How to make naturally leavened Panettone with pasta madre

It's not easy. That's what I want to say. Firstly, you need a healthy active and well balanced pasta madre. Pasta madre is a stiff sourdough starter maintained in a very specific way. With a healthy pasta madre, then you can attempt making the panettone. In summary, you have to refresh the pasta madre a few times before using it for the first dough (primo impasto). Let the first dough ferment overnight and then the next morning, use the entire first dough to mix into the second dough (secondo impasto). This will be the final dough, which will then be shaped, risen and baked later on. After baking, you'll have to flip and panettone upside down and leave it hanging, again, overnight. All in all, it takes at least 3 days to make 1 batch of panettone.

Honestly, when I learned about the process, I did not want to make it anymore. Who has the time? I'm only a hobbyist baker. I have 3 kids, I work, I chaffeur. However, after my very first bake, I was hooked. It was tiring and stressful. Every stage of the process had a chance of failure. But because I did not fail in my first attempt, I was confident I could be better the next time. And so, it began. Now, after more than 2 years of making panettone, I have more questions than answers. This is the only bake that keeps me on my toes. There will be surprises, both good and bad, and the road to mastery is long and windy.

Here, let me share with you the recipe first, because the explanation of how to do it takes up time and word count. If you're interested in chocolate panettone instead, click here for the recipe.

This recipe makes 8 panettone that fit into the standard 500g mold. You can halve the recipe to make only 4 panettone. I usually use the taller alto casings and I bought mine from Bakery Bits UK. Here is the link to the item (non affiliated). Malt in the ingredient refers to diastatic malt powder. If you have none, you can always omit it. Yolks give panettone the colour, and I really love the deep orange colour of the organic Japanese eggs used for onsen tamago. Honey, I like to use organic acacia and always use unsalted butter. I buy dried sultanas and I wash and soak them overnight. Once they are hydrated, I drain and pat them dry. I keep sultanas and peels in the fridge so that when they are added to the final dough, they help bring down the dough temperature.

Here is the process.

Day before production

10-11am Feed the pasta madre 1:1 at 40% hydration and let it ferment for 22-24hours at 15C

Day 1

9am Pasta madre warm refreshment 1:1:0.43 28-30C until pH is 4.1 (usually 3 hours). Here, make sure you portion your pasta madre to 2, so that 1 will be fed and kept in the chiller as usual, and the other portion is for production.

12:30pm Another warm refreshment 1:1:0.43 28-30C until pH is 4.1 (usually 3 hours)

4pm Final warm refreshment, now 1:1.1 and use 45% water. Please remember to build your pasta madre so you have enough to use for first dough. Use it when the pH is at 4.1.

7.30-8pm Mix primo impasto

For primo impasto, the basic order is such. Mix flour, water, sugar and pasta madre until the dough is strong. Then slowly add yolks and butter. Each time before you add the ingredient, please make sure everything is absorbed first. Here's a video for reference. The dough should look smooth after adding yolks and then it'll turn shiny and silky after adding butter. Be careful to keep the dough cool (about 25-26C). If the dough warms too fast, put it in the fridge to cool it down first. There are other ways of mixing as well, but let's stick to this for now.

When the dough is ready, gently fold it and place in a large container that allows for it to rise at least 3-4 times the height. We actually aim for it to triple the size and at 25-26C, this takes about 12 hours, depending on the performance of your pasta madre.

Day 2

By the time the dough is at 2.5 times, put the dough in the fridge and let it triple and cool down. The entire dough needs to be cold before mixing. Once it's ready, check the dough to make sure it smells sweet and fruity with a tinge of alcohol from fermentation. pH level is ideally about 5.2-5.3. It's also fine if it's lower at 5. The first step will be to add in flour and malt together with the first dough until there is no dry flour left. Then add sugar and honey and aromatics if you're using any. You can also add some delicious homemade orange paste to the dough. By this time, the dough should look smooth and strong already. Slowly add in yolks then salt and butter. Again, always make sure ingredients are well absorbed into the dough before adding more. Dough temperature should also be around 25-26C. Lastly, add in the cold sultanas and candied peels. At this stage, do not overmix. Mix at the slowest speed for only a couple of minutes to evenly spread out the fruits.

Once the dough is ready, tip it out onto a work bench and let it rest for 15-20 minutes. Then, gently fold it and put in the large container again and let it bulk proof for about 45 minutes to an hour. After that, tip the dough out again to the work bench and divide the dough according to your needs. If you halved the recipe, divide into 4 and if you used the whole recipe, you can divide into 8 if you are using the 500g molds.

After dividing, preshape the doughs by rounding and let them rest again for about 30 minutes. During this time, insert 2 skewers at the bottom of the panettone mold, parallel to each other. This eases the process of flipping the panettone after bake. Then, shape and let them proof in their molds. Final proof can take anywhere from 5-7 hours at 28-30C. It depends on how you mixed the dough and also the leavening power of your pasta madre.

I don't usually glaze my panettone because of my hot and humid weather. If I glazed it, the glaze will soften and the sugar will make the panettone wet. Hence, before bake, I will put the unbaked panettone in the fridge for 15 minutes to dry out the skin. Then, I will take them out and score them like a cross. I will place a small piece of butter in the middle before putting it in the oven. My home oven can only bake 2 panettone at once. The temperature I use is about 160-165C and I bake for about 40 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the panettone reaches 95C. Bake setting is very dependent on your personal oven because each oven is different and the way it distributes heat differs very much so. My personal experience is that you have to try a few bakes of the same recipe with different settings to get the one that is ideal for you. What affects bake setting?

a) Recipe

b) Size of panettone

c) The number of panettone in the oven

d) Your oven itself

Once the panettone is baked, flip it immediately after removing from the oven. You'll have to make shift 2 long bars for the inverted panettone to rest on overnight.

Day 3

Morning comes and it's time to "harvest" your panettone. I am usually very impatient and I'd cut them in half to inspect the crumb immediately. However, it's best to wait 3 days so that the panettone can soak in its flavour. This makes the panettone taste even better! With gloves on, remove the skewers from the panettone and place it in individual plastic bags. I usually include some oxygen absorbers in the plastic before tying it tight and storing it somewhere cool and dry for the next few days.

My children love eating the panettone as is, but I personally love it toasted, with a cup of coffee. It's the breakfast for champions. If you read it until here, well done. It's a long and tedious process, and the writing of this post is just the same. I might have missed out some details, so don't hesitate to ask in comments.

Happy baking!

Lily