Ch-EAT’s Easy Panettone
There are many Panettone brands that you can easily buy, and there are also many recipes to bake your own. Here’s a quick and easy version by ChEAT.
Ingredients for 2 Panettones
Sponge
230ml Lukewarm Water
15g Dry Instant Yeast
280g Bread or ‘0’ Flour
Dough
100g Stork Margarine (room temperature) Softened
130g Unsalted Butter (room temperature) Softened
110g Caster Sugar
A pinch of Salt
2 Whole eggs (room temperature)
2 Egg Yolks (room temperature)
1/2tsp Vanilla Essence
1tbsp Honey
340 g Bread or ‘0’ Flour
60g Raisins
60g Dried Cranberries
60g Dried Currants
Zest of 1 Lemon
Zest of 1 Orange
Directions:
Start with the sponge. Mix all the ingredients together and cover. Let it rest for at least an hour until it puffs up. Ideally, for more flavor let it rest overnight.
After it has rested, using a kitchen mixer with the dough hook attached, turn it on on the lowest speed.
Then start adding the whole eggs, yolks and the rest of the flour.
Knead on a low speed for at least 8 minutes to start developing the gluten.
Then slowly add the sugar, honey, vanilla and a pinch of salt, and keep on working it for another 5 minutes.
After about 12 minutes of total kneading, check if the dough is stretchy enough. You should be able to pull it without breaking it.
If it breaks easily, knead it for another 2 minutes.
Finally, add the margarine and the butter, and mix for another 2 minutes until well incorporated.
Then add the dried fruit and the lemon zest.
Mix it for a minute until they are all well incorporated.
You should have a smooth runny dough.
Cover it and let it ferment on the kitchen counter for at least an hour. It should rise slightly.
Give it a couple of folds to incorporate some air, cover, and let it rest for another hour.
Drop the dough on your clean working top and using wet hands give it a couple of folds.
Divide it in half and transfer it to a paper cake liner. You should leave a couple of inches from the top of the liner. I'm using a 25cm diameter liner but you can use a greased cake tin too.
Cover it with a bowl or a big pot and let it rise for about an hour.
It should rise to almost the top of the liner.
Brush with some egg wash (egg yolk and 1 tbsp water) and score the top in the form of a cross.
Preheat your oven to 180°c and bake for about 50 minutes.
It is done when it’s nicely browned and you get a clean skewer when inserted in the centre.
This step is optional but to prevent it from collapsing after it is baked, let it cool off for 3 minutes, then insert 2 long skewers or chopsticks at the bottom and place it upside-down, and let it cool off completely. I used some books and a box on either side.
Since it has no preservatives it won't keep fresh for more than a day so ideally consume on the day or freeze it.
