Climbing Mt. Panettone
My ambitious kid aims to achieve the improbable. I just want to eat a good one – again and again.
Happy Sunday, convertible cook!
Wylie is preparing to climb Mount Panettone.
You read that right. My first-born (and only-born) started talking about it last year, when I was working with Eataly and discovered, after a lifetime of panettone-naysaying, that I actually love the damn things.
By “climb Mount Panettone” I mean that Wylie intends to bake one, and he’s convinced he’ll succeed — despite the fact that the buttery, dome-topped Italian cake is apparently so difficult to create that it’s known as the Mount Everest of baking. Last year, I talked Wylie out of it. This year, he’s determined.
But let’s back up. Maybe you’re a panettone skeptic, or even a panettone antagonist, as I was for so long. That was because I had never had a great one, or even a good one.
I dove into the subject of panettoni (that’s the plural) because I was spending a lot of time in our local Eataly store, and I was amazed at the variety and volume of panettone it stocked starting in November — and how those big puffers flew off the shelves.
So I asked two close friends — both Italian-Americans with excellent taste — where they stand on panettone.
Said Douglas: “Love it. Could eat it every day 365 days a year.”
Said Michalene: “Mostly it isn’t very good. But when it is good it is great!”
Game on. I read everything I could find on the subject, learned where panettoni were invented (Milan and environs, where the most famous panettone bakers are), what makes a great one great, and so forth. I sampled a couple of dozen, and quickly became a panettone partisan.
One of the biggest takeaways: The reason there are so many terrible panettoni in the world is because they’re so difficult to make.
Another: There’s one baker in the U.S. who has gained fame nationally for making an outstanding one — Roy Shvartzapel, whose Northern California-based bakery is called From Roy. Shvartzapel, who was profiled in T (the New York Times style magazine) in 2016, learned to make panettone from a true master, Iginio Massari, at his Pasticceria Veneto, near Milan. And yes, you can order them from his bakery and have them delivered by mail.
A third: good panettoni are not cheap. From Roy’s goes for more than $100 each — $109 this season, to be precise. The ones imported from Italy and sold at Eataly or other fine food shops and online outlets range from about $35 to $85 or so.
What I learned: how they’re made
• The cake starts with buttery, eggy dough that takes 30 hours to rise, and requires a natural leavening known as lievito madre (mother yeast) that might be as old as 100 years. It’s like an incredibly finicky sourdough cake. Some bakers feed their starter every day all year to keep it going until the holiday season.
• The slow rise results in a feather-light yet rich and buttery cake with (if it’s a successful one) lots of vertical air pockets.
• The slow rise also lets a panettone keep for a very long time. The good ones (the real ones) have zero preservatives, but they’re shelf-stable for a month.
• Part of the challenge of making panettoni is that they have a tendency to collapse, like failed soufflés. To prevent that, they are hung upside down three days to finish,. This also helps them maintain the domed top that’s one of the hallmarks of a good panettone.
• Another part of the challenge is that they need to be ethereally light and airy, yet the dough needs to be strong enough to support lots of dried fruit (wine-soaked raisins, candied citrus, etc.) and/or nuts or bits of chocolate.
Panettone appreciation
The inside of a great panettone shows delicate strands with vertical caves. The crumb is rich and silky, not dry and crumbly. It should seem to melt in your mouth.
A classic panettone is dotted with raisins and sometimes other dried fruit, and flavored with citrus zest and perhaps candied orange. But there are a gazillion other flavorings and fillings as well, including chocolate, hazelnut, amarena cherry, pistachio cream, chestnut, fig and more. Often they’re topped with pearl sugar, which adds a lovely crunch.
Panettoni are great for dessert, of course, but they’re also fantastic for breakfast — often lightly toasted; they’re dreamy with coffee. Later in the day or evening, they might be enjoyed with moscato or other dessert wine.
To cut one, use a sharp serrated knife to either cut it into wedges, like a pie, cutting all the way through the paper collar it’s baked in. Or, use Roy Shvartzapel’s preferred method, and cut it in half, then cut one of the halves into slices.
