Interesting new books from Italian Gourmet

For those of you who are interested in Italian baking, particularly the Italian brioches, these books from Italian Gourmet are worth noting:

Un Panettone Mondiale (with English text): "The stars and all the recipes of the first international national competition on the beloved Italian delicacy".

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207 pages, with lovely photography and information on all the teams. Also recipes for each team's Classic, Chocolate, and "innovative savory" panettone entries. There are some interesting approaches, and some surprises in the regional savory panettoni: the Argentinian team's savory loaf has chorizo, purple maize, wine flour, chimichurri spices and Malbec, among other things! The Japanese team's savory entry has soy sauce, sesame oil, yuzu, kombu and cheddar cheese added to the mix. 

Many of the Chocolate Panettone recipes look fabulous. Here is the Japan team's version:

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While the recipes are too large for most home bakers to handle, they will scale down easily. It's a fascinating and enjoyable read.

And yes, the Italians won. I'm not giving too much away here:

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Next, Colombe e Dolci di Pasqua (in Italian). If you can read Italian recipes, which happens automatically if you do it enough, this is a wonderful book. All of the most well-known Italian bakers are here, with clear and well-illustrated versions of their Colomba.

Many of the chefs have multiple recipes, too. So little time, so many Colombas:

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Finally, Ezio Marinato has put together an incredible 300-page collection of his creations, from hamburger buns and pizza to laminated pastries, biscotti, lievitati and of course numerous panettone recipes. Stunning photography throughout makes you want to bake every page.

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Marinato is very influential in the Panettone world; 2023's coach of the winning Italian team in the Panettone World Championship, he is one of the true masters in the field. He is a teacher at various training venues and consultant to multinational companies. 

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While coffee is notoriously difficult to work with in panettone recipes, it appears that Ezio Marinato has developed a recipe for it. 

Cheers, Sue