Milano, Lombardia
Panettone
Milan's sourdough Christmas cake
Milan's Christmas cake: a tall dome of dough rich in butter and yolks, with raisins and candied orange and citron, leavened by lievito madre over two days, the natural fermentation Italian law has required of panettone since 2005.
- Course
- DolciDesserts
- Serves
- 20
- Hands-on
- 1 h 36 min
- Cooking
- 52 min
- Plan
- 3 days
In breve
In short
Also called panatton and panettone milanese.
- Vegetarian
- Leavened only by lievito madre, refreshed three times until it triples each time in about 4 hours: no baker's yeast.
- Two doughs: the first rises 10–12 hours at 26 °C–28 °C to triple; the second adds yolks, butter, honey, citrus, raisins and candied peel.
- Rounded tight into a paper mould, risen almost to the rim, then cut with a cross and a knob of butter on top, the Milanese finish.
- Baked at 175 °C for 52 minutes for a 1 kg panettone, then hung upside down for 12–14 hours so the dome does not sink.
- Above the legal minimums of 16% butterfat, 4% yolk and 20% raisins and candied peel.
La provenienza
Where this recipe comes from
Panettone, panatton in Milanese, is Milan's Christmas cake: a tall, soft dome of dough rich in butter and yolks, studded with raisins and candied orange and citron. A legend places its birth at the court of Ludovico il Moro in the late fifteenth century, when a kitchen boy called Toni saved a burnt Christmas dessert with a sweet bread of his own, the ‘pan del Toni’; a likelier story derives the name from the ‘pan grande’, the big Christmas bread Milanese families brought to the table. The oldest certain record dates from 1599, when the Collegio Borromeo in Pavia gave its baker butter, raisins and spices for thirteen big Christmas loaves. The first printed recipe appeared in Giovanni Felice Luraschi's Milanese cookbook of 1853, candied fruit a year later in Giovanni Vialardi's, and the tall shape, risen in a mould, after the First World War. In 2007 the City of Milan entered panettone in its register of De.Co. foods.
There is no official recipe. Since 2005 an Italian decree has reserved the name for a cake leavened by the natural fermentation of sourdough, with a round base and a cracked top cut in the characteristic way, and with at least 16% butterfat, 4% yolk and 20% raisins and candied citrus peel; since 2017 the butter must come from cow's cream. The text of Milan's De.Co. could not be found. We compared eleven sources and publish the most widely recognised version. The home recipes made with lievito madre agree on a starter refreshed two or three times until it has grown well (tripled in some, doubled in others); a first dough left to rise overnight; a second dough with more yolks, sugar, butter and salt, then the fruit; a rounding into the mould (pirlatura), a long rise in the mould, and cooling upside down. Most cut a cross on the top and put butter in it; some makers glaze the top with almonds instead, or add cream or citrus pastes. By our calculation these quantities give about 19% butterfat, 10% yolk and 23% fruit on the dough's dry matter, within the law. Every rise depends on holding the dough at 26–28 °C, so keep a thermometer beside it.
- Provenance
- A regional tradition documented in cookbooks and local practice, with no single official text.
- Defined by
- Milanese tradition
- Reference
- Compared across 11 sources, listed below; this page publishes the most widely recognised version.
