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This classic Italian Panettone bread tastes amazing! Impress everyone with delicious homemade panettone for Christmas or Easter – this is the only panettone recipe you’ll ever need!
Panettone fruit bread is a classic Christmas and Easter recipe that will be a perfect addition to your holiday feast!Panettone is so soft, tall, round and loaded with fruit – this huge towering loaf is everybody’s favorite!
Here’s a little panettone history – panettone originated in Italy in the 14th century – the oldest reference to panettone dates back to 1470 in Milan.Italian word “panetto” means “small loaf cake”, and the Italian suffix “-one” changes to meaning to “large loaf cake”. And surely large it is!
Is panettone a bread or cake? Because it’s sweet and has dried fruits in it, it’s often called a fruit cake.I saypanettone is a sweet bread! Panettone dough is made with yeast and has to rise like a bread dough, so that makes it a bread in my book :)
Because of its hybrid bread/cake nature, you can eat panettone many different ways – as a bread with the main course, as a cake for dessert or in the morning for breakfast!
Panettone makes a perfect Christmas morning breakfast and it also makes the best french toast ever! Check out my baked french toast recipe– making it with panettone slices will be a killer dish for a holiday brunch!
Panettone also makes a great homemade holiday gift! Homemade Italian panettone bread made by you with love is the best Christmas gift ever! Just let freshly baked panettone fully cool down, then put in a gift plastic bag, tie it with a ribbon and your panettone fruit cake gift is ready to go!
To make a super-tall panettone bread like the one on the picture, you need a springform panettone pan (you can get them on Amazon). No pannetone pan? No problem! You can make pannetone in a regular 8-inch round cake pan. If you use a regular round cake pan, the panettone dough will rise above the rim of the pan during the dough rising stage, and then rise even more in the oven, so you will still get a delicious soft and tall loaf of Italian panettone!
If you like Italian panettone bread, you will also love these recipes:
Bread Machine Dinner Rolls – these are so soft and delicious! If you don’t own a bread machine, you can just knead the dough by hand :)
Cranberry Orange Christmas Bread – another great holiday loaf recipe that is really easy to make!
Candied Lemon or Orange Slices – they are so addictive, that’s a must for all citrus lovers!
Christmas Pinwheel Cookies – these cookies are so festive with beatiful red, green and white spiral swirls!
Christmas Fruit Salad – everyone loves fruit salad, and this one is all about the colors red, white and green!
Irish Soda Bread – another beautiful classic bread, save this one to your Easter recipe collection!
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Italian Panettone Bread (Christmas Fruit Cake)
This is the best Italian Panettone bread recipe ever! It rises so tall and comes out perfect every time! Once you try this easy Christmas Panettone recipe, you'll never make it any other way!
Prep Time2 hours hrs
Cook Time45 minutes mins
Total Time2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins
Course: Bread, Dessert
Cuisine: Italian
Servings: 8 servings
Ingredients
- 1 .25 ounce package active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp grated lemon zest
- 1 tbsp grated orange zest
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more if needed
- 1/3 cup dried currants
- 1/3 cup raisins
Instructions
Pour lukewarm water in a large bowl and add yeast and sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until foamy. (The foam shows that the yeast is working)
Add the yogurt, eggs, vanilla extract, lemon zest, orange zest and salt and mix until combined.
Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time and mix, until all the flour is incorporated.
Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, until the dough is soft and pliable. If the dough is sticky, add more flour 1 tbsp at a time, until no longer sticky.
Spray a new large bowl with cooking spray, put the panettone dough in the bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F. Spray a pannetone pan or a round 8-inch cake pan with non-stick cooking spray.
Punch down the dough in a bowl, move the dough to floured surface, add the dried currants and raisins and knead until the dried fruit is incorporated.
Form the panettone dough into a ball, put in a cake pan, cover loosely with a towel, and let rise for 30 minutes. (If you are using a regular round cake pan, the dough will rise above the pan sides).
Put the panettone in the oven and bake for 45 minutes.
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FAQs
This recipe works best with high gluten flour or normal bread flour modified with added vital wheat gluten. It is available on some stores and online too. But, I used King Arthur bread flour (12.7% gluten) and added some Fairhavan Mill 00 pizza flour. 00 Pizza flour has a very fine granule and high gluten percentage.
What is the secret of panettone? ›
Panettone is famous for its tangy flavor and yellow, soft and gooey dough that is unlike no other. The secret behind it is an Italian yeast called lievito madre, or mother yeast. But it's not an easy yeast to work with: you need time and patience to master it.
