Traditional Panettone Recipe (Italian Christmas Cake) (2024)

Every Italian bakery is packed with this sweet bread recipe during the holiday season. While traditionally served for Christmas, this sweet bread carry's over into the New Year.

Since my mamma's birthday is at the end of December when she was growing up in Italy, this panettone recipe was her birthday cake! How would you like to have sweet Christmas bread as your birthday cake? As a child, she wasn't always a fan, but she adores the tradition we still keep today.

Dough Starter: (photo of dough starter AFTER overnight rise) Combine the starter ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, and mix with a fork until a shaggy mixture. Cover, and allow it to rest in a warm place for 8-12 hours. This is called your biga- a type of pre-fermentation.

NOTE: You can also use a sourdough starter if you have some and skip this step (use 190 g of the starter if you have it already).

Prepare Mix-Ins: In a small bowl, combine the honey, vanilla extract, orange peel, and lemon + orange zest. Mix to combine. Cover and set aside. In a separate bowl, combine raisins with water. Cover and set aside. This step makes sure the raisins stay moist during baking. Let them rest overnight.

Dough Part 1 and 1st rise: in a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine the dough starter (biga), half of the flour, and all of the water and yeast. Mix until combined, and knead with the dough hook (or by hand) for about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place. The dough should triple in size.

Dough Part 2 (photo of dough after rise): After the dough rises for 1 hr, add the rest of the flour and mix to combine.

After adding the remaining flour, the dough will look shaggy and crumbly. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, beat the egg yolks, salt, and sugar in a medium bowl until fluffy and creamy, about 5 minutes. Add the honey, candied orange, and zest mixture to the egg mixture.

Slowly add the egg, sugar, honey, and zest mixture to the dough.

Beat until sticky dough forms; mix with a dough hook (or by hand) for about 5 minutes. The dough will be sticky! If the dough is too wet and not coming together, add a bit of flour.

Add the butter to the dough, small bits at a time, mixing after each addition.

After the butter is incorporated, add the raisins (remove excess water, if any). Gently mix until the raisins are incorporated into the dough. Move the dough to a clean and greased bowl.

Dough Rise 2. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 1 to 1 ½ hours, or until it's puffy or proofed and doubled in size. Gently deflate the dough.

Fold Dough (see video below for more). Move to a greased baking sheet or countertop (do not add extra flour use greased hands to work with dough). Start clockwise- by taking the top corner of the dough (12 o'clock position), pinch a corner of the dough and lift it and let the dough stretch by lifting your hands. Fold the stretched dough back on itself (6 pm location). Turn the dough clockwise (your 12 o'clock position is now the 3 pm location). Repeat the same process of stretching and folding the dough onto itself three times total. This is a fast process that takes about 1 minute from start to finish.
Let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes and repeat the folding process 2 more times with these exact directions of stretching and folding.

Shape Dough. Bring the corners toward the center to form a ball, and pinch the loose ends together. Cup your hands around the dough to round the ball. Place it in a well-buttered or sprayed panettone pan, mold paper, or other straight-sided, tall 1 ½- to 2-quart pan.

Dough Rise 3. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it reaches over the rim of the mold, about 1 ½- 2 hours (time varies depending on humidity and temperature). You want the dough just at the rim or slightly above the mold.

When the rise is complete, brush the top with egg wash. Make cross cuts on the panettone with a sharp knife, and put a small pat of butter in the center of the cake. Sprinkle with the desired amount of pearl sugar (optional).
Bake. Bake the cake in a preheated 375°F oven for 10 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for about 40 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil if the top of the panettone appears to be browning too fast.

When finished baking, the Panettone bread or cake should be a deep brown color. It will sound hollow when tapped and reads 190°F at the center using a digital thermometer. It's easy to under bake panettone since the top can brown quickly. Remove the panettone from the oven and cool completely.

Rest. To cool the panettone- pierce each side with a bamboo skewer (or these panettone hangers), flip it over, and hang it between two tall jars. Hanging it upside down for a few hours prevents the panettone from caving.

You do not have to cool it upside down. You can cool it on a cooling rack.

Top Tips for Panettone Recipe

• Use room temperature ingredients. Room temperature ingredients for baking give optimal results.
• Make sure you are working with yeast that is NOT expired, or you will do a lot of work for nothing ;).
• Follow the recipe exactly and be patient with the dough rising at the different stages. Find the warmest place in your home, or use a proofing oven.
• Use a kitchen scale and measure your ingredients.
• Hydrate the raisins in a bit of water, or they will be dry.
• Baker's Secret: When the bread is cooling, poke it with two long metal or wooden skewers about 3-4 cm from the base. Then, let it rest upside down to cool completely. This will prevent the bread from collapsing while cooling.

Is panettone bread or a cake?

It is a bit of both! The Panettone cake recipe is a sweet bread that is baked in a round mold, which gives it a lighter-than-air fluffy texture.It is a sweet bread studded with candied fruit, raisins, and sometimes chocolate chips.

What's the difference between panettone and pandoro?

Traditional panettone is rich in raisins and candied fruit, with its classic tall dome shape. In contrast, pandoro is a simple and rich cake made with butter and eggs, with its distinctive star shape. Both are traditional Italian holiday cakes and taste delicious in their way.

How do I make panettone tall and fluffy?

Here is a baker's secret to tall and fluffy panettone: When the bread is cooling, poke it with two long metal or wooden skewers about 3-4 cm from the base. Then, let it rest upside down to cool completely. This will prevent the bread from collapsing while cooling.

Can you freeze panettone?

Yes, this panettone cake can be frozen whole or in slices. When stored in the freezer, homemade cakes are good for up to 1 month.
For best results, slice the cake first and wrap each slice individually. Pull out individual slices and reheat in a toaster oven.

How do you know when panettone bread is done baking?

When finished baking, the Panettone bread or cake should be a deep brown color. It will sound hollow when tapped and read 190°F at the center using a digital thermometer. It's easy to underbake panettone since the top can brown quickly that is why I cook it at different temperatures and tent it will aluminum foil when baking.

How to cool panettone upside down

To cool the panettone upside down,- pierce each side with a bamboo skewer, flip it over, and hang it between two jars. Hanging it upside down for a few hours prevents the panettone from caving.

Keywords: panettone, Italian Christmas cake, Italian bread, sweet bread, traditional panettone