Panettone
To speak on panettone, is to speak of our philosophy of balance. It is the result of a passionate 36 hours of pure craftsmanship upon a base of timeless research.
We feed of “lievito madre” (mother yeast) daily and each one of the 12 steps is executed with the utmost level of care and attention. Meticulous attention to detail guarantees the impeccable production of our masterpiece. Due to the lievito madre and the long, detailed, production method, our panettone can last up to 1 month at room temperature (even longer for our Limoncello Panettone), making it a perfect dessert to have around for any occasion, and especially as a Christmas gift.
Machinery
Every aspect of the panettone production requires special attention, and this also applies to the machinery.
The panettone dough needs to be mixed several times at different stages when adding different ingredients. At each stage, extremely careful attention is given to not overmixing or overheating the dough. It must be kept at a very precise temperature for each stage.
For this reason, we use an Italian tween arm mixer that allows for the mixture of all the ingredients homogeneously, without overheating the dough.
In order to keep our lievito madre alive and healthy, it is preserved in a temperature controlled fridge during the riposo (resting) stage. When the yeast is used to make the actual panettone, it is transferred to a different proofer that works at another very sensitive and specific temperature and humidity.
We use a double rack conventional rotating oven where we can load up to 56 panettoni at one time.
After the baking, the panettone needs to rest upside down to avoid collapsing. For this process we use special panettone pliers that allow us to hang the panettoni upside down and rest them for at least 12 hours before they are ready to be packaged and shipped.
A Labour of Love
The process of making panettone is complex and long, but at the same time, fascinating and rewarding.
Every pastry chef who has experience with panettone knows that the real special ingredients to make a delicious panettone are patience, reliance and a willingness to fail many times.
If you think about it, it all starts from a group of microorganisms contained in the yeast, a small piece of dough that we nourish daily. When the yeast is at the top of its “energy”, it can be finally mixed with the other ingredients, to create the most soft, moist, and mouth watering bread. The more I think about this process, the more it looks like magic to me.
