The quest for perfect Panettone

I have come to associate Christmas time with having Panettone for breakfast. When we used to live in San Diego, I'd go to the Little Italy district on India Street. Boxes of Panettone displayed at the stores is enough to get me salivating in anticipation. of this buttery bread filled with candied fruits and raisins. And I love the gold wrapper it's baked in; makes it look special.

After we moved to Sequim, WA, the local grocery stores did not stock Panetonne and there were no specialty food shops around. Of course, if I was willing to drive to Trader Joe's in Lynnwood, WA (over 2 hours drive from where I live), I can get it. Oh, by the way, I also have to time my visit to the store right because it disappears fast. And then there are mail order companies but now we're talking spending a lot for my gluttony.

As usual when faced with situations like this, I resort to going to the internet. A search for panettone revealed quite a selection of recipes. For those of you who aren't familiar with Panettone: Almost every region in Italy has its own Christmas cake, but this Milanese specialty is by far the the most famous and most difficult to make. When they say the most difficult, they mean it. I've had to experiment with different recipes. My failures ranged from the dough not rising, the dough rose but it fell during baking, resultant bread was dense, some dough oozed out of the make shift mold I made (the one I like is tall like the picture above), texture was too much like bread, texture was too much like cake - just not the right weblike texture (shaggy) like the store bought ones.

Until last year, every Christmas brought a series of panetonne baking experimentation. The recipe calls for a lot of butter and eggs and time. So, after 3 tries each baking season, I give up till the next year brings that "want" again. Michael is ever so supportive and eats with me my imperfect creation.

My last search on the internet yielded this blog: Hector's Panettone blog from Real Baking with Rose. Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of various cookbooks, is famous for her detailed instructions and she is very generous in answering questions online. Of course, her followers jump in there to help out other bakers as well with their questions. Hector is one of the most generous.

Back to the Panettone. As I mentioned, Hector walked me through some of my hurdles. He did say for a non-bread baker, I was taking on a rather ambitious recipe.

Here's an excerpt of one of our conversations on the blog:

Amy: Panetonne has cooled down and we've cut 2 slices off it. It's got the shaggy texture, could be lighter but that's probably because it didn't rise as well as it should.
Will find a solution for the proofing problem, although it did rise better this time.
It could use be a little sweeter and I think next time, I will increase the corn syrup.
Other than all that - I am pleased with the result of this batch, knowing I am improving each time! Thanks you Hector and Matthew! Thanks Rose for the very detailed instruction - btw I weighed my ingredients this go round.

Hector: Amy, I am so proud of you, and love the shaggy texture!!!!!!!!

I purchased online the special wrapper to get the look. And as they say in fairy tales: ".....and they lived happily ever after."

With me, it's "..... and they enjoyed Christmas breakfast with Panettones ever after!"

My thanks to Rose Beranbaum's recipe, online presence and her followers, particularly Hector Wong. You can view Hector's blog here.