Panettone Saga Step 5 (Colomba #2)

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sparkfan on 25 Jun 2025 at 03:23
Colomba

What do you call the time between Easter and Christmas? Exactly! Time to practice making panettone!
I just couldn’t resist without baking another panettone — or in this case, colomba. This time with cranberry and white chocolate.

I originally wanted to store my sourdough starter in the fridge over the summer for a longer period and only refresh it occasionally. But then I changed my mind. Now, a small amount is fed every 24 hours at a ratio of 1:2 and stored at 16° - 18°C. Once a week, or before baking, I do a warm cycle (24°-25°C). The result convinced me. I think, I'll stick with this LM management method.

 

After 30-35min in the oven

 

Today in the morning, cooled down. Unfortunately a few wrinkles on top. While hanging top side down the "head" and the "tail" of the dove were probably a bit heavy or the dough not stable enough (too much white chocolate???) and they sagged a bit creating the wrinkles.

(I definitely need the super coarse pearl sugar)

 

Cross section

 

Time for the first coffee

 

grande lievitata. The crumb shows very low acidity, you must be hitting those pH targets?

I like your LM routine, I might try it or something similar...

Really great bake, well done!

Michael

Thank you, Michael! Indeed, this time the pH in primo was very "stable". About 5.6 after mixing and about 5.3 when the volume reached ~2.7x of the initial volume. Then I put the primo in the fridge to cool down a bit and let it rise to 3x of the initial volume.

Proofing temp for the primo: 24ºC

The pH of the LM was somewhere between 4.15 and 4.20 when I started mixing the dough.

Proofing temp for the secondo: 28ºC

Didn't measure the pH after mixing the secondo and after the final proof.

Mixing times were also in the "well known" target: ~20min for the primo and ~40min for the secondo (afair).

 

For the LM management I built about 2 weeks ago a new proofing box with a small cheap fridge (80l volume, no freezer) and an Inkbird ITC-308 digital temperature controller with sensor. Currently I use it only for cooling. It's warm enough outside, I don't need a heating mat.

I'm pretty sure, if I need heating, then it's cold enough to use my old proofing box (EPP box) with a heating mat, no need for cooling.

Maybe if I have time in the future I'll add also 1 or 2 heating mats to the fridge, if really needed. Or if I want only one proofing box.

If I don't need the fridge as proofing box, I turn it off. Or now, in the summer, before baking panettone, etc I cool it down to 4ºC and use it too cool down the mixing bowl and all the ingredients.