Christmas is approaching and in Italy we have two main typical desserts: panettone and Pandoro. There is always a fight among those who prefer Panettone and say it’s the best and those who instead consider Pandoro the best. The two desserts aren’t so different and although I’m not a huge fan of any of them, if I had to choose...I’d go for Panettone.
Anyway, this post won’t be about my personal tastes but it wants to briefly explain you what Panettone is. Other posts talking about Pandoro and the unmissable Mascarpone cream will follow. :)
Panettone is a typical Christmas dessert from Milan, where it was invented at the end of 1400 under the duchy of Ludovico il Moro by a “cook assistant” in the ducal kitchens. During one of the grand Christmas dinners organized by Ludovico il Moro, the cook completely burnt the dessert by accident and Toni, the cook assistant was the one who found a solution. With the few ingredients left (flour, butter, eggs, sweet cedar peel and raisins) he made a sweet bread that was served to guests although it was a completely new experiment and no one knew what it would have tasted like. With the cook’s big surprise, guests loved the dessert and wanted to know what it was and the answer was “è il pane di Toni” (It’s Toni’s bread), today known as Panettone.
Despite being born in Milan, nowadays Panettone is present and eaten all over Italy and it is also exported abroad as a typical Italian Christmas dessert.
The Chamber of Commerce of Milan registered a trademark certifying that the panettone is handmade (or artigianale as we say in Italy), following the tradition. To be able to use both the trademark and the name Panettone it is necessary that specific ingredients are used and specific processing steps are followed. The ingredients that must be present in the Panettone artigianale are:
- Water
- White flour
- Salt
- Fresh eggs and/or pasteurized eggs
- Milk
- Butter
- Sweet fruit peel (particularly orange and cedar)
- Raisins
- Vanilla
- Brewer's yeast
- Sourdough yeast
The production process lasts 2-3 days. Everything starts from the sourdough yeast that is left to rest before starting with the actual knead where all the ingredients are mixed, and that takes place in 2 stages, interrupted by resting and leaven time. During the leavening stage the tyoical cross on top of the Panettone is made. After cooking for ca 1 hour, the Panettone is left upside down to naturally cool down.
Nowadays, especially at the industry level, there are plenty of different versions of Panettone: stuffed with chocolate or cream, without sweet fruit peel or raisins, covered in icing etc
What about you? Have you ever tried Panettone? How did you find it?
Comment below to let us know what you think or if you have any question!
That’s all for now! See you with my next “Italian Christmas Desserts” post! :)
PS: If you are interested, check out the article about Mascarpone to get even more hungry!
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