Pandoro dough is made by mixing lievito madre or mother yeast with flour, sugar, butter and eggs which give traditional pandoro its signature luscious gold-yellow colour.
Lievito madre yeast has no sour taste unlike other other sourdough starters, hence pandoro bread tastes buttery, eggy, sweet. I call it sweet gold.
Panettone has the same buttery eggy dough but spiked with candied fruits and raisins.
The classic panettone is a 1 kg size, cupola shaped bread but it now comes in many shapes and sizes like octagons, stars etc as well as this popular duck.
This 10 kg panettone is enough for 100 servings 😮
The Italian tradition of eating pandoro and panetonne bread during Christmas has spread around the world with the Italian community including in Singapore. More and more non Italians are also appreciating the panetonne and pandoro culture especially during Christmas.
When you unwrap a panettone you will first smell a sweet buttery eggy fruity fragrance from candied fruits.
In the mouth, panettone feels like fluffy bread that is moist with butter and eggs. Depending on the type of candied fruits (only Mediterranean citrus will do) or fruit custard added to the bread, there will be additional layers of flavours and fragrances.
I was wrong. This was my first panettone. It may feel like a sponge cake to the uninitiated but we'll soon realise that panettone is actually a bread due to its soft-chewy texture.
The Italians take their panettone heritage very seriously. There are even strictly enforced laws that stipulate that authentic panettone must have at least 20% candied fruit, 16% butter, and eggs must contain 40% yolk. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)
After baking, panettone and pandoro are traditionally hung upside to rest as otherwise the bread made using lievito madre yeast will collapse on itself. (Image courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Panettone originates from Milan, the capital of Milano province in the region of Lombardy, northern Italy. (Map courtesy of Wikipedia.)
First mention of panettone in Milan was more than 550 years ago in the 1470s. Since that time, Milanese families used "pan de ton" or "luxurious bread" to break bread together during Christmas. (Image of Milan courtesy of Wikipedia.)
Of the food lores surrounding the creation of panettone, my favourite is the story of Ughetto degli Atellani, a Milanese nobleman who fell in love with Adalgisa, daughter of a baker.
Ughetto disguised himself as a baker’s boy and made a sweet bread filled with raisins, candied orange and citrus peel. The bread was so good that it won Adalgisa’s heart. Ughetto and Adalgisa lived happily ever after and we have panettone to this day 😄
There have been proposals to submit Panettone for UNESCO Intangible World Cultural Heritage inscription. My best wishes and hope that Panettone achieve the well deserved recognition soon.
So far this year I have tried five pandoro and panettone from various places from supermarkets, bakeries to hotels in Singapore. Quality varies from good to disappointing.
Wishing you a Merry Christmas.
One minute panettone primer.
Date: 2 Dec 2020