Dark Chocolate Cherry & Hazelnut Panettone

If you grew up in an Italian home, the chances are that you had panettone in the house around the holidays. This tall loaf is filled with all sorts of candied or rehydrated fruits, nuts, chocolate, citrus zest and spice and they have a beautifully chewy texture.

Panettone is often lumped in with other fruit cakes and this is just not true. Traditional panettone takes days to create using special techniques, precise timing and baking and they even have a unique way that they need to be cooled due to their heavy, tall structure.

While it is possible to make the traditional old world recipe in your own kitchen, I have created my own version that while it pays homage to an authentic panettone, it is slightly more simplified and does not require special equipment. It is still a multi-day undertaking, but if you are good at following instructions, you will be richly rewarded with a beautiful panettone that you can share with friends and family for the holidays.

Let’s get started…

The first step is to make a quick starter the night before you plan to bake your panettone.

It is a simple process! Just whisk 14 grams of active dry yeast (2 envelopes) and a pinch of granulated sugar into 3/4 cup of warm water and let it sit for about 5 minutes or until it gets all foamy.

As soon as the yeast has bloomed, mix in a cup of all purpose flour until it is completely incorporated, cover the bowl and rest this mixture at room temperature for 8-12 hours.

Starter – done.

The next morning, combine 4 1/2 cups of all purpose flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon, 2/3 cup of granulated sugar and 2 tablespoons of fresh orange zest in a stand mixer and mix lightly to combine.

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Can I make panettone by hand?

While you could… I wouldn’t want to. This is a very loose, tender, sticky dough that will be very difficult to work with by hand, so I love letting my stand mixer do the tough work here.

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Add the starter mixture you made last night along with 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract, 5 large eggs, 2 large egg yolks and 1/2 cup of honey and start mixing on medium low with a dough hook.

As soon as everything comes together, use a silicone spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that all of the dry flour is brought into the dough mixture before we start the kneading process.

Increase the speed to medium and knead for 4-5 minutes.

After 4-5 minutes, your dough should be a pale orange color and a soft, sticky consistency. Continue kneading and begin adding 1 cup of softened salted butter a tablespoon or 2 at a time giving it time to be incorporated into the dough before you add more in. This whole process should take another 4-5 minutes of kneading, so the total kneading time should be right around 9-10 minutes by the time you are done.

This dough is very sticky and soft. It should feel almost like a thick cake batter at this point.

Transfer the dough into a greased bowl, cover it tightly and let the dough rest in a warm spot for 90 minutes.

While the dough is proofing, prepare your baking vessel.

Panettone is traditionally baked in a panettone mould, but I have had much success baking this loaf in a 9″-10″ extra deep cake pan or a dutch oven that is approximately 9″ wide. A dutch oven works great for this loaf because it has plenty of room to rise and still be offered stability. While you won’t have that large domed mushroom appearance that a bakery bought panettone will have, you will not struggle with many of the other issues that come with that process either.

To line a dutch oven or large round cake pan with parchment paper, simply flip it over and place a sheet of parchment that is large enough to overhang 4 inches on all sides over the bottom.

Cut slits at north-south-east-west from the outer edge of the paper to just past the bottom of the dutch oven then flip the dutch oven and push the parchment paper into the base. When you allow the paper to form around the round sides of the dutch oven where you cut the slits, you should have a fully lined dutch oven perfect for baking your panettone in.

You can see how the dough puffed up to just about double its original volume, but it won’t get super puffy like some bread doughs do.

Now this dough is very soft and sticky, so you will need to shape it on a generously floured surface with generously floured hands. I like to use a bench scraper too. The less you touch it, the better.

To add your fillings, gently work the dough out into a large rectangle and add about a third of the rehydrated cherries and chopped chocolate and hazelnuts to the bottom third of the dough.

Fold a third of the dough over the filling like you are folding a letter and add about half of the remaining filling over the dough you just folded over.

Fold the remaining dough over, add the rest of the filling and fold that dough in half.

Form the dough into a roundish shape (do your best, perfection is not a requirement here!) and carefully transfer the dough into the prepared baking vessel.

Cover your baking vessel with plastic or a lid and let it rest in a warm place for 2 hours.

Similar to the first rest, we are looking for the dough to almost double in size, but it will not puff up real big like some doughs do. Just go by time on this dough. Set a timer for 2 hours and when you have about 15 minutes left, preheat your oven to 350 degrees and set a rack to just below center.

Once your 2 hours is up, brush the top of the dough with a whisked egg and sprinkle some finely chopped hazelnuts and course sugar over the top.

Bake your panettone for 30 minutes at 350 degrees and then reduce the ovens temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 60 minutes or until the top of your dough is deeply golden brown and a wooden skewer will come out of the center of the loaf clean.

Let the loaf cool completely in the vessel before removing it. This is a very important step. Panettone is a tall loaf filled with lots of heavy filling, so it needs to cool fully before you move it or slice into it. This time will help all of the moisture within the bread to redistribute as the bread cools preventing the bread from getting gummy or even worse, collapsing. Long story short… let it cool… completely.

Once the panettone is completely cooled, give it a little dusting of confectioners sugar and cut yourself a nice big slice…

It’s hard to accurately describe panettone, but I am going to try…

It’s chewy, but also light and a little crumbly with a beautifully caramelized top. The flavors of orange and cinnamon come through in a fabulous way and then you get little bits of the dark chocolate, those juicy little cherries and a crisp hazelnut. Everything is so comforting and cozy…

If you grew up in a panettone household and find yourself craving the nostalgia, I would love for you to give this recipe a try. It is well worth the effort and makes for a wonderful holiday gift for anyone you want to make feel special.

Cheers to panettone season my friends!