CHRISTMAS PANETTONE WITH LEMON AND POPPY SEED

November 26, 2014 4 Comments
This year getting ready for Christmas has started early. My boys are excited: learning lots of Christmas songs in the school, reading Santa tales in the bed with us and they are at stage that try to figure out how Santa can deliver all the presents for all the children if only one night he has all over the world. How can it happen that nobody is missed without any delays? How many elfs do work for him? Does he really ride on Rudolph the reindeer or he’s quite update and blast off on a rocket? So many really exciting questions….  and  they help me all time in the kitchen when they are at home. And they really enjoy it! Make plans how to decorate every single biscuits, Gingerbread house, and so on.
Panettone is a traditional Italian dessert, made with lots of dried fruits and proved for long time. It’s definitely not a last minute treat so if You go for it, make a plan ahead.
This panettone is flavored with lemon, limoncello  and poppy seed as they go well together. And as they mean the Christmas to me….

Ingredients for a 18 cm diameter cake tin:
500 gr (17.6 oz) plain flour
100-150  gr (3.5 – 5.2 oz)  caster sugar
pinch of salt
7 gr (1 sachet= 1 tbsp) yeast
150 ml  (2/3 cup) milk
5 free range eggs + for the eggwash
1 unwaxed lemon
250 gr (1.1 cup) unsalted butter
35 gr (6 tbsp) poppy seeds
150 gr (1 cup) raisins
100 gr ( 2/3 cup) dried cranberries
appr. 100 ml (0.4 cup) limoncello for soaking



  1. The night before put the raisins and cranberries into a bowl. Pour the limoncello over that and leave to soak until next day.
  2. Pour the milk into a pan or jug and warm up. When it’s lukewarm add a pinch of sugar and the yeast then stir well, then set aside until bubbles come onto the surface.
  3. Put the flour, sugar, eggs, poppy seeds, lemon zest and juice into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the softened (not melted!) butter, the milk with yeast then mix on medium with the dough hook until it comes together for about 5-8 minutes.
  4. Put the dried fruits into a sieve. Discard the liquid.
  5. Add the dried soaked fruits to the dough then incorporate carefully with a wooden spoon.
  6. Tip the dough into a floured bowl, cover with clingfilm and chill for overnight.
  7.  Next day prepare the tin: grease the bottom sprinkle with flour then cover the with baking paper the edges of the tin. Leave the paper higher than the trim so it looks like a collar. Put the dough on a floured surface. It’s really soft and sticky dough and not easy to work with. Try to knead with hand and shape a ball. Put the dough into the prepared tin and leave to prove on room temperature  for  further 1,5-2 hours.
  8. Preheat oven to 180 C. Make an eggwash with an eggyolk and some milk. Brush the top of dough with that and bake for 40-50 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
  9. Leave to cool in the tin, then carefully remove the baking paper from the edges. Stand on a wire rack or a cake stand and serve plain or with limoncello flavored custard.




 


Aniko

4 Comments

  1. Reply

    La Table De Nana

    November 27, 2014

    It is beautiful and what a sweet chef:)

  2. Reply

    Angie Schneider

    November 29, 2014

    This looks so festive and gorgeous!

  3. Reply

    Aniko

    November 29, 2014

    Oh Thank You! Yes, sometime he's cute and then a cheeky monkey 😉 But he really loves being in the kitchen and making big mess 🙂 Angie, I'm so happy that You like it. Christmas is really around the corner and we got ready for baking in the next 4 weeks. Are You ready, too?

  4. Reply

    Kari Lindsay

    December 4, 2014

    Honestly I've only had packaged panettone, I can only imagine that this beauty is about a thousand times better!

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