Panettone Recipe

Step into the world of traditional Italian cuisine with this mouth-watering Panettone recipe! Perfect for any Christmas table, once you make it, I guarantee that you won’t want to go a single holiday without it! It’s truly that delicious!

I love making easy and flavorful desserts, just like this delicious Panettone recipe! Originally an Italian Christmas bread cake, with lots of texture and filled with raisins and candied orange, this simple Panettone cake is so tasty and full of flavors you’ll want to enjoy it all year round. I know I do and this is why I’m making this recipe again now.

Christmas desserts can be baked year-round if you’re ready to try out a new recipe. Whether you’re an expert baker or you’re a newbie, this Panettone recipe is a crowd pleaser—so much so that you may finish it before you serve it! If you’re looking for a satisfying, comforting, show-stopping, affordable dessert, give this Panettone a try.

Classic Easy Panettone Cake Recipe

Perfect for any Christmas table, once you make it, I guarantee that you won’t want to go a single holiday without this Panettone recipe! It’s truly that delicious!

Prep: 30min

Total: 260min

Yield: 1

Ingredients:

• 4 tbsp warm milk
• 1 tbsp dried yeast
• 8 tbsp sugar
• 2 sticks butter (room temperature)
• 5 large eggs (beaten)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• grated zest of 1 orange
• 3 1/2 cups flour (plus extra (up to 1/2 to 2/3 cups more))
• pinch of salt
• 7 tbsp raisins
• 3 tbsp rum extract
• 8 tbsp candied lemon and orange peel (finely chopped)
• butter for greasing
• 1 tbsp egg white
• 1 tbsp icing sugar
• more icing sugar for dusting

Instruction:

1. Grease a Panettone pan with softened butter
2. Place the warm milk in a bowl and add the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar, mix well and leave for a few minutes.
3. Put the remaining sugar in a large bowl and beat together with the butter and vanilla extract, using a hand mixer, until light and creamy.
4. Add lemon and orange zest and mix.
5. Add the eggs a little at a time until all are well incorporated.
6. If the mixture starts to curdle, add a tablespoon of the flour and beat in with the eggs.
7. Place the flour in a large bowl and mix with a pinch of salt and make a well.
8. Add the yeast mixture then the butter and egg mixture, folding in with a large spoon to make a soft dough.
9. Knead for 5 mins in the bowl until the mixture starts to come together and is pretty sticky.
10. Put the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a further 10 mins, until everything has come together and you get a soft, stretchy dough. Add a light sprinkling of flour to the surface and your hands as you go to stop the mixture sticking.
11. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap; keep in a warm place for 2 hrs or until it doubled in size.
12. Place the raisins in a small saucepan with the rum extract and heat on low for about 5 mins or until the fruit has absorbed the liquid; set aside to cool.
13. When the dough is risen, tip it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for another 5 mins. Gradually knead in the soaked raisins and chopped candied peel. Shape the dough into a ball and pop into the prepared Panettone pan. If using an 8″ deep cake pan, wrap a layer of baking parchment around the outside of the tin, to come up about 2″ above the rim, and secure the paper with string. This will help contain the dough as it rises.
14. Cover lightly with plastic wrap and leave to rise for another hour until it has risen to the top of the pan or paper.
15. Preheat the oven to 350 F
16. Mix together the icing sugar and egg white and gently brush over the top of the Panettone.
17. Place the Panettone in the oven and bake for 50 – 55 mins or until golden and risen. Insert a skewer into the middle of the cake to test if done.
18. Leave to cool in the pan for 10 mins before turning out onto a cooling rack.
19. Leave to cool completely before dusting with icing sugar.
20. Cut into wedges to serve.

Overnight Panettone

This traditional Italian holiday bread will stay fresh longer when it’s made with an overnight starter.

