I’ve always wanted to make a panettone. I’ve always been intrigued as to how the fluffy texture is created. I do love to also eat panettone. Since my Husband’s side of the family are Italian, I’ve eaten a fair few, and some really good ones too! We always buy ours at Lidls because, being a supermarket that specialise in goods from Europe, they usually do a really good one, and at a good price. However this year, as I’ve decided to do Blogmas, I thought i’d try and make some of my bakes Italian themed. So i’m starting off with the bake most people think of when they think of Christmas in Italy, and that’s this rum-soaked fruit, topped with almonds, Panettone. The recipe is from the BBC website however I’ve adapted it very slightly.
Ingredients
The Cake
4 tbsp warm, semi-skimmed milk
2 x 7g satchets of fast-action dried yeast
100g caster sugar
250g salted butter, softened
5 medium eggs, lightly beaten
2 tsp vanilla extract
grated zest of 1 lemon and 1 orange
500g strong white bread flour + extra for dusting
80g raisins
80g sultanas
3 tbsp dark rum
100g candied peel
The Topping
30g almonds, roughly chopped
1 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp egg white
1 tbsp icing sugar
You will also need a 16cm panettone tin.
The Method
1. Grease your panettone tin with butter. I chose to use this Ibili one from Amazon. You can also use a deep cake tin.
6. Tip the dough onto a floured surface and knead for a further 10 minutes. Your dough should be soft and stretchy. Lightly grease a bowl to put your dough in. Wrap lightly with cling film and place in a warm place for 2 hours until doubled in size.
7. Meanwhile, weigh the raisins and sultanas into a small pan and add the rum. Heat on a slow heat until the rum has been absorbed by the fruit. Set aside to cool.
8. Once the dough has risen, tip onto a floured surface and knead for 5 minutes more. Gradually knead in the fruit, as well as the candied peel.
9. Shape the dough into a ball and pop into your tin. As my tin was slightly smaller than the BBC recipe tin, I wrapped some baking paper around the tin with string, to ensure the dough can rise safely without toppling over. You can do the same if you’re using a deep cake tin. Or you can use a 20cm one like in the BBC recipe.
Cover with cling film and rise in a warm place for another hour, until risen to the top of the tin or paper.