August 27, 2023 - 5:38am
Apricot Pecan Caramel Panettone
This panettone is a pleasing combination of vanilla, caramel and nut flavors, enhanced with bright fruit notes.
Baking panettone is challenging, and can be discouraging, but persistence pays off at breakfast time!
Base recipe is the Mirko Iannarelli formula 72-28%
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Absolutely incredible!!!
It's very good with coffee!
Wow that crumb is incredible Sue, well done. I’ve love a wedge of that for breakfast or for dessert, in fact anytime really.
Benny
Thanks I appreciate it. This panettone was well-received on a panettone group also, so I feel I am finally "getting there". It's such a quixotic journey, but as you say, the rewards are there!
Hi Sue, beautiful panettone you've created. And it looks very light. I'm curious about the caramel and wondering how you have incorporated it. Is it actual caramel pieces as add-ins, or have you infused caramel flavor another way? Thanks!
Hi Debra,
In this panettone, I used caramel baking bits, which I believe are a Kraft product. In other panettones, I sometimes use a salted caramel base from Fabbri.
Best regards, Sue
Here's a picture of this batch's inclusions. The chickpea-looking bits on top are the caramel pieces.
5FB75CD5-CEAC-4085-B1DF-A2D327172A45.jpeg
Ah yes, I have seen the caramel bits next to the chocolate chips, but I've never baked with them. Your white chips remind me that I have caramelized white chocolate once to use in a frosting recipe. The caramelizing was done in the oven on a silpat and when cooled could be chopped and used as an add-in. The texture changes a bit, but it had a nice caramel taste.
So many possibilities ....
Happy baking,
dw
I love the idea of caramelizing white chocolate! Kind of like dulce de leche, which might also be good in panettone... however the sugar balance in panettone is critical because of the very long rise times with multiple doughs. Using solidified caramelized chocolate gets around the issue of altering the sugar percentage in the dough. I have Callebaut Gold chocolate which is supposed to be caramelized, but the flavor isn't exactly that.
The nice thing about DIY is that you can caramelize to the degree you like. You could probably even do this to the Callebaut Gold if you want to make it darker. The question is, will it stay solid in the warm dough through mixing and fermentation? The chips, probably. Not sure about a higher quality of chocolate once it's out of temper. But it would be worth playing with :)
PRO TIP: For a lighter flavor, roast white chocolate just until color starts to change, about 30 minutes. This is best for pairing with subtle flavors, such as fresh berries. For a stronger flavor, roast until chocolate resembles peanut butter and has a strong nutty fragrance, about 1 hour. This will produce something slightly less sweet with an assertive caramel flavor. ~ Bake from Scratch: Cake, June 2019
Wow, I will definitely try this! I have two bags of the W2 Callebaut callets, which are ok but not optimal for panettone. This might improve them!
Yes, one goal will be to try to ensure that the result is still meltable, since their action in panettone requires melting.
Thank you so much! - Sue
I don't think you'll have to worry about it being meltable, it will melt again during the baking. What I hope is that it will stay solid for you until then so that it doesn't affect your dough as the dough is a warm one. Good quality, tempered chocolate can handle it, but I wonder if you can retemper white chocolate after caramelizing it or if you even need to. Maybe caramelizing changes it in ways that solve the issue, but these are answers I don't have, so I will be very interested in your experience with it.
Thank you!
dw
Wow Sue! That looks delicious! I know it's been quite a journey for you, but I'm so happy that you never gave up and this is the result.
Thank you for always being willing to help others =) and keep posting your panettones pics,
Happy baking,
JC
Thanks for the comment! I believe I am always going to be working on the next 5% improvement.
With each batch, there are several things to adjust for the next batch. I am going to be trying the sugared LM approach of @sourbakerNZ on Instagram to see if there is an improvement in first dough acidity... time for me to get the LM out of storage and start working on that!
Cheers, Sue
Well done!
Please, could you share your recipe?