Prep: 20min

Total: 13h20min

Yield: 16

Serving Size: 65g

Nutrition Facts: servingSize 65g, calories 200 calories, Carbohydrate 36g, Cholesterol 30mg, Fiber 3g, Protein 4g, Sodium 210mg, Sugar 16g, Fat 4.5g, Saturated Fat 2.5g, Trans Fat 0g

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (90g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/16 teaspoon (just a pinch) instant yeast
• 1/3 cup (74g) cool water
• all of the starter (above)
• 2 1/4 cups (270g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 cup (57g) lukewarm water
• 2 large eggs
• 4 tablespoons (57g) butter softened
• 1/2 teaspoon [product-link]Fiori di Sicilia[/product-link] flavoring OR 1 teaspoon [product-link]vanilla[/product-link] + 1/8 teaspoon [product-link]orange oil[/product-link]
• 2 1/4 teaspoons SAF Gold instant yeast or 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 1/4 teaspoons (8g) salt
• 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup (85g) golden raisins
• 1/2 cup (64g) slivered dried apricots
• 1/2 cup (85g) dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup (71g) chopped dried pineapple
• 2 tablespoons (28g) orange zest (grated rind) or lemon zest (grated rind)

Instruction:

To make the starter: Weigh your flour; or measure it by gently spooning it into a cup, then sweeping off any excess. Combine the starter ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, cover, and allow them to rest overnight (8 to 12 hours)., To make the dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients except the fruit and zest, and mix and knead them together — by hand, mixer or bread machine — until you’ve made a soft, smooth dough., Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until it’s puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk)., Gently deflate the dough, and knead in the fruits and zest., Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a panettone pan or other straight-sided, tall 1 1/2- to 2-quart pan. Cover the pan and let the dough rise until it’s just crested over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour., Bake the bread in a preheated 400°F oven for 10 minutes; reduce the oven heat to 375°F and bake an additional 10 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil if the crust appears to be browning too quickly. Panettone should be a deep brown when done, should sound hollow when tapped, and will read 190°F at the center using a digital thermometer. (It’s easy to underbake, since it browns so quickly!), Remove the panettone from the oven and cool completely. Store at room temperature, well-wrapped, for up to a week; freeze for longer storage.

Easy Panettone

Our best panettone recipe, adapted from baker Jim Lahey, employs a long rise for a festive and flavorful holiday bread without much work.

Total: 2 days

Yield: Makes 1 panettone

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raisins
• 2 Tbsp. light rum
• ⅔ cup tepid water plus 2 Tbsp. hot water, divided
• 3¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ tsp. salt
• ½ tsp. active dry yeast (from a ¼-oz. package)
• ¼ tsp. grated lemon zest
• ½ vanilla bean, split lengthwise
• 3 large eggs at room temperature 30 minutes
• 1 Tbsp. mild honey
• 12½ Tbsp. unsalted butter (10½ cut into tablespoons and well softened; 1 Tbsp. melted; and 1 Tbsp. chilled)
• ⅔ cup candied citron, chopped if pieces are large
• Equipment: a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; a (6- by 4½-inch) paper panettone mold; 2 (12-inch) metal skewers

Instruction:

1. Soak raisins in rum and 2 Tbsp. hot water at room temperature, stirring occasionally, until raisins are plump and most of liquid has been absorbed, 8 hours or overnight.
2. Mix flour, sugar, salt, yeast, zest, and vanilla bean in mixer at low speed until combined. Whisk together eggs, tepid water (⅔ cup), and honey in a bowl. With mixer at low speed, pour egg mixture into flour mixture. Increase speed to medium-low and mix to combine. Add 10 ½ Tbsp. softened butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, mixing until incorporated before adding more. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until dough is smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes.
3. Drain raisins, discarding soaking liquid, then stir together with citron and 1 Tbsp. melted butter. Stir into dough with a wooden spoon.
4. Place dough in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in cold oven with door closed until nearly tripled in volume, 12 to 15 hours.
5. Discard vanilla bean, then sprinkle dough lightly with flour and scrape out onto a lightly floured surface. Sprinkle a bit more flour onto dough. Fold edges into center and place, seam side down, in panettone mold. Cover with a damp kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until dough is just above top of mold, 3 to 5 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 370°F with rack in lower third. Place dough in mold on a baking sheet. Use a serrated knife to score an X across entire surface of dough. Place remaining 1 Tbsp. chilled butter in center of X and bake until a wooden skewer inserted into center comes out slightly moist but not wet, 1 to 1¼ hours. (Panettone will be very dark.)
7. Pierce skewers all the way through panettone (including paper) 4 inches apart and 1 inch from bottom so skewers are parallel. Hang panettone upside down over a large stockpot or between two objects of equal height and cool completely before cutting. Panettone keeps, wrapped tightly in foil in a sealable bag, at room temperature 1 week.

Panettone: The ChefSteps one-day recipe for this Italian holiday bread

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