Panettoni are traditionally offered as gifts throughout the holiday season, through New Year’s. That’s why they have such great packaging — just choose one and go; no need to wrap it.
Does a panettone have to be great to be worthwhile?
Actually, not in my book — I seem to be shaping up to be more of a Douglas than a Michalene.
I have sampled a great one: From Roy. Michalene had put me onto Roy Shvartzapel during my R & D. Last year, just as I was diving into the research, Thierry and I were headed for Thanksgiving to San Luis Obispo, where Michalene lives with her partner Dan. Wylie, who was living just up the coast in Monterey, joined us there. As a house-gift, I had ordered the From Roy panettone — candied orange-raisin — to be sent to Michalene and Dan. I thought it would arrive closer to Christmas, so they could have it to themselves to savor, but it arrived just before we did, so they sliced it and shared.
It was marvelous: feathery-light, incredibly buttery, absolutely dreamy. Probably I’ll never have one better than that.
Fabulous as it was, it didn’t ruin lesser panettone for me. I wouldn’t waste calories eating a bullshit one, but some of the imports are pretty good. Very light toasting revives them splendidly, and they’re wonderful with coffee. I love that they are shaping up into a new holiday tradition chez nous. You see — people can evolve!
A few I enjoyed last year
These all carry thirty-something-dollar price-tags:
Galup - Il Panettone Gran Galup al Moscato d’Astic DOCG
Filled with moscato-soaked raisins, it’s topped with almonds, pearl sugar and a hazelnut glaze. It’s shown above (I LOVE Galup’s packaging, and I do wish the almonds had been fresher).
Bonifanti Panettone with Chocolate Chips
Another one with a crackly hazelnut glaze, which goes wonderfully with its dark chocolate chips. Wrapped in chocolate-brown paper with a pretty star.
Vincente Il Poeta
Figs, walnuts, sultanas (golden raisins) and malvasia. Comes in a whimsical, colorful paper wrapper.
How my panettone season is shaping up
We’re only halfway through December, and already I’ve been treated to two lovely panettone. The first, gifted to me by a darling client and friend, was a brand I didn’t know — and still don’t: I was so excited to have panettone that we gobbled it up before I thought to photograph it or save the packaging or write down the brand. It was studded with frutti di bosco — berries. Lovely!
The second, gifted to me yesterday by another adorable client-friend, is a Triple Chocolate Panettone from a local Dallas baker, Girl With Flour. It’s extremely tall, with a beautiful domed top and magnificent vertical caverns in its crumb. Impressive! She’s sold out for this season.
Meanwhile, yesterday when I stopped at our local Italian grocery to pick up a panettone to bring to friends, I was greeted by a panettone tableau featuring two mammoth (10 kilogram!) panettoni that are being raffled. My name is now entered in that cheerful red box with white snowflakes. How amazing would it be to have a giant panettone you could literally climb?!
OK, that’s it for now. Wylie has ordered panettone molds and is actively trying to pre-solve problems of finding an appropriately protein-rich dough, masterminding a makeshift lievito madre and so forth. Hopefully I’ll have something to report on that front next week.
Yours in panettone-appreciation,
Leslie
P.S. Is there someone on your gift-list who wants to live their best food-life, enjoy fun reads and become the smartest food-lover at any table? Treat them to a gift subscription to Cooks Without Borders!
It’s so interesting to see the way panettone has changed over the decades. Most of them are more air than crumb now! My mom used to make homemade panettone when I was growing up. She didn’t use a sourdough starter (lievito madre) but she did let the dough rise at length, first as one mass, then in the coffee cans in which she baked the loaves. Her crumb was much tighter than what you see today, but it was delicious ~ especially toasted and spread with butter. Some years ago, I developed a recipe for the Chicago Tribune that lies somewhere in between my mom’s and the excessively airy ones that are popular now. It’s challenging but not impossible. And it’s fun! Tell your son to go for it! Let us know how it goes.
Leslie, did you try the pannetone that Jimmy's sells? If you did, what do you think?