Panettone 2 – The Yeasted Version

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Panettone, simili, sisters, sorelle, yeast

This is a version of my recipe for naturally leavened Panettone, adapted to use brewer’s yeast instead of a sourdough starter. Unlike that recipe, which requires several days in the making, this one can be made in a day. I would suggest you pick a day when you know you will be around to intervene at the various stages of the bake. I also suggest that you start early. It should only take about 8-10 hours from start to finish, but a numbers of factors could cause this to vary.

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Panettone 1 – Naturally Leavened

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Aroma Panettone, King of the Sourdough, Panettone, Peel, sorelle, Sweet

Panettone is a wonderful thing, and any keen amateur baker is likely to want to try making it at some point. But before they dive in, they might like to consider the response of a famous baker, when he was asked to recommend a recipe for Panettone. “Leave it to the experts”, he said. I can understand where he was coming from; Panettone is neither quick nor easy to make and there is no guarantee that the end result will be superior to something you might buy.

All that is even more true when you make a naturally leavened version, using a sourdough starter. My first attempt at this took nearly 3 days from start to finish and ended up a little on the sour side. The second version took a little less time but was perfectly sweet – someone declared it was the best Panettone they had ever eaten… It also won the prize at Hobbs House Bakery’s King of the Sourdough competition. (See bottom of this post.)

So why make Panettone? Well, if, like me, you relish a baking challenge, you enjoy the processes of baking as much as the end results, and find it rewarding to know that you have produced something impressive and delicious, why not give it a go? All you have to lose is 60 hours or so of your life!

Cottage Loaf

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autolyse, low hydratrion

I have fond memories of this classic British bread form from my childhood, but I don’t recall seeing it in bakeries recently. I was inspired to try my hand at it by a stunning photograph posted on Twitter by Karl Bowyer.

Although my version is not as spectacular, I take heart from the words of Elizabeth David (in English Bread and Yeast Cookery):

“Cottage loaves, as all professional bakers writing for their colleagues readily admit, are notoriously difficult to mould and bake…”

And her recipe doesn’t even include the slashes that seem to me to be so characteristic of this loaf – but do add to its difficulty. So if you want to omit those you are in good company!

Couronne Bordelaise

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Couronne, Oil, Shaping, sourdough, Technique, water, yeast

The Couronne Bordelaise is a beautiful bread form that has the appearance of having been artfully scored, whereas it is all actually done by shaping. This suits me perfectly as my scoring skills are still, to say the least, rudimentary.

Couronne means crown or wreath in French, and at its best this loaf has a spectacular crest of dough at its centre which really does look like a crown or diadem, surrounded by six or eight rounded buns.

However I have found this effect surprisingly difficult to achieve.

Don’t Knead: Work the Dough!

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Bertinet, Bread, dough, Kneading, Working

I have been baking bread on and off since I was a teenager, but it was only in the last six months that two things happened that revolutionised my bread making. The first was buying a plastic scraper (or two actually). Far more radical was buying a copy of Richard Bertinet’s Dough. This has completely transformed the way I make bread, and has made me into a breadmaking fanatic, whose weekends don’t seem complete unless some new challenge is underway.