Overnight Panettone

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Overnight Panettone

star rating (11) rate this recipe »
Published prior to 2008

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

Biga (Overnight Starter)
3/4 cup (3 1/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/16 teaspoon yeast (just a pinch)
1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) water

Dough
all of the biga (above)
2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup (2 ounces) water
2 large eggs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia flavoring OR 1 teaspoon vanilla + 1/8 teaspoon orange oil
2 1/4 teaspoons SAF Gold instant yeast OR 1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/3 cup (2 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/2 cup (3 ounces) golden raisins
1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) slivered dried apricots
1/2 cup (2 ounces) dried cranberries or flavored fruit bits
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) dried pineapple, chopped
2 tablespoons orange or lemon zest

The Biga: Combine the biga ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, cover, and allow them to rest overnight (8 to 12 hours).

Dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and mix and knead them together—by hand, mixer or bread machine—till 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 till 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 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil if the crust appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the panettone from the oven and cool completely.

This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 2, December 1991 issue.

Reviews

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  • star rating 12/21/2011
  • mamamia222 from KAF Community
  • I have made this every year for several years and it is delicious, but I agree about the rise times. For time reasons (baking before and after work) I let this rise all day for the first rise, then kneaded in the fruit and let it rise all night the second time. This also does not rise as much as I would like. I would like it to be a little lighter and less dense, but not as airy as most of the commercially sold panettones. I am using the 1 TBS of quick rise yeast. Does the SAF gold or Fermipan yeast work better? Any suggestions? I also have to be very careful of the top getting way too brown before I turn the oven down for the last time.
    It sounds like your dough may be over-proofing on the first rise. If you are letting it proof all day on the counter, the yeast may have lost it's steam (proofing power) for the second rise, which can result in a denser loaf. I would not recommend using rapid rise yeast. It gives you a great, fast first rise, but loses power during the second rise. I would recommend the SAF Gold, as it is specifically made for use in sweet doughs. For specific questions, please give us a call on the Baker's Hotline and we'll be happy to help! ~Mel
  • star rating 12/26/2010
  • bhnyc from KAF Community
  • KA- Please rewrite this recipe. I agree with the other reviewers- all of whom have had problems/questions. Please check the bake time- it bakes in a lot less time than indicated. The rise time is considerably off as well. It took over three hours for mine to rise and in my impatience I didn't even wait for it to crest the paper. I think it needs less fruit than indicated, as well. I did love the fiori di siciliana. That's a nice touch. All in all- it tastes good but I had way too many questions about this recipe and felt it needed to be retested.
  • star rating 12/26/2010
  • First Time Panettone Baker from NYC
  • Oh- I have more to say- These cooked MUCH faster than the recipe indicated. Watch them carefully!
  • star rating 12/26/2010
  • First Time Panettone Baker from NYC
  • I agree with some of the other reviewers- this recipe is really not easy to follow. I had to call KA twice to ask questions and I am a pretty accomplished baker! The biga should be left out- on the counter- for 8-12 hours- not put in the refirgerator. This recipe makes just one panettone which will fill a 6-inch pan. I was pretty annoyed because I planned to make this for gifts and ordered the snowflake cellophane bags to package them in. I even called to make sure the fit would be OK and was reassured that the bags would be fine. Well- I have two packages of bags that do not fit the panettone papers that I also bought here. Very annoying. I made some panettone with the KA fruitcake blend and some with the European citrus peel. Those got raves from my friends. I did not use as much fruit as the recipes indicated and am glad about that.
  • star rating 12/21/2010
  • ogoshi from KAF Community
  • This recipe's directions are somewhat hard to follow but yield delicious results.
  • star rating 12/19/2010
  • zootie from KAF Community
  • I think its a great recipe, but the directions are poorly written. Possibly a bit of testing should be enacted, various baking times and temperatures tested. Ive made this recipe eight times over the last week for the holidays, the first two were very tasty, but visually not very appealing. The next two, i had to muddle the recipe a little, adjusting the moisture mostly. The rise times i can associate with temperatures so thats no real issue. The ammount of sugar however, is a big problem with my oven. My oven does run a tad hot, but its easily adjusted. Going on the next 4, they straight up burnt. The bottom half inch or so was burnt. It was very disheartening to see so many ingrediants just burn. The consistancy of this recipe various a lot. However, this is a great recipe, with some tweaking.
    Thank-you for trying this recipe and I'm sorry to hear of your troubles. Please give our bakers a call at 802-649-3717 to discuss this recipe. - kelsey@KAF
  • star rating 03/29/2010
  • Ellen Deffenbaugh from Santa Cruz, CA
  • I love this panettone. I was looking for something to take the place of a chocolate panettone that I used to pay about $7 per loaf and that was only available at Xmas and Easter. I added chocolate chips to this one and got something even better than what I used to buy from the artisan bakery. Besides adding the chips, I used lemon emulsion instead of orange extract. Oh, and if you want to use the very professional looking panettone papers sold at KAF, do 1.5 x the recipe to fill two papers. This bread is wonderful toasted on low (it will burn on high) for breakfast with a hand-pulled homemade cappuccino!
  • star rating 02/14/2010
  • Wendy from St. Louis
  • Disappointed. Looking for something like Williams-Sonoma panettone. The search continues.
  • star rating 12/17/2009
  • KAF Fan from Chicago
  • Great recipe. I tried the quick panettone before making this one, and the overnight starter goes a long way to enhance the flavor of the dough. Can't comment on whether it stays fresh longer as it doesn't last that long in our house! The fiori di Sicilia flavor gives it that unique panettone taste that you don't get with the suggested substitutions. I gave this four starts for two reasons: 1) because I agree with the previous review about rising time. My dough took four hours for the first rise and two for the second. 2) the texture is much cakier than Italian panettone, which is bready, chewier and lighter. The Italian panettone recipes I've found call for more eggs/yolks as well as milk, so I will have to try one and see how it compares. Overall however, my family and I are happy with this recipe!
  • star rating 01/03/2009
  • Catherine from Indiana, PA
  • I have been eager to try baking my own panettone for some time now since I love the commercial panettone imported from Italy. I used your recipe making some minor changes.... I only added raisins, citron and orange rind and your Fiori di Sicilia flavor which I feel is the key to a great tasting panettone. I also increased the butter to 4 oz. I mixed it all in the kitchen aid mixer using the dough hook, and mixed it for at least 20-25 minutes. The dough is quite soft and sticky, and then I put it out on a lightly floured board and incorporated the fruit, kneaded it till all the fruit was well mixed. The first rising takes at least 2 to 3 hours and the second rising not quite as long but much longer than your recipe calls for. I used your paper panettone pans and it looks so tall and beautiful when it comes out of the oven. I also purchased your lovely cellophane/snowflake printed bags, tied with a ribbon and what a lovely presentation it makes.....very professional. Since I first saw the recipe in your November catalog, I have made it at least a dozen times. I love this recipe and it is a real keeper.
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