 So, panettone is an Italian sweet bread containing citrus zest and dried fruit, typically enjoyed around Christmas time. And the bulk of the process can really be broken down into three basic steps. So first, we'll make the levan. Then we'll use the levan to make the first dough. And finally, we'll use the first dough to make the final dough. The reason we have to do it this way is just because it contains so many extra ingredients that can hinder the gluten development, like butter and sugar. So we wanna make sure we give the dough enough time to develop before adding the majority of those ingredients. So let's get into it. And we'll start by preparing our levan. Now, panettone is traditionally made with something known as a pasta madre, which is basically just a lower hydration, sweeter levan. So it is possible to convert your normal 100% hydration sourdough starter into a pasta madre, but that would be about a week-long process, so we're not gonna go through all of that here. Instead, we're gonna use a method that allows us to achieve very similar results with a lot less effort. So to create our levan, all we're gonna do is combine 40 grams of our normal 100% hydration sourdough starter with 60 grams of flour, 30 grams of water, and two grams of honey, which will add some sweetness and strengthen the levan a bit since it provides some extra sugar for the yeast to feed on. Now, I'm just mixing it here using my rubber spatula, but if it becomes too difficult, you could also dump the levan out onto your work surface and knead it by hand to bring it together. And once you're done, you've got your sweeter, lower hydration levan that'll allow us to achieve very similar results to a traditional pasta madre. And leaving this levan at room temperature, it should take about eight to 12 hours to reach its maximum rise, so I usually like to make the levan in the morning in order for the timing of this recipe to work out the way I like. But as usual, I'll also leave a sample baking schedule in the full post on my website, which will be linked below. Now, after about 12 hours, my levan has more than doubled in size and I'm ready to make my first dough. And this is one recipe where you really do wanna use a stand mixer because there's just so much mixing necessary in order to thoroughly incorporate the ingredients and to develop enough gluten in the dough. So in the bowl of a stand mixer, start by adding 95 grams of water, along with 60 grams of your stiff levan, then stir to dissolve the levan. Now, you could also add about an eighth teaspoon of instant yeast at this point if you wanna give the dough a little bit of extra rise. But personally, I like to keep it old school and just make it 100% sourdough. Either way, you'll just wanna add 175 grams of bread flour and 42 grams of granulated sugar, along with two egg yolks and stir until all of the ingredients are fully combined. Then transfer the dough over to your stand mixer and continue to mix using the dough hook attachment for about three to five minutes until the dough becomes nice and smooth and you've got some gluten starting to develop. Now at this point, we're gonna add 42 grams or about three tablespoons of softened butter as we continue to mix. You wanna add the butter in about three to four separate increments, allowing the previous addition to become fully mixed in before adding more. Then once all of the butter is completely incorporated, our first dough is done. So we'll just cover it up and let that rise for about 10 to 12 hours until it's more than doubled in size. In the meantime, you'll also wanna prepare your dried fruit because it's gonna need to soak in some rum overnight. You can skip the soaking step if you prefer, but I think it adds a nice flavor. So you'll wanna use anywhere from about three quarters to one cup of dried fruit depending on your preferences. So I'm using some dried cranberries, raisins and golden raisins here, but you can really use any dried fruits you like or even some candied orange or lemon peel which is often used in traditional panettone. In this case, I'm using about a cup of dried fruit total and I usually like to very roughly chop them to make the pieces a bit smaller. So once all of your dried fruits are prepared, just toss them into a bowl with about one and a half tablespoons of either dark or light rum. Then cover that up and place it into your fridge for the time being. Now after about eight to 12 hours, your dough should be nicely risen and at that point it's time to make the final dough. So go ahead and punch the dough down a bit which by the way is probably the most fun part of the whole process. Then add 62 more grams of bread flour followed by three grams of salt, one egg yolk, one and a half teaspoon of vanilla extract and two teaspoons of orange zest which should be the zest from about one whole small orange or about one half of a large orange. Then add 20 grams more water then transfer the bowl back to your stand mixer to incorporate all of those ingredients. Now we still have a few more things to add but before we do that we want to develop some more gluten. So continue mixing for about another three to five minutes until the dough becomes nice and smooth. Now it's time to add 48 more grams of granulated sugar and