Winter's Bread

While, I did make this for Christmas morning, I think it's still appropriate seeing as Panettone is traditionally made for Christmastime and New Year's celebrations, and if not for Christmas, then it must be for New Year's?  I must admit, this was much more annoying to make, but hear me out:  I didn't even think to read through the recipe before I started.  I read through well enough to make sure that I would have enough time to make it and also to make sure that i had all of the ingredients on hand and ready to go.  Even still, this is a very fiddly little recipe and if you've no problem being tied up in the kitchen a while (sometimes it is necessary to be confined to one room for a while, especially during the holiday season's preparations) then I would still go for it. 

Hopefully, you will find my interpretation of the directions a bit easier to follow, and seeing as there are steps that I missed, completely skipped, and didn't bother to recreate, I can (somewhat, at least) call this more of 'my own' recipe than I first thought that I would be able to.

'My' panettone isn't necessarily super traditional, there is no mascarpone cheese, it does not take 20 hours (but only four), and is not made with an acidic sort of dough, and is rather more dense than the kind that is manufactured, but to be honest, once any type of bread, it seems, goes into a mass production, it gets lighter and fluffier until it is something that resembles Wonder Bread, but that, my friends, is an entire different story that I have time or space to explain to you about.

So, focusing back on the bread itself, it is a sweet, enriched dough made with eggs, milk, and butter; studded with dried fruits and scented with citrus fruits.  Really, it is a wonderfully rich bread that is fabulous by it's lonesome or toasted with butter. 

1/3c. warm water
.5 oz. active dry yeast
1 lb. 5oz. (~4c.) flour
1/2c. warm almond milk, original unsweetened
2/3c. sugar
4 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
1t. vanilla
3/4c. soft, sweet, butter
1.5t. salt
2c. mixed dried fruit, chopped if needed
zest of one orange & lemon


-Begin by blooming the yeast in the warm water until it foams.  This usually takes about 8 minutes for me, but just keep your eye on it.  Add about 1/2c. of flour, cover with plastic wrap and let this rise in a warm place.  I tend to keep my house pretty cold for bread making, so I just leave it on the bathroom counter with the heater on high and it works beautifully.
-In a separate bowl, combine the 4 whole eggs, only 2 yolks, sugar, and vanilla; and then add the warmed milk.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer (with paddle attachment) beat the butter, salt and remaining flour until it resembles a sort of crumble.  Carefully, add the egg mixture, and then the bloomed yeast sponge from earlier and beat on high speed until the gluten has visibly formed (the dough will be stringy) which should take around 9 minutes.
-Add the dried fruit and the zest; put in a bowl that you've buttered or sprayed/rubbed with oil; cover with plastic wrap, and take it back to it's warm place to rise for another 2 hours.
-However you prefer, grease either 2 loaf tins or panettone molds; turn out the dough and knead a few times; cut into half and shape into either rounds or loaves; place in the molds/tins, cover in plastic wrap, and let proof in their warm spot for about 45 minutes.
-Meanwhile, preheat your oven or 400(f) and when ready, brush with an egg-wash made of the remaining egg yolk and a splash of water, then cut a vent or two to let steam escape during the baking.  Bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the oven's temperature to 350 and bake for a further 45 minutes, making sure to cover the tops with foil if they decide to brown a bit too quickly.

There are some recipes that call for almond extract, candied citrus instead of the fresh zest, and many other variations.  I honestly do not think that there is much of a way to improve upon this other than maybe using a vanilla pod in place of the extract.  The almond milk was definitely my change, seeing as I didn't have any ordinary milk in my icebox at the time, but ordinary milk is what the recipe specified.  The fruits that I used were a combination of dried prunes and dried cranberries (using more prunes than cranberries) and by all means, if you like the candied citrus, then use some in place of the dried fruits and exclude the fresh zest.  This bread has something for all of the senses, its rich texture, floral scent, slightly sweet flavour, it's density, and it's lovely dark shell and golden interior. 

Obviously, I didn't have panettone molds using, instead, loaf tins but they worked perfects.  As far as left-overs of this, I would try making a sort of stuffing (Nigella Lawson has a recipe), in bread puddings, in french toast, or even as croutons. 

Have you ever had or made panettone?  Which part do you like best about it: the fruit, citrus, rich flavour?