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–+ servings

The best panettone Christmas bread

Jeannette Kaplun
You can make this fruity panettone Christmas bread at home and wrap it to spread some holiday cheer.
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Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine Italian
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

Starter

  • ¾ cup all purpose flour 
  • 1/16 teaspoon instant yeast
  • ⅓ cup cool water

Dough

  • all the starter
  • 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
  • ¼ cup lukewarm water
  • 2 large eggs
  • 4 tbsp butter softened
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tbsp instant yeast
  • 1 ¼ teaspoons salt
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • ½ cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup  diced candied lemon
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup candied oranges diced
  • 2 tbsp grated orange zest

Instructions
 

To make the starter:

  • Combine the starter ingredients in a medium-size bowl.
  • Cover and allow to rest on the counter overnight (8 to 10 hours)

To make the dough:

  • Dissolve the yeast in the warm water.
  • Combine all of the ingredients, except the fruits and zest.  Mix together by hand or with a dough hook on a stand mixer until you have a soft, smooth dough.
  • Cover the dough and allow to rise until it is puffy, about 1 to 1 ½ hours.
  • Prepare a panettone bread mold with nonstick cooking spray.
  • Gently deflate the dough. Then, knead in the fruits and zest by hand or with a dough hook on a stand mixer.
  • Shape the dough into a ball. Place into the prepared panettone mold. Cover and allow the dough to rise until it has just crested over the rim of the baking mold, about 1 hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F or 204 C. Bake the bread for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 375 degrees F or 190 C and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Finally, reduce the oven to 350 degrees F or 177 C and finish baking for 25 to 30 minutes.  If you notice the crust beginning to brown, tent tin foil over the loaf.  When done, the internal temperature would be 190 degrees F or 88 C.
  • Cool the loaf completely before storing in an airtight container for up to one week or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

Mixing the dough with a bread machine:

  • Place the water, eggs, vanilla and orange zest into the bread machine.  Next, add the sugar, salt, and flour. Dot the butter around the flour. Make an indentation into the flour and add the yeast.
  • Start the bread machine using the “dough” setting.
  • Before the final kneading cycle, add the remaining ingredients to the dough and allow the kneading cycle to finish.
  • Remove the dough and place in a prepared panettone baking mold.
  • Allow to rise and bake as previously directed.
Keyword christmas, christmas bread, fruitcake, panettone
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