Iconic breads/cakes for Christmas can be found all over the world. For instance, the British have their rum cakes and yule logs, and in the United States, they have fruit cakes. For Italians, the panettone is the cake to serve at Christmas and Easter.
It is a distinctly Italian cake, and should be protected under the Protected Designation of Origin, as well as the Italian Denominazione di origine controllata. It is quintessentially Italian food, it originated in Milan, and the Milanese call it paneton. Unfortunately, because of its popularity and also due to the Italian migration, it is also popular in Southern France, Switzerland, Germany, and in South America. Nowadays, South America exports a lot of panettone. There is the possibility that soon, people will think that this special cake is from South America instead of Italy.
Expertise Required
There is a lot to love about panettone. Much of the attraction comes from the difficulty in baking
this cake. It starts with the curing of the dough. The dough itself is acidic like sourdough. It has to be proofed for several days. It uses a natural yeast starter and during the proofing period, it has to be fed at regular intervals and a constant temperature, which is slightly above normal room temperature.
When making the dough, it should not come as a surprise that you should use good butter. This is one of those breads, where the use of good butter is discernible, and worth the little extra cost. Care should be taken during the mixing. There is a particular technique used during the mixing and there is no hurrying this process. The goal of the mixing is to be able to spread the dough so thinly that it is able to maintain a gauze-like thinness which is transluscent when held against the light.
The dough is proofed or allowed to rise in molds for several hours before baking. The distinctive height of the panettone is achieved through a different cooling process. After baking, the bread is hung upside down for several hours to ensure that it does not collapse on itself.
Simply Delicious
To paraphrase a saying, the proof of the panettone is in the eating. These little touches which sound superfluous and unnecessary make the difference in the final product. The curing slowly converts the sugars in the dough. The proofing allows for the slow rise of the dough in the mold, and hanging the cake upside down helps keeps its shape while it slowly cools. This is a delicate cake and there really is no shortcut to making it.
Making panettone the traditional way takes a lot of effort and love. There are a few recipes which use a short cut but again, there would be a distinctive difference in taste. In a very real way, the Italians know how hard it is to make panettone, and they have the patience to make one for Christmas and New Year. The detailed method of creating this wonderful cake should be enough to put it in the protected list of products. Panettone should really be a region-specific product.
