Tony's big... bread (or something like that): adventures with panettone

BUON NATALE RAGAZZI E RAGAZZE.   Yes, Annalena is back, by request, to lead you through a recipe with which she has, literally, more than 30 years experience with, but only 2 days a year: panettone.
You know the stuff:  you see it everywhere.  Annalena's Nana , who had no patience for things Northern (and this bread or cake is from Milan), called it  "fancy shmancy raisin bread" when she was being polite.  Indeed, much of it is bad.  Both here, and in Italy, where more than 117 million loaves of it are sold every year.  How much of that is EATEN is another question, to which Annalena does not  have an answer.  Bad panettone, however, is REALLY bad.

This recipe is a mountain, and when Annalena made it the first time, she made it with baking powder, using a "quick panettone" recipe.  It took 2 hours, and it was ok.  She then read a recipe (more below) which took upwards of 8 hours to make.  Her typical comment was  "it BETTER be good."  It was. 

In typical  Annalena fashion, she quickly went from making 2 loaves a year, to about 36 of them.  All over two days.  Annalena overloaded, and stopped.    Then, a few years ago, in response to Annalena's question, a friend (that'd be you Rene), said that it wasn't Christmas for him without panettone.  As said friend was coming to Christmas dinner, Annalena's response was not so polite, but she kept it to herself, and got to work.  THIS year, however, is the first time Annalena thinks she got it right.  The answer , in brief, is that old  acronym  KISS.  You all know what that means, right?  It does NOT mean that  you sing Kiss songs all day, or that you kiss someone (which is still a good idea: there's not enough kissing going on these days).  There are so many variations of this recipe,  but essentially, Nana was right: it's fancy shmancy raisin bread. 

The name "panettone" is shrouded in myth.  One story, the more anthropological one, is that the dialectical word for bread in Milan, was "panett"  (standard italian uses "pane').  Putting "one" at the end of it, makes it a BIG bread.  "BIG" because it is loaded with things that are not normally in bread.
The more romantic story, is one of how Tony (not the Tony in West Side Story), was in love with a baker's daughter, and he prayed for inspiration on how to win her.  An angel brought him the recipe for what became "Tony's bread"  (panettone).  Use the story you like.

Annalena's recipe comes out of a classic:  the much missed Carol Field's "The Italian Baker."  This book is essential to the serious baker.  It, however, brings up a question to those of you in publishing:  both in the US and Italy:  Ms. Fields' book is over 30 years old.   Nothing new has been published, either in the US or Italy.  WHY NOT?    (By the way, Annalena is receptive to receiving a grant to write one.  Just saying).  Get the book. 

Also, get those panettone papers.  Seriously, bambini . Amazon has them, and you can't really make a good panettone without them.  Annalena has tried.  Structurally, the bread/cake seems to need precisely what those flimsy papers provide. Double them when you're baking.

Annalena URGES you to read this recipe through, all the way, and to have ingredients ready. You'll be glad you did.  This recipe will make you two loaves in six inch panettone paper.  It doubles well.  Beyond that,  Annalena suggests you schedule two baking days, because these are big loaves, and they take a lot of time.

You're going to need 7 eggs, and three sticks of butter, at room temperature, to use along the way.  The rest of the stuff is water, flour, sugar, yeast:  the usual stuff of bread making.

We start by making a sponge:  a sort of 'biga' to Italian baking pro's.  Take 2.5-3 teaspoons of yeast (that's about a tablespoon.  If you insist on using those yellow packages, make sure the expiration date is still effective, and it's one package).  Mix it with 1/3 cup of cold water and 1/2 cup of plain all purpose flour.  Use cold water:  your apartment is swarm enough.  Mix this all together in a big bowl, cover it, and go and gather your ingredients for the next step.

Those ingredients are another package or tablespoon of yeast, 3 tablespoons of cold water, 2 large eggs,  1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 stick (four ounces) of unsalted butter.  Add the new yeast to the sponge you made, and the watea, the eggs, the four and the sugar.  Use your stand mixer to blend all of this, and then blend in the stick of butter.  Get it uniform:  it will take longer than you think; probably 6-10 minutes.  Cover it, and go and do something for 1 1/2 hours. 

Now, we get to the fun stuff.  You're going to have a big puffy bowl of very soft dough.  Add 2 whole eggs to this, and 3  egg yolks.  Also add 3/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of honey (use a light one), half a tablespoon (1.5 teaspoons ) of vanilla extract, and a teaspoon of salt.  Mix this all up -  it will take about two minutes.  Then add two sticks of soft unsalted butter, and incorporate it until it's uniform, just like the first step.  Then, add 3 cups of flour.  Do it a cup at a time.  Get your dough hook out to help with this. 

You've got dough!  Now it takes a long rest.  This is going to need 4 hours to rise.  So go read Dante, or War and Peace or do your Christmas shopping, etc.  Don't worry if you leave it for more than 4 hours.  6 hours is fine, too. 

One thing you WILL Want to do is get your fruit together for this.  You'll need 3 cups of dried fruit, the grated peel of a lemon and an orange, and the juice from both of them.  Traditionally, panettone is made with only golden fruits:  golden raisins, candied orange peel, and candied citron.  Use what you like.  Most of the ones you can buy, are just raisins, and if they're good raisins, you'll be fine.  Annalena mixes golden and black raisins.  Sometimes, she adds currants, sometimes, candied lemon peel, sometimes, candied grapefruit peel, etc.  She has seen versions with chopped dates, chopped figs, etc.  Have some fun with this. 

After  your long rising time has passed, wet your hands, and incorporate the fruit into the dough by just folding gently.  Annalena finds that using the mixer, deflates the dough too much, and you won't get a good rise. 

Now, you're gonna let it rise again, in the paper.  Divide the dough in half, or as close to half as you can get, form balls, and put them in the papers.  Cover the paper with a towel, and go away for another 2  hours.    The dough will come close to doubling.

About 90 minutes into the rising, preheat the oven to 400.  After two hours,  put the panettone on a baking sheet, and slide it into the oven.  Bake it for ten minutes.  Then lower the temperature to 375 for another ten.  Finally,  lower the oven to 350, rotate the sheet, and let things bake for another 30 minutes.

Your panettone probably will NOT be done at this point.  You can tell by taking a soft knife, and going to the center.  If it's wet, let it bake for another 15 minutes.  It should be done by now.  If it's not, turn off the oven, but leave the loaves in . 

You're going to have burned raisins at the top.  Eat them, toss them,  leave them.  It's all good.  You just made panettone!  You should feel very proud of yourself.   Eat this fresh, or use it for French Toast, or bread pudding.  The bread pudding you make with panettone, will make you wonder how you lived without this.

Enjoy your holiday everyone.  And make some panettone.