In the Mood for Christmas

Season greetings!  Christmas is just around the corner and the year will be drawing its close already! 

Its been awhile since my last post...i have been hibernating :)  But i am awake now, in time to wish all my friends out there a blessed Christmas and a beautiful new year ahead!  And I am glad that the mood for some festive treats is kicking in!

Panettone is a traditional italian christmas bake.  Some say it's the Italian version of a fruit cake since it has in it lots of raisins, dried fruits and candied citrus peel but being yeasted its very much lighter with a soft and fluffy texture.

A classic panettone is tall, cylindrical  and domed shaped. And the dough needs to be proof over a long period of time.

What i have here is a pseudo or simplified version of a Panettone. Not dome shaped for sure, i braided it for the christmas wreath look (i couldn't miss this opportunity to make something that look like a wreath bread) and i didn't follow a classic recipe.

It's tasted good nevertheless, well at least good enough for the family.  The overnight sponge dough method although not as long as proofing the entire dough for 12-15 hours still produced bread that was soft and fluffy.

Recipe

Adapted from recipe for Macadamia Fruity Bread in Magic Bread by Alex Goh

Ingredients

Part A

• 120g bread flour
• 85g boiling water

Part B

• 280g bread flour
• 60g sugar
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 15g milk powder
• 6g instant yeast
• Zest from 1 orange (3 tbsp candied kumquat)

Part C

• 100g cold water
• 3 egg yolks (1 large egg)

Part D

• 80g butter

Part E

• 30g raisins
• 30g golden raisins (dried apricots)
• 50g dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 tbsp grand manier (2 tbsp orange juice)

Step

1. Premix Part E and set aside for at least 1 hour. (Left it for 4 hours) 
2. Add boiling water from A into flour, mix until well-blended to form dough.  Cover and set aside to cool.  Keep it in refrigerator for at least 12 hours. (Left it for 6 hours only yet bread turned out well)
3. Mix B until well blended.  Add in C and knead to form rough dough.  Add in A and knead until well blended.
4. Add in D and knead to form elastic dough.  Add in E and mix until well-blended. 
5. Cover the dough with cling film and let it proof until double its original size.  
6. Punch down dough and let it rest for 10 minutes.
7. Form dough into a ball and place it in a cake pan.  Let it proof until double its original size.
8. Bake at 180C for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Note:

1. For Step 3 and 4, I used my breadmaker to mix the dough by placing all wet ingredients followed by dry ones and adding in E after the dough has been formed.
2. I used a 20cm chiffon pan and took out 200g of dough to proof it in 4 cupcake liners  which was meant as a gift for a friend.  The bread would have looked tall enough (i.e. more pannetone like) if the entire dough went into the pan instead.
3. Instead of forming into a ball (i wanted the top to be christmas wreath like instead of a dome) , i divided the dough into 2 parts then cut 3 stripes out of each part and braided them.  I laid one part on top of one another into the pan.

Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year to all my friends out there!

I am submitting this to the "Baby Sumo's Christmas Recipes Collection 2013" event which is hosted by Baby Sumo of Eat Your Heart Out.