How to Bake Panettone - Italian Christmas Bread. Bake Your Own Italian Christmas Cake at Home.
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Recipe type: Christmas / Cake
Cuisine: Italian
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Cook time: 
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Panettone is a fruity Italian Christmas bread. It has an astonishing shelf-life of months, and can be prepared well ahead of time. This Panettone recipe is quick and easy to make, even if you don't have a traditional Panettone tin.
Ingredients
  • 400g Strong white flour
  • 75g Butter, softened
  • 50g Caster sugar
  • A pinch of nutmeg
  • Rind of 1 lemon, finely grated
  • 2 Tsp Dried yeast
  • 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
  • 150ml Milk, warmed
  • 125g Seedless raisins
  • 50g Candied citrus peel
Instructions
  1. Place the flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine bread crumbs.
  2. Pour in the caster sugar, nutmeg, lemon and orange rind, yeast, raisins and candied peel.
  3. Add the eggs and the warm milk and mix this until a dough comes together.
  4. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead this for 5 minutes until smooth and elastic, sprinkling a little flour on every time it gets too sticky.
  5. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with cling wrap and allow yo rise for 1 hour and 15 minutes in a warm place.
  6. Traditionally, panettone is baked in a tall cylindrical pan, 120mm or 5 inches in diameter, and 180mm or just over 7 inches tall. This is how you will bake the bread in a regular deep cake pan.
  7. Line the bottom of the pan with a circle of baking paper.
  8. Cut off a length of baking paper just slightly longer than the circumference of the pan. Fold the paper in half lengthways.
  9. Insert the paper into the pan to line the surround.
  10. After the first rise, punch the dough down, then tip it out onto the work surface. Knead the dough for 3 to 5 minutes, then transfer it to the pan. Press the dough into the pan, cover loosely with cling wrap and allow this to rise for a further 45 minutes in a warm place.
  11. Bake the panettone in a preheated at 180c or 350f for 45 minutes until it is a deep golden brown color and sounds hollow when tapped. Check the top for browning halfway through and cover loosely with foil if it is browning to quickly.
  12. Remove the loaf from the oven and turn it out onto a wire rack to cool. Sift a generous layer of icing sugar over the top of the loaf. Allow the loaf to cool completely before cutting.
  13. This loaf will keep for months stored loosely wrapped in a cool, dry place.
Recipe by Whats4Chow at https://whats4chow.com/2014/10/03/how-to-bake-panettone-italian-christmas-bread-bake-your-own-italian-christmas-cake-at-home/