Chocolate and Orange Panettone Recipe

Panettone is an Italian Sweetbread, originally from Milan, and enjoyed at Christmas and New Year.  The beginnings of this cake appear to date from the Roman Empire. Panettone is eaten as a dessert or a snack, accompanied by sweet hot beverages or a sweet wine, such as Asti or Moscato d'Asti. In some regions of Italy, it is served with crema al mascarpone and a sweet liqueur. Personally, I love to eat it in the morning (toasted!) with a cappuccino.

Panettone is typically made with dried fruit, candied citrus peel, almonds, and brandy — However, we have a recipe for a more experimental flavour combination with chocolate and orange. 

Chocolate and Orange Panettone Recipe

Ingredients 

• 1 packets of yeast
• 1 cups of water heated to 40° to 50° C
• 1 cups of whole milk heated to 40° to 50° C
• 1 cups of sugar + 1 tablespoon
• 1 egg + 1 egg white
• Pinch of salt
• 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1/3 cup of melted butter
• 51/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup of chocolate chips
   

Preheat the oven to 350°

Sprinkle the yeast into a bowl with the warm water and milk and whisk in 1 tablespoon of the sugar. Let sit for 5 to 7 minutes or until it becomes very foamy.

Next, whisk in the rest of the sugar, 1 egg, salt, vanilla, orange zest, and melted butter until combined, and transfer it to a standing mixer with the hook attachment.

Slowly pour in the flour and mix on low speed until combined and kneed for 5 to 10 minutes.

Let sit for 1 hour or until it doubles in size. Add the chocolate chips and fold them in the dough until they are completely folded in. Put the dough into a prepared 4" tall by 8" cake pan or use a panettone liner and let rise for more than 30 minutes.

Brush the top of the bread with the egg white sprinkle on the 1 tablespoon of sugar and bake at 350° for 60 to 70 minutes or until browned on top and the inside is cooked.

Chef Notes:

• When mixing the yeast at the beginning of the stand mixer, make sure your milk and water are on the hotter side of at least 40°C. The reason is because stand mixer bowls are cold and will drop the temperature out of the optimal raft creating the stage for the yeast.
• For the easiest proofing tip on earth, proof in an unused oven with only the oven light on. It gives it the perfect proofing temperature between 30°C and 40°.
• It's important to fold chocolate chips in at the end so they do not melt while proofing in the oven with the light on.

Served with Asti (also known as Asti Spumante) a sparkling white Italian wine that is produced throughout southeastern Piedmont but is particularly focused around the towns of Asti and Alba.

Made from the Moscato Bianco grape, it is sweet and low in alcohol and often served with dessert. Unlike Champagne, Asti is not made sparkling through the use of secondary fermentation in the bottle but rather through a single tank fermentation utilizing the Charmat method. It retains its sweetness through a complex filtration process. Another wine called Moscato d'Asti is made in the same region from the same grape, but is only slightly sparkling (frizzante) and tends to have even lower alcohol.
 

On 22 June 2014, Vineyard Landscape of Piedmont: Langhe-Roero and Monteferrato was declared a UNESCO World Heritage site. This landscape covers five distinct wine-growing areas and the Castle of Cavour, an important site both in the development of vineyards and in Italian history.
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Recipe by Billy Parisi