The Best Easy Panettone (Italian Christmas Bread)

Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without Panettone. After many trials, I think this recipe is the The Best Easy Panettone. It’s fluffy, delicious and simple enough to make a home.

What’s Panettone and How to Eat It

Panettone is a traditional Italian, yeasted bread that is served around Christmas time. It’s baked in a tall mold, which creates its distinct shape.

Traditionally, panettone is filled with candied citrus and raisins, but there are so many variations. The bread is slightly sweet and rich from eggs and butter. It can be flavored with citrus zests or oils, vanilla and rum.

Typically, panettone is served for breakfast or an afternoon snack. You can pair it with espresso, coffee, tea or dessert wine. When it’s a little stale, it’s great dipped into coffee.

To make panettone more of a rich dessert, consider pairing it with whipped cream, whipped sweetened mascarpone, powdered sugar, gelato or ice cream.

Ingredient Notes

Flour– In Italy, they usually use manitoba flour to make panettone. This is difficult to find in the states, and can be quite expensive to buy online. Good alternatives are 00 flour or bread flour. 00 refers to how fine the flour is ground, but there are different versions of 00 flour on the market. If your 00 flour says it’s good for bread and pizza, you have the correct type. You could use all-purpose flour, but there will not be as much gluten development. A higher protein flour contributes to a better, chewier texture.

Yeast- For panettone, you can use fresh yeast, instant yeast or active dry yeast. For one reason or another, I got better results with active dry yeast than instant yeast. Although you can make successful versions of the bread with any of these leaveners, they are not interchangeable. You need different amounts and different processes depending on which yeast you use.

Dried fruit- I choose to use golden and dark raisins, and candied orange peel. You can use dried currants, cranberries or cherries instead, depending on what you prefer.

Citrus zest- I keep this panettone simple, so I just use some fresh lemon and orange zest to flavor it. Bakeries or more serious bakers may use either citrus oil or purees of various citrus fruits cooked in a sugar syrup.

Recipe Steps

The authentic, bakery-style panettone can take several days to make and be a quite complicated. This version, is simplified and easy enough to make at home. But just a disclaimer, this recipe is probably not easy enough for novice bakers. It’s a good, happy medium between a very quick version and an all-out, complicated version.

I have tried many, quicker, simpler versions, and the end result was never great. If you try to rush the process of making panettone too much, it’s not worth it in my opinion. The bread should be fluffy and chewy with great flavor and texture.

The night before baking the bread, I make a quick biga or starter. Simply, proof a small amount of yeast and then mix it with some flour (1-2). Cover the bowl and allow it to ferment overnight (3). I also like to soak the raisins in some brandy overnight (4).

The next morning, drain the raisins (5). Then, proof the remainder of the yeast with warm milk and a small amount of sugar (6). Add the remaining flour, along with the eggs (7). Mix until smooth. Then add the biga, a small amount at a time, until fully incorporated (8).

Next, transfer the dough to an oiled bowl (13). Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size (14). Punch down the dough and add the dried fruit (15). Transfer the dough to a panettone mold (15).

After the dough doubles in size again (17), carefully score the top of the dough with a large ‘x’, brush with egg wash and top with a pat of butter (18). Bake in a preheated oven until cooked through and then immediately hang upside down to cool completely (19). Allow to cool completely before serving (20).

Recipe Tips and FAQs

1. Try proofing the dough in the oven. The dough rises quite quickly at around 90F. To create a warm environment, heat the oven to the lowest setting. Use a thermometer (ideally an oven thermometer) to keep track of the temperature. After the oven reaches 100-110F degrees, place the dough in the oven to rise. Turn off the oven and shut the oven door at around 100F to trap in the heat. During the final rise, remove the bread from the oven before it’s done fully rising so you can preheat the oven. I sit the dough on top of the oven while it preheats to keep it warm.
2. Try the window pane test. After the first rise when you add the butter and sugar to the dough, try the window pane test to check if the dough was kneaded enough. Stretch a piece of dough with both of your hands. If you can stretch it thin enough for light to pass through without the gluten strands breaking, you know it has been kneaded enough.
3. Good gluten development is key. Several ingredients in the dough interfere with gluten development, including sugar, butter, vanilla, salt and the dried fruit. For the best result, I add these ingredients later in the bread-making process to allow for proper gluten development.
4. Cool the bread upside down. Panettone is traditionally hung upside down to cool. This not only prevents the bread from sinking, but actually stretches the gluten strands further to create slightly larger air pockets, and a fluffier texture. You can poke wooden or metal skewers close through the bottom of the bread and hang it upside down on something sturdy. I used photography apple boxes, but you can use a large pot or two chairs, for example.

Related Recipes

1. Panettone Bread Pudding
2. Sicilian Cannoli
3. Nutella Cannoli
4. Gingerbread Scones
5. Cranberry Orange Scones
6. Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies
7. Chocolate Peppermint Whoopie Pies
8. Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
9. Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies with Chocolate and Jam
10. Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
11. Linzer Cookies with Strawberry Rose Jam

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