Panettone

Christmas time, mistletoe and wine as Sir Cliff once said. He failed to mention Panettone. Silly Cliff.
I made some for the first time and its rather nice but I did manage to deactivate the yeast, so there wasn't much rising going on but you win some and lose some.

Ingredients:

1x 7g sachet fast action yeast
400g strong white flour
75g caster sugar
2 large eggs and 2 extra yolks
3 tablespoons lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
zest of one orange
zest of one lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
175g unsalted softened butter
75g sultanas
50 candied peel
50g dark chocolate finely chopped
40g unsalted butter to finish

Equipment:

1x 15cm deep cake tin lined with greaseproof paper.
(I didn't have the correct size tin so I did it in two batches in a small loaf tin)


Firstly, mix the yeast with 125g of the flour and sugar then make a well in the centre. Beat the whole eggs with the water and pour into the well.

Using your hand give it a mix until you have a smooth batter, and then leave for an hour in a warm area until the batter is bubbly. It is potentially here where I didnt leave it for long enough for the yeast to work properly.

Next, stir the egg yolks, vanilla and zests into the batter. Gradually stir 175g of the flour and the salt so you end up with a sticky dough. Salt can deactivate the yeast as well so again this is where my issue may have occurred as well. Add the softened butter and work it in by squeezing the dough through your fingers. Do this till there are no streaks.

Once fully combined you need to turn the dough out onto a floured worktop and kneed for 10 minutes so you have a soft stretchy but not sticky dough. Add the remaining flour while kneading and you may find you need a little less or a little more. Feel free to pop on a bit of music to wile away the time.

After 10 minutes pop the dough in a bowl and cover with clingfilm. Leave it to rise for 2-2.5 hours in a warm place but not in direct sunlight. After this time uncover and punch the dough down and leave again for another 1-1.5 hours to rise again.
While the dough is rising combine the sultanas, candied peel and choc in a bowl with a little bit of flour so they do not stick together. I split the batch into two so one batch had just the fruit and the other fruit and chocolate.
Next line your cake tin/loaf tin/ so it is ready. Make sure the greaseproof paper is about 5cm or so higher than the tin.

Once this time is up you punch the dough down again and then roll it onto a floured worktop. Gently place the fruit/chocolate mix so it is evenly distributed. Turn it into a ball (cake tin) or a roll in my case and put it in the loaf tin. Make a cross on top of the dough then cover and leave for an hour to rise.

Preheat the oven to gas 6 and melt 25g of butter. Then just before putting the Panettone in, brush the top with the melted butter, put a 15g knob of it in the middle (15g for cake tin or two 7.5g knobs on each of the loaves).
Put it in the oven and after 10 minutes brush it again with the melted butter and reduce to gas 4. Leave it in the oven for about 40 minutes (or about 30 minutes for each loaf). When a skewer comes out clean it is done.

When done pop on a rack to cool and take it out of the tin after 10 minutes. Make sure it is completely cool before slicing.

Then eat! Give it a toast and spread with butter. Nom nom nom.

Recipe taken from the Great British Bake Off How to Bake Book.