I couldn't keep the right temperature (my house remains quite cool in the winter, though I did crank the heat up a bit and brought out a space heater). So some of the rising times were longer and ultimately a little more closed a texture, but the softness and overall feel was there. I've put a proofing box on my (private) wishlist for next year). But here's the adventure

1st refresh

Start Friday 6:30 am. With only 20 g. of bread flour, 20 g. sourdough starter, and 9 g. of water, the instructions of kneading with dough hook for 7 mins was a hoot (not enough to truly engage). But did my best.

2nd refresh

3 hours later. More starter, flour, and water added to the first so enough material for the dough hook to be more effective. Then another 3ish hours.

Third refresh, mother dough

And still more flour, water, and starter added to the material from the first two; it becomes the "mother dough" for the first panettone dough. Below before its 3 hrs-ish rise. I was wrapping in a towel to try and keep it warm.

Mother dough to 1st panettone dough

To the right is the risen mother dough. Below is the first dough made with this and left overnight. Lots of eggs, butter, sugar, and more bread flour. A long (15 min.) knead. From making the dough, I now know 6 egg yolks are 100 g. There are a lot of egg yolks and butter in this. Mom's going to be making meringues. The first dough rises for 12 hrs (or more without a proofing box -- it's supposed to be at 81F, which clearly wasn't happening).

Second panettone dough

Saturday morning early, add the rest of the flour, butter, sugar, and egg yolks plus the fruit. I used King Arthur's Yuletide Cheer blend, which mixes some cranberries in with the candied citrus rinds and golden raisins. Perfect! Below, the pre-risen dough in the panettone papers. The next rise was for 6 hours -- I gave it 9 and was worried about it not rising high enough (but didn't want it to collapse -- given the cooler temps, though, I didn't think the extra time was too much).

Post Bake

Right before you bake it, there is a "glaze" you put on it that's more of a paste than a glaze (nut flour, sugar, touch of cocoa, egg white, flour, corn starch). So I put it on one and put an egg white wash on the other -- pearl sugar on both. Actually, the topping was quite nice -- made a good crust -- but it's the only nut addition, so if you're trying to be nut free, easy to skip. It didn't give time, just target temperature. I did slightly over bake it, but not by much. The top left is right when it came out, the right is the suspension for cooling (it is said to be so delicate, you need to cool it upside-down for 12 hours overnight Saturday night (see this and that NYTimes articles on panettone). Next year I'll get metal sticks -- I had bamboo cake testers, but we ended up adding extras and then taped them to be sure, but it worked. These are normally cooling rack stands wiht the four shelves flipped down for the cooling racks or baking sheets to rest on. With only the top and bottom flipped down, they served the purpose of panettone cooking racks fine.

It was ready for breakfast Sunday morning.

The texture was finer/tighter due to the slow rise and I didn't get quite the dome I might have with the proper rising temperature, and I did slightly overbake it but it came very close to what I've been looking for. I can't wait to try it next year with a proofing box.

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