The Fresh Loaf

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Panettone by Massimo Vitali

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Panettone by Massimo Vitali

Anyone who has seen my blog knows I make naturally leavened panettone often. I have tried a new recipe by Massimo Vitali which includes cocoa butter. The recipe also calls for milk powder which I don't keep, so I left it out. I made a few other adjustments with water and flavourings but other than that it's as described in the formula.

Finished dough.
 

 

Baked. The dough surface was very tight and ruptured in the oven. More water next time!
 

 

Crumb.
 

 

Formula.
 

Comments

Kollin's picture
Kollin

 

Mmmm looks great!

May  be a stupid question but which part of the table is percentage and which grams :)

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Thanks.

First two columns from left are weight in grams. Column far right is percent where 100% is total flour per dough. Next left is percent where total flour is 100% (80+20) across both doughs. The table below is the total ingredients including flour and water from the leaven (50% hydration). 

It makes sense to me :) 

Kollin's picture
Kollin

Perfect,  thank you!  :D

lumos's picture
lumos

Lovely panettone, again, Michael. The crumb looks really good and actully I really like the ruptured top very much.  I think it's quite attractive like that, especially with white bits of icing(?). 

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Thanks lumos. Glad you like it. Your correct the icing is supposed to crack but the dough underneath burst causing a gash just left of the centre effecting the rise slightly. I'm too much of a perfectionist - it's a curse!

clazar123's picture
clazar123

There are no added flavorings that I see such as vanilla or fiori de sicilia. Do you use any of these? Did the cacao butter add a different dimension to the flavor? Food grade cacao butter is a difficult ingredient to find here (Wisconsin,USA) -most of it is in the form of a cosmetic for skin.

The loaf is absolutely beautiful! Can you talk a bit about technique,please?

mwilson's picture
mwilson

I keep my formulas simple with just the basic ingredients as I like to tweak things here and there. The original calls for vanilla seeds which I was going to add but I simply forgot! I did add Aroma Panettone (very similar to fiori de sicilia).

Adding cocoa butter makes it more festive and reminiscent of Christmas in my opinion.

I make panettone according to traditional methods. It would take a long time to detail all processes involved. But if you watch the video on my blog under the name Gary Rulli, he describes it well.

Thanks

Michael

ananda's picture
ananda

Hello Michael,

For all it's a very rich dough, I agree Vitali's formula is pretty simple.   but I'm still reeling from over-mixing several kilos of this dough just before Christmas!!!

The cocoa butter sounds interesting.   It appears to have little effect on the appearance of the finished bread; what about in the eating?

Beautiful Panettone!

Best wishes

Andy

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Hi Andy.

Simple but involved. I spent two days getting the yeast back in shape after pulling from the fridge, feeding 4 times a day. I smell and taste the yeast to make sure it's on track as well as measuring it's pH. It's wonderful to work with. When leaving the yeast overnight I tie it up wrapped in cloth - It's like tucking it in for bedtime. Only Italians could come up with such a method!

Sorry about your over-mixing. I have over-mixed countless times, wasting more ingredients than I care to think about! So I understand how you feel. But over-mixing is becoming less of an occurrence these days as I mix only on min and 1st speed on my kenwood chef. Panettone dough is best suited to mixing gently and for a long time. Whenever I watch it being made in Italy they are always using twin arm mixers. 

I'll have to let you know about the taste as it takes at least 24hrs to develop it's flavour after cooling fully.

Thanks Andy.

Michael

mwilson's picture
mwilson

This is now on my blog @ http://staffoflife.wordpress.com

includes links to Massimo Vitali's youtube channel and the recipe.

Syd's picture
Syd

It looks gorgeous and despite your protestations to the contrary, it's perfect, the gash notwithstanding. I have always shied away from making these intensively mixed doughs because I don't have a stand mixer and it looks like it would take an awful long time if it were to be mixed by hand.  Have you ever mixed one by hand? 

Best,

Syd

mwilson's picture
mwilson

'Thanks Syd.

I have mixed by hand before. It is actually quicker by hand but it's not without problems. The egg yolks make the dough sticky and I tend to lose too much dough with it sticking to the back of my fingers and given that this can only be mixed by gradually adding ingredients I get the dough everywhere! I may mix by hand again in future. If I do I'll be keeping a block of butter handy to help keep the dough from sticking.

EDIT: I just realised you're probably wondering why the dough would stick to the back of my fingers - It's because I used my hands to mimic a twin arm mixer rather using the heel of my hand, which come to think of it might be a better approach! Anyway it's certainly possible by hand, just awkward is all!

nicodvb's picture
nicodvb

elongated crumb, marvellous job!

The cocoa butter is an unusual ingredient in panettone. It's generally used in pandoros. The cocoa butter I have is quite tasteless. How does it contribute to the flavor in your opinion?

You are a GREAT baker!

mwilson's picture
mwilson

Thanks Nico.

Much appreciated.

The cocoa butter has a rich and intense aroma that adds a subtle boost to the overall flavour.

Thanks again.

Michael