Is panettone the same as fruitcake? ›
There is nothing more natale (Italian for Christmas) than panettone, a holiday pastry that some (mistakenly) consider the Italian cousin of the fruitcake. But it isn't that at all. In Italy, the panettone is tradition, identity and a delicacy.
What fruit do they put in panettone? ›
The standard ones are candied orange peel, rum-soaked raisins, hazelnuts, chocolate chips and pearl sugar. But you can really add whatever you want. For me, I'd drop the orange peel and raisins and go all chocolate and nut. You will need a panettone mold, and Wade suggests getting one on Amazon from Novacart.
What is the best mixer for panettone? ›
The Bite/N mixers are perfect for particularly hydrated types of dough that are used to make baguettes, sliced bread, and breadsticks, for example, but also pastries such as croissants, panettone, and brioches.
Why is my panettone dough not rising? ›
Yeast prefers warmth
“). However, if you are patiently (or impatiently) waiting for your dough to rise and it is cold then you might be waiting for longer than you expect. If you want to hurry things along, you could try putting the dough near to a warm radiator or your oven.
Why is panettone so expensive? ›
Panettone tends to be a little more expensive than most other baked goods, mainly due to the amount of time that goes into making each one. A traditional panettone is usually a lengthy procedure, however, a cheap mass-produced alternative will take shortcuts in the baking process which will be reflected in its taste.
What does panettone mean in English? ›
noun,plural pan·et·to·nes [pan-i-toh-neez], Italian pan·et·to·ni [pah-net-taw-nee]. an Italian yeast-leavened bread, traditionally eaten on holidays, usually made with raisins, candied fruit peels, almonds, and brandy.
Why do you turn panettone upside down? ›
The dimensions should be around 13,5 cm / 5.3 inch diameter and a height of 9.5 cm / 3.7 inch. Panetonne needs to cool upside down after baking, because the delicate and fluffy bread would collapse if you leave it standing up after baking.
Is panettone fruit cake healthy? ›
We might like to pretend, based on its name, that fruitcake is a reasonably healthy sweet option, however this is not the case. Fruitcake tends to have high butter, sugar and syrup content, making it high in both fat and calorie content. The same goes for Panettone- the Italian bread that has become a holiday favorite.
Panettone can be served just as it is, but many people find it a bit dry. It's common to serve it with a sweet wine and an accompaniment of something rich and creamy, perhaps based on mascarpone (with egg yolks, as used in tiramisu), plus dried or candied fruits.
Why do Italians give panettone at Christmas? ›
Panettone has a rich history dating back to medieval Milan. Legends surround its origin, but it's generally believed that a young nobleman fell in love with a baker's daughter, creating the sweet bread to win her heart. Over time, Panettone gained popularity, becoming a symbol of Italian Christmas celebrations.
Do you put butter on panettone? ›
Panettone can be eaten in a variety of ways. It's commonly sliced and enjoyed as is, but it can also be toasted, buttered, used in desserts like bread pudding, or even paired with savoury dishes.
Does panettone need to be refrigerated? ›
Storing: Keep your panettone in a dry and cool place (54-65°F), away from direct sunlight. This is especially important if you have purchased a panettone with a glaze; they will be extremely sensitive to heat and light. After slicing, store the remaining inside of the cellophane bag that it was originally wrapped in.
What alcohol is in panettone bread? ›
A recipe for Panettone, Italian Christmas bread, with a brioche-like dough infused with a vanilla bean and studded with rum-soaked raisins and candied orange peel.
Can you use 00 flour for panettone? ›
Italian mills will usually sell flour based on what its purpose is for. For long fermented doughs such as panettone the flour will be '00' but with a stronger gluten content than the '00' flour they'll sell for pizza or pasta making. An all-purpose flour can also be '00'.
What flour do Italians use for cakes? ›
For cookies, bars, cakes/cupcakes, biscuits, scones, or anything that needs a tender crumb, use Farina di grano tenero, 00. This is your “cake flour.” Nobody wants a chewy cake.
What is the best bread Italian flour? ›
Basic Ingredients 00 wheat flour (AKA farina di grano tenero 00) is an imported Italian flour. It is an excellent choice for making artisan breads, particularly those involving sourdough and long fermentation processes.
What bread flour is used in Italy? ›
Grano duro is slightly yellow, more granular, and more commonly used for pasta and some breads in the south of Italy. It's also knows as durum wheat flour. Grano tenero is generally what we think of as white flour, and is more broadly used in bread, pizza, and pastry, and northern pasta doughs.