we want to add it gradually in about three to four separate increments allowing each new addition to incorporate before adding the next. Then add another 63 grams or four and a half tablespoons of softened butter again in several small increments. Then finally just add another 20 grams of water and continue mixing until the dough comes together to form a nice smooth ball. By the time everything is mixed in you should be left with a soft buttery stretchy dough that's very satisfying to work with. And at that point all that's left to do is fold in the dried fruit so just sprinkle it over top of the dough and fold it over. And I also like to give it another quick spin in the stand mixer to make sure the fruit is evenly distributed. Now it's time for the bulk fermentation so you can either keep the dough in this bowl or do what I like to do and transfer it to a clear rectangular container. Then cover it up and place it into a warm environment around 85 degrees Fahrenheit which is about 29 degrees Celsius. As usual I'm using my proofing box but if you don't have one of those you can place it into your oven with the light on and that should stay around 85 degrees Fahrenheit. So after 30 minutes remove the dough from your warm environment to perform a set of stretch and folds which will help to further develop the gluten. So for this just start by stretching a small portion of the dough up as far as it'll go without tearing. Then fold it back over itself and repeat that process a total of four to eight times around the perimeter of the dough. Then flip the dough over and cover it back up and return it to your warm environment for another 60 minutes. And after that time we're gonna perform one set of coil folds. So to do this just pick the dough up and let one side fold underneath and then set it back down on top of itself and repeat that process on all four sides of the dough. Then return the dough to your warm environment and let it rest for another 45 minutes. And at that point it's time to add the dough to our panitone mold and when it comes to molds you could either go with these thinner papery ones or these thicker cardboard ones. So I'll have both linked below but personally I prefer the cardboard ones because they have a bit more structure to them. And for this recipe I'm using a seven inch mold but if you want the dough to rise further over the top of the mold you could use something like a six inch mold. So I don't know if it makes a difference but I like to spray the mold with a bit of cooking spray then just turn your dough out onto your work surface and if you're making more than one loaf this would be the time to divide up the dough but in this case I'm only making one. So form the dough into a top ball using a lightly greased bench scraper then gently place it into your panitone mold. Then cover it up and since panitone likes to rise in a slightly moist environment I like to cover my mold with a damp dish towel but you could also just use plastic wrap or something similar. Then again return it to your warm environment to rise for about two to three hours until it comes up to around an inch or an inch and a half below the top of the mold. Now you'll also wanna be careful not to overproof here so keep an eye on it and if it starts to lose its nice taut surface on top you'll wanna bake it as soon as possible. Here's a loaf that I accidentally overproofed and you can see how it lost most of its structure and didn't really rise at all in the oven. Whereas a properly proofed loaf will maintain its taut domed surface and rise to fill the mold when it's baked. So once the loaf is ready to bake just place it onto a baking tray and brush the loaf with an egg wash consisting of one egg combined with about a teaspoon of water. Then place it into a 350 degree oven which is about 180 degrees Celsius for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes, produce the oven temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit which is about 162 degrees Celsius and bake for another seven to 12 minutes until the top turns a medium to dark brown color and the internal temperature reaches 190 degrees Fahrenheit which is about 85 degrees Celsius. But we're not done yet so if you're wondering what this funky setup I have here is it's so that we can hang the loaf upside down to cool because panettone is pretty delicate and it'll start to deflate very quickly after you remove it from the oven. So working as quickly as possible you'll want to stick two skewers all the way through the loaf like so then hang it upside down using whatever you can that's sturdy enough to prop it up. So I'm just using my flour containers here. And I also like to stick one extra skewer going the other way just to make sure the middle doesn't cave in. Now we'll need to let that cool for at least six hours or up to overnight before cutting into it. But when you do you should be greeted with a light, tender and buttery interior that's great enjoyed playing or toasted with butter which is personally my favorite way to enjoy it. So now that you know how to make panettone if you want to learn how to make some more sourdough baked goods be sure to click that playlist in the bottom right corner of the screen. So there you go. I'll see you all in the next one.