Dear fellow bakers,
I thought I would share with you the results of my first attempt to make real, non-yeasted, panettone. I had made yeasted ones quite a few times before, and I thought it was time to make the real deal. I chose maestro Giorilli's formula that is available here: https://www.giorilli.com/ricette-item/panettone-con-uvetta-e-noci/
This particular formula has nuts in it which I substituted with raisins because I wanted to create a more traditional type with dried fruits instead of nuts. This time I didn't add candied orange and lemon peels, just raisins. The process itself was so demanding and exhausting that I didn't have the energy to make the candied fruits. Otherwise, I followed the formula, scaled down to the size of molds I have. The amounts came out as follows:
1st Dough
228 g water
130 g pasta madre at 50% hydration, refreshed 3 times at 4-hour intervals at 28 degrees
460 g strong flour
142 g sugar
136 g butter
104 g egg yolks
Aromatic Mix
30 g acacia honey
½ vanilla pod
1 grated orange peel
1 grated lemon peel
2nd Dough
116 g strong flour
3.6 g malt (I actually left this one out completely because I didn't have malt, and the formula still worked)
126 g sugar
184 g egg yolks
8 g salt
All the aromatic mix
240 g butter
20 g melted butter
440 g sultanas
These amounts make two panettoni of 1 kg each.
I didn't have Italian panettone flour, so I used King Arthur Bread flour (12.7% gluten-forming protein content) with the combination of vital wheat gluten in order to get the gluten-forming protein up to 15 %. I used Foodgeek's Gluten Calculator, which was very useful: https://foodgeek.dk/en/vital-wheat-gluten-calculator/
Since I am an amateur baker who bakes occasionally, I don't maintain a pasta madre because it just wouldn't make sense to me to do so. Instead, I created a pasta madre only for this project by taking a piece from my stiff 50%-hydration starter I use for my sourdough bread and converting it into pasta madre. I started the process about one week before baking. I made sure that the pasta madre would get at least one warm 4-hour refreshment per day at 28 degrees Celsius excluding the daily maintenance feeding at 18 degrees for 12-20 hours, depending on my schedule. Occasionally, I would perform a 20-minute bagnetto before the first refreshment of the day. The day before making the first dough, I fed it four times according to the following schedule:
8:30 am: bagnetto
9 am: 1st refreshment at 28 degrees
1 pm: 2nd refreshment at 28 degrees
5 pm: 3rd refreshment at 28 degrees
9 pm: maintenance feeding at 18 degrees for 12 hours
Schedule on the day of making the first dough:
8:30 am: bagnetto
9 am: 1st refreshment at 28 degrees
1 pm: 2nd refreshment at 28 degrees
5 pm: 3rd refreshment at 28 degrees
9 pm: mixing of the first dough
All these feedings were at the ratio of 1:1 (levain:flour).
I don't have a PH meter but I often smelled and even tasted the pasta madre during the process. It never tasted too acidic (excess amount of acetic acid) or bitter (excess amount of lactic acid). Neither did it taste bland (trait of a LM too weak). It had a pleasant fermented taste, so I thought I was on the right track. Also, I always made sure that it tripled each time at 28 degrees within 4 hours, which it did.
One final word about the pasta madre's hydration. I have noticed that the typical hydration is usually below 50%, more like between 40% and 45%. I decided to use a 50%-hydration pasta madre because it seemed to produce the right consistency for my flour. I tried 45% hydration before and it took forever to achieve a smooth dough, it just seemed too dry.
As for PM conservation method, I opted for the "dry method", that is, not bound in cloth and not kept in water. Instead, I would keep in in a glass jar. I know that PM maintained via this method has the tendency to develop excess acidity. That's why I performed bagnetto often. The other two methods seemed too complicated for an occasional baker like me.
I have recently bought a KitchenAid Professional 5 Plus, which is a decent mixer but could be more efficient when mixing panettone dough. Hence, my mixing times came out to be much longer than those recommended in the formula. I mixed the first dough for 50 minutes, and the second dough for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Luckily, my kitchen is cold (16 degrees Celsius), so the dough didn't heat up much.
I let the first dough rise for 14 hours at 24 degrees. I wanted to make sure it indeed had tripled, that's why I went a little longer than 12 hours.
After mixing the second dough, I let it rest for 30 minutes, then divided and preshaped, then another 30-minute rest, then final shaped and placed in the molds. They rose for 6 and a half hours at 28 degrees, then baked for 1 hour at 350 F (176 Celsius).
Being this my first real panettone, I am very pleased with the results. The dough came together very nicely during both mixes, with a definite windowpane at the end each time. The ovenspring was also quite big, although I think I should proof them maybe a little less next time, as they spread also sideways, not only upwards, creating a mushroom-like shape which I was not going for. The resulting crumb is very soft and fluffy, really light. The taste is amazing, and no sour notes!
I hope that people will read this post and give me opinions and suggestions on how to make the next bake even better. I do have one question regarding the formula, and I hope someone can answer.
Giorilli is very specific about finishing the second mix with a small dose of melted butter after incorporating all the soft but not melted butter, just before adding the fruits. What is the purpose of the small dose of melted butter? I did it the way he suggested, and it worked well, but I also saw many videos in which they don't finish off the mix with melted butter, but only soft butter. Any ideas?
I also want to thank Michael Wilson panettone expert on TFL, who gave my invaluable insights and suggestions on pasta madre management!
Peter
