Sourdough Panettone

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Prepare the Sourdough Starter : refresh your starter for 4 times with a 4 hours interval.

First Dough

Ingredients 

160 g of 50% hydration sourdough starter, refreshed 4 times

290 g strong flour

95g water

90g sugar

75g butter at room temperature

3 egg yolks

The first dough can be made at night time. Start by mixing sourdough starter, water, flour and sugar and yolks. Work the dough until it wraps around the planetary mixer k-beater or if you are making the dough by hand until it stops sticking to the bowl.

Add the butter at room temperature in 3 steps; work the dough until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky, but smooth and elastic.

Change the K-beater with the hook and work the dough until it wraps firmly around the hook, and the gluten is fully developed.

Put the dough in a sealed tupperware, or a bowl inserted in a plastic bag,  and let it rise for 12 to 15 hours until it has tripled in volume.

Second Dough

Ingredients

145g strong flour 

45g water

3 egg yolks

50g sugar

5g salt

5g honey

5g malt

75g butter at room temperature

130g raisins

120 g candied mixed peels

2 tsps vanilla extract

2 tbsp rum or port to soak the raisins. 

Half an hour prior to starting the second dough soak the raisins in hot water and Rum or Port. Drain them and pat them dry them with kitchen paper.

Start the second dough by mixing water, sugar, salt, vanilla, malt, honey and egg yolks in a bowl or in the planetary mixer. 

Add the first dough and the flour.

Work the dough until it wraps around the planetary mixer k-beater or if you are making the dough by hand until it stops sticking to the bowl. Add the butter at room temperature in 3 steps; work the dough until the butter is fully incorporated and the dough is no longer sticky, but smooth and elastic.

Add the raisins and peels by hand, by stretching and folding the dough until they are fully incorporate. 

Make a ball with the dough and cover it with a bowl. Let it rest for 40 minutes.

Reshape the dough by folding it and forming a ball which you will position inside a Panettone  mould  (paper ones can be bought on the internet, we used bakerybits.co.uk).

A 1kg paper mould requires about 1200g of dough (which should be roughly what you will get by following this recipe).

Rest the Panettone mould on a baking tray and prove it in the oven with the light on for about 6 hours or until doubled in volume; it is advisable to insert a small pan full of boiling water in the oven as it will avoid the formation of a skin over  the dough by keeping the environment moist.

The Panettoni are ready to be sliced and then baked

Baking

Once the dough has reached the border of the mould heat your oven at 200 C.

Cut a cross with a razor blade and brush the top of the Panettone with melted butter.

Bake at 200 C for 6-7 minutes, briefly open the oven door to let the steam out then lower the temperature to 190 C for about 40 minutes. If the top of the Panettone gets too dark while baking ,cover it with foil.

Once baked remove from the oven; the Panettone has to be cooled upside down to keep the light structure.

To do so insert a couple of skewers through the base of the Panettone and then hang it inside a pan.

Let the Panettone cool for 12 hours prior to cutting it. It keeps for about 30 days if stored in a plastic bag.

Gently cut a cross over the top of the panettone with a razor blade 

Cut under each quarter and open up the dough like a flower

Brush with melted butter and recompose the dome

Insert the skewers at the bottom of the Panettone

We used two chairs to hang the Panettone