- Sources
- Gazzetta Ufficiale: decree of 22 July 2005 on certain baked confectionery, reserving the name panettone (Article 1 and annexes) (Italian)
- Gazzetta Ufficiale: decree of 16 May 2017 amending the 2005 decree on baked confectionery (Italian)
- Dissapore: Iginio Massari's panettone made at home, with his lievito madre and refreshments (Italian)
- Dissapore: Iginio Massari on five mistakes to avoid with a home-made panettone (Italian)
- Giallo Zafferano: panettone, recipe by pastry chef Alfonso Pepe (Italian)
- Dissapore: Mauro Morandin's panettone to make at home (Italian)
- Scatti di Gusto: panettone at home, ingredients and timings by pastry chef Armando Palmieri (Italian)
- YesMilano, the city's promotion agency Milano & Partners: panettone, Milan's Christmas cake, with a recipe (Italian)
- City of Milan, Food Policy: the register of De.Co. food products, with panettone recognised in 2007 (Italian)
- Scatti di Gusto: who invented panettone? Three legends and a history (Italian)
- Wikipedia: Panettone, its history (Italian)
Ingredienti
Ingredients
For the lievito madre: each of the three refreshments
For the first dough
For the second dough
To finish
Equipment
- Stand mixer with a dough hook
- Kitchen scale accurate to 1 g, and a small one accurate to 0.1 g for the vanilla and the zests
- A narrow graduated glass for the spia, and a straight-sided container for the first dough
- A warm place that holds 26 °C–28 °C (a proving box, or the oven switched off with only its light on) and a thermometer to check it
- Cling film and a dough scraper
- Two paper panettone moulds for 1 kg
- A razor blade or scalpel
- Probe thermometer
- Four long metal skewers or knitting needles, and two supports of the same height (two pots or two chairs) to hang the panettoni from
- Two food bags that close airtight
Preparazione
Method
Three days, mostly waiting. Day 1: refresh the lievito madre three times, about 4 hours each, starting in the morning (4 hours more if it needs a fourth); in the evening rinse the raisins and make the first dough (about 30 minutes), which triples overnight in 10–12 hours. Day 2: the second dough (about 40 minutes), 40–60 minutes of rest, shaping, 6–7 hours of rising in the moulds, half an hour uncovered and 52 minutes in the oven; then the panettoni hang upside down overnight, 12–14 hours. Day 3: bag them. You need an active lievito madre, one that triples in about 4 hours (if you have none, start one well ahead, as the first step explains), and a warm place that holds 26 °C–28 °C. The quantities make two panettoni of about 1 kg.
- 1 h 36 minhands-on
- 52 mincooking
- 3 daysfrom start to table
Day 1, from the morning: three refreshments of the lievito madre
The starter must be strong: refreshed three times in a row, each time it should triple in about four hours at 28 °C. If it does not, the doughs rise slowly and poorly, and the panettone suffers.
-
Hands-on 5 min
Cut away the dry outer skin of your lievito madre and weigh 50 g from the soft inside. Knead it with 55 g of flour and 25 g of water into a smooth, firm ball. Pinch off a small piece, drop it into a narrow graduated glass and note its level: this is the spia, which shows when the starter has tripled. Put the ball in a covered container.
Check A smooth, firm dough, and a spia with its starting level marked.
Tip No lievito madre? Start one well ahead: knead 100 g of blended ripe fruit with 200 g of flour and 50 g of water, sink the dough in at least four times its weight of water at 20 °C–24 °C and keep it at 26 °C–28 °C for 48 hours, until it floats. If it has not floated, knead it with its own weight of flour and 40% of that weight in water and repeat; once it floats, keep refreshing it until it triples in about 4 hours. Or ask a bakery that uses one for a piece.
-
Rest 4 hTemp 26 °C–28 °C
Leave the starter and its spia at 26 °C–28 °C until the spia has risen to three times its first level, about 4 hours.
Check The spia stands at three times its mark.
Tip Small amounts of dough rise more slowly: if yours lags, keep it a degree or two warmer, at 28 °C–30 °C.
Tip If it takes much longer than 4 hours, the starter is weak. Refresh 250 g of it with 200 g of flour and 100 g of water into a firm dough, and keep refreshing until it triples in 4 hours before you begin.
-
Hands-on 5 min
Weigh 50 g from the inside of the risen starter and knead it again with 55 g of flour and 25 g of water. Start a new spia. Keep what is left over as your own starter.
Check A smooth, firm ball and a new spia.
-
Rest 4 hTemp 26 °C–28 °C
Leave it at 26 °C–28 °C until the spia has tripled, about 4 hours.
Check The spia stands at three times its mark.
-
Hands-on 5 min
Once more, weigh 50 g from the inside of the risen starter and knead it with 55 g of flour and 25 g of water, with a new spia.
Check A smooth, firm ball and a new spia.
-
Rest 4 hTemp 26 °C–28 °C
Leave it at 26 °C–28 °C until the spia has tripled, about 4 hours. Meanwhile take the butter for the first dough out of the fridge, so it is soft when you need it.
Check The spia stands at three times its mark, in about 4 hours: the starter is ready.
Tip The method followed here also asks, in its advice, for four consecutive refreshments of 4 hours at 26 °C–28 °C: if the third was slow, give a fourth the same way and allow 4 more hours.
Day 1, evening: the first dough
-
Hands-on 5 min
Rinse the raisins in a sieve under running water, drain them and spread them on a clean cloth, covered, until the morning.
-
Hands-on 16 min
Put 400 g of flour, 140 g of water at 22 °C–24 °C and 120 g of sugar in the mixer bowl and knead with the dough hook at low to medium speed for about 16 minutes, until a dough has formed.
Check A firm, smooth dough that holds together round the hook.
-
Hands-on 5–10 min
Weigh 100 g of the starter from the third refreshment. Add 100 g of soft butter, the starter in pieces and 120 g of yolks, a little at a time, letting each addition be taken up before the next, and knead until the dough is smooth.
Check Large air bubbles start to appear on the surface: the gluten is well formed. Stop before the dough turns very glossy, which means it has been overworked.
Tip In a professional mixer the whole first dough, the first 16 minutes included, takes no more than 25 minutes; a home mixer may need longer, so go by the bubbles.
Tip A long knead warms the dough: if it rises above about 28 °C, the butter begins to separate. Stop, chill the bowl in the fridge for 10 minutes, then carry on.
-
Rest 10–12 hTemp 26 °C–28 °C
Put the dough in a straight-sided container, mark its level, cover it with film and leave it at 26 °C–28 °C for 10–12 hours, until it has tripled. A spia in a graduated glass helps here too.
Check The dough is three times its starting volume.
Tip Do not start the second dough before the first has tripled: every hour missing here costs about three hours in the final rise.
Day 2, morning: the second dough
The whole second dough should take no more than 40 minutes in the mixer, 35 at best. Take out the butter in good time so it is soft.
-
Hands-on 15 min
Tip the risen first dough into the mixer with 100 g of flour, 2.5 g of vanilla powder and 2.5 g each of grated lemon and orange zest. Knead for about 15 minutes, until it is smooth again.
Check Smooth and elastic again.
-
Hands-on 5–7 min
Add 100 g of sugar and 25 g of honey with half of the 130 g of yolks, and knead until the dough is smooth and even again.
Check No streaks of yolk; the dough is smooth and comes away from the bowl.
-
Hands-on 3–5 min
Add 8 g of salt with a little more of the yolks, keeping the rest back, and knead until the dough comes together again.
Check The dough has re-formed round the hook.
Tip Salt always after the sugar, never before: the other way round leaves the dough too wet, and it needs a longer knead to recover.
-
Hands-on 8–10 min
Add 150 g of soft butter, the remaining yolks and the 70 g of water, a little at a time, letting each addition be taken up before the next. Stop adding water if the dough turns slack.
Check Smooth and even; a piece stretched between your fingers thins to a film without tearing easily.
-
Hands-on 3–4 min
Pat the raisins dry. Add them with 150 g of candied orange and 50 g of candied citron and knead at the lowest speed for 3–4 minutes, just until the fruit is evenly spread.
Check The fruit is spread through the dough, which is smooth and not torn.
Day 2: shaping and the last rise
-
Hands-on 5 min
Weigh the dough and divide it into two equal pieces, each just under 1 kg. On the board, round each into a loaf.
Check Two loaves of the same weight.
-
Rest 40 min to 1 hTemp 28 °C
Leave them on the board at about 28 °C for 40–60 minutes.
Check The loaves have relaxed and spread a little.
-
Hands-on 5 min
With lightly buttered hands, round each loaf again, turning it on the board and tucking the dough under itself until the surface is taut and smooth. Set each in a paper panettone mould for 1 kg.
Check A tight, smooth ball sitting in the middle of the mould.
Tip The name comes from pirla, Milanese for a spinning top: the dough is spun round on the board.
-
Rest 6–7 hTemp 28 °C
Cover the moulds loosely with film and leave them at about 28 °C until the top of the dough is almost at the rim: 6–7 hours, depending on the warmth, the humidity and the strength of the dough.
Check The dome has risen almost to the rim of the mould.
-
Rest 30 min
Uncover the moulds and leave them at room temperature for half an hour, so the surface dries into a thin skin. Meanwhile heat the oven to 175 °C, conventional setting, no fan, with a shelf in the lower third.
Check The surface is dry to a light touch.
-
Hands-on 3 min
With a razor blade or scalpel, cut a shallow cross from edge to edge across the top of each panettone, just through the skin, and put a knob of butter in the centre.
Check A clean cross on each top, with butter at its centre.
-
Cooking 52 minTemp 175 °C
Bake both panettoni together at 175 °C for 52 minutes, without opening the door.
Check The dome is a deep golden brown and a probe pushed into the centre reads 92 °C.
Tip 52 minutes is the time for a 1 kg panettone; the probe confirms it. Our guide: if the centre is still below 92 °C, give it 3–5 minutes more and probe again.
Tip If your oven cannot hold both moulds with room around them, make half the quantities, for one panettone; a smaller dough rises a little more slowly.
Day 2 to day 3: cooling upside down
-
Hands-on 3 min
As soon as they come out of the oven, push two long skewers or knitting needles right through each panettone, parallel, a little above the base, and hang it upside down between two supports of the same height.
Check Each panettone hangs freely, its dome touching nothing.
Tip Upside down, the soft dome cannot sink as it cools.
-
Rest 12–14 h
Leave them hanging for 12–14 hours.
Check Cold right through, and the crumb has set.
-
Hands-on 5 min
Turn them the right way up, pull out the skewers and close each panettone in a food bag, pressing out the air.
Check Bags closed tight, with no air inside.
Tip Air makes a panettone stale faster.
Tip It is good from the next day; some makers wait four or five days before cutting, so the dough takes on the scent of the fruit.
The essentials, for cooks who know the dish. Switch to Detailed for quantities, temperatures, times and checks at every step.
Press “I’m here” on the step you are on, and again when it is done.Tap the pin on the step you are on, and the tick when it is done. Timers keep running while you scroll.
Da sapere
Good to know
- WhenQuando
- Christmas. In Milan it is also eaten on 3 February, the feast of St Blaise, protector against ailments of the throat. Source
- KeepingConservazione
- Closed in a food bag it keeps for a week, and its scents come out after two days in the bag. It can also be frozen once baked. Source
- VariantsVarianti
- Glazed with almonds: Instead of the cross and butter, the risen panettone is covered with a glaze of almonds, hazelnuts, sugar and egg white and sprinkled with sugar nibs before baking: the low, glazed panettone of Brescia. Source
- With bread dough and whole eggs: A home version for 3 kg leavens with 250 g of bread dough, built up with flour over about seven hours, uses whole eggs as well as yolks, and pours the rest of the butter into the cross after 5 minutes at 200 °C–220 °C. It has far less fruit than today's law requires of a panettone. Source
Errori comuni
Common mistakes
- A starter that does not triple in about 4 hours: the doughs rise slowly and poorly, and the panettone suffers. Refresh it until it does before you begin.
- Starting the second dough before the first has tripled: every hour missing costs about three in the final rise.
- A flour that is too strong: the dough is too rich in protein and its starches do not ferment properly. Stay within W 280–320.
- Salt before sugar: the dough turns too wet. Sugar first, then salt.
- Kneading too little: the dough stays uneven and tears, letting out the gas it needs.
- Kneading until the dough is glossy: it is overworked. Stop when large bubbles appear on the surface.
- Skimping on the fruit: the panettone comes out dry, with less scent and an uneven crumb.
- Baking a 1 kg panettone longer than it needs: 52 minutes, and a few more only if the centre is still below 92 °C.
- Cooling it the right way up: the soft dome sinks.
Fuori dall'Italia
Cooking it outside Italy
- W, the strength of the flour, is printed on Italian bags; elsewhere choose a strong white bread flour, but not the strongest you can find, since an over-strong flour makes the dough too rich in protein for its starches to ferment properly.
- Lievito madre is a stiff sourdough starter, kneaded like a dough with about half as much water as flour; a runny starter is not the same and will not follow these timings.
- Raisins: sultanas, called golden raisins in the US. Candied citron is sold as citron peel; buy candied orange and citron in large pieces and cut them into small cubes yourself if you cannot find cubes.
- Vanilla powder is ground vanilla pod; vanillin is not a substitute.
- Paper panettone moulds are sold online by the weight of panettone they hold.
