80-HOUR ITALIAN CHRISTMAS PANETTONE made by hand in my home Tuscany, Italy

This episode I’m sharing my journey making handmade Italian panettone – one chocolate and orange and one classic traditional panettone with citrus and dried fruit. This is a cosy Christmas baking video with lots of carols, a fire, decorations picked from the woods near the house and three days of baking as I chat to you about life a week before Christmas and what it’s like being a mother of a toddler.
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Christmas oh Christmas Christmas Is Here o w w w Christmas oh Christmas Christmas Is Here Christmas oh Christmas Christmas [Applause] when I said it’s a Coy afternoon the fire is crackling and John Franco is always helping me go and get the wood outside it’s his favorite thing is to carry in Wood uh from the The Woodshed

And and um and then give it to me to put on the Fire you go one for you and one for me you want it in the fire one okay yes yes yes it’s going in fire don’t worry there you go we have our Christmas decorations up

And I’m looking forward to my sister coming over from mayorca and my my uh my family my parents are still unwell it turns out they have covid and that’s obviously what I had as well but I’m feeling great and I am in the mood for baking Christmas treats I’ve done so

Many different uh types of sweets for Christmas but I’ve never ever attempted panon when you say this word I he a lot of people saying paneton paneton just remember it’s e at the end so it’s panon panon and it is the I would say the number one classic thing to eat at

Christmas time in Italy if you ask any Italian what dessert or or or sweet or baked good or actually even any food instantly makes you think of natal of Christmas uh it’s panon and particularly because it’s sold everywhere in little delicatessens in supermarkets and it can

Keep uh you don’t have to eat it straight away there are varying stories about the history of paneton dating back to 1470 but all agree that paneton was born in Milan and it was considered a luxury bread given the decadent ingredients of butter eggs sugar and vanilla the classic traditional paneton has Citrus

CEST vanilla sultanas sometimes soaked in alcohol and candied orange and sometimes almonds or hazelnuts one of my favorites is the combination of pear and chocolate uh although the addition of such a wet fruit could be risky for my first time many Italians love pistachio and then there’s orange or Mandarin and

Chocolate like this commercial one I brought that is mandarino Uya every time I do recipes for you they’re usually ones that I have been making for years and years that I’ve concocted myself and that I have lots and lots of experience with today no I’ve never ever made made panon do you know why because I have to say that I

Used to not be a fan of paneton and the reason is is because you can get bad paneton sometimes if you buy it from a supermarket or if you get it even in a in a pastier and it’s just a bit old or it’s a bit dry uh it for me it feels

Like stale bread with a few sultanas in it it’s not it’s not very appetizing or it’s not to me a lover lover of sweets a lover of of all thing all baked goods I always just feel a bit disappointed but when paneton is good it is very very

Good I I’ve been thinking about paneton for uh weeks now and I’ve been reading different old-fashioned recipe books from hundreds of years ago looking at different interviews with different chefs and speaking with different Italians uh around the village here and and then in the ptia and people saying

This is the best recipe this is the easiest this is the fastest this you can make in a day I don’t want that I want the most delicious I am placing the the priority 100% on the flavor and the texture and I don’t care how long it

Takes or or what’s involved I’m feeling confident uh I don’t know why because it’s said to be one of the most difficult things to make well I would say most Italians don’t make it at home uh they buy it because there are just so many great great options now in the

Supermarket every pastier makes their own panon and the flavors I still haven’t decided actually what flavor I should do the first step is to use a starter which I don’t have but um or to make Laiga so you start with yo and that just gets broken up and put in with mixed in with some water until it’s dissolved then you add some flour I’m using Manitoba flour which has 13 uh% Protein that just gets covered and left for for 12 to 20 hours to ferment and it’s going to be a long process it’s going to be tedious but that to me is what Christmas is about uh I love just creating something that feels really special that we wouldn’t have all year

Round I have my little helper to hold the basket yes Oh What a Beautiful Day what a beautiful day and we’re off to find some decorations these will be perfect won’t they my darling H yeah let’s get them let’s get you got the okay you got have okay home sweet

Home good morning so it’s a new day the Vega has had time to rest and um it hasn’t gone super big but it has expanded uh my fire is roaring and I’m going to start the first part really well that was the first part but this is

The first proper part of the paneton mixture and I’m feeling good even though do you know most people who make panon make it with a stand mixer and I’m uh going to make it by hand because I don’t have a stand mixer and I just I don’t

Know I’m I know I’m oldfashioned I just really I trust my hands more than a mixer I feel like with a stand mixer obviously it’s going to be a lot more um tiresome to to to to really work that gluon and and uh and make sure the dough

Is is uh is properly worked but I can do it I’m feeling good I’m feeling rested John Franco slept all through the night last night so oh I feel like I could do anything um it’s been so so hard it’s been really hard um but anyway I’ll talk

To you about that when uh when we’re mixing what I’ve done now is measured out uh all the things all my measurements all the ingredients that I