SC - Panettone - OOP

[Decker, Terry D.]

Namron Rapier Champion is over and I have survived my baking.  I chose
to go with Panettone for the second bread.  While Panettone may be
period, this particular recipe is probably not.

The bread is labor intensive and I couldn't get production to overlap
and flow properly.  It is also an expensive bread to make.  While I may
make this as a treat in the future, I don't plan to make it for an event
unless I have a commercial kitchen and a lot of time..

Since I used traditional French methods to make the bread, 80 loaves
took about 32 hours.  These were 40 loaves of Pain du Campagne and 40
loaves of Panettone.  Cost per loaf was about 88 cents.

Bear


Panettone

Starter:

1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon dry yeast (1 pkg.)
1 teaspoon malt syrup
3/4 cup all purpose flour


Dough:

All of the starter
1 1/4 cups warm milk (105-155 degreesF)
7 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
4 oz butter at room temperature
4 egg yolks at room temperature
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup candied mixed fruit or citron
2 Tablespoons pine nuts
1 Tablespoon ground anise seed
2/3 cup of raisins
4 Tablespoons of butter for the crust

To make the starter:

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a 1quart bowl, let rest for about 5
minutes.
Add malt syrup and stir to dissolve in the liquid.  Considering the
viscosity of malt syrup this may take a bit of work.
Stir in flour to make a soft ball.  Knead for about 3 minutes.
Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap and leave for a minimum of six
hours or overnight at room temperature (70-75 degrees F).

To make the dough:

Place the starter in a large bowl.
Add the warm milk.
Cut the butter into pieces (quarter a stick of butter lengthwise and cut
the quarters into small pieces while chilled.  Allow the diced butter to
warm to room temperature).
Stir the butter, salt and 2 cups of flour into the starter and milk.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, egg yolks and sugar together until
light yellow and frothy.
Slowly pour the egg mixture into the starter mixture and blend
thoroughly.

Blend additional flour into the batter 1/2 cup at a time, until the
dough mass can be worked by hand.
Turn the dough out on a liberally floured surface and knead.  Use a
dough scrapper if the dough remains sticky.
Add flour as necessary, until the dough become soft and elastic.
When the dough is smooth set it aside to rest for about five minutes.

Mix nuts, candied fruit and anise seed together.
Punch the dough into a flat oval.
Spread half of the fruit mixture over the dough.
Fold into the dough and knead until the fruit disappears.
Repeat using the second half of the fruit mixture.

Place the dough in a large greased bowl.  Cover with plastic wrap and
allow dough to rise until approximately tripled in size.  About 2 hours.
Punch down dough.  Divide into 4 pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball.
Place loaves on a greased baking sheet.  Flatten the tops of the loaves
slightly.
Cover with wax paper and allow to rise until doubled.  About 1 1/2
hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and allow it to stand at that temperature
for about 20 minutes before loading the loaves.
Using a razor blade, cut an X into the top of each loaf about 1/2 inch
deep.
If using a single rack, bake in the middle.  If using two racks, bake on
the top and the middle.
Bake for 40 minutes.

Five minutes after loading the loaves, open the oven and put a
Tablespoon of butter in the center of each cut.  Close oven door.
If using two racks, switch the baking sheets halfway through the baking.


Notes:

The dough did not take as much flour as the recipe calls for.

The batches I made did not rise as much stated, but baked up nicely.

You can use a knife to make the cuts, but a knife produces greater drag
when passing through the dough and may pull the points where the two
cuts cross out of line.

For large quantities of this bread, baking sheets are better than
individual pans.

This is a high sugar bread.  It continues to cook and caramelize after
being pulled from the oven.  The optimum baking time for my oven using
two racks was 37 minutes.

The loaves should be a deep brown with a light yellow center at the top.

I am informed this bread freezes well, but needs to be eaten within 6
weeks.
   
   
============================================================================

To be removed from the SCA-Cooks mailing list, please send a message to
Majordomo at Ansteorra.ORG with the message body of "unsubscribe SCA-Cooks".

============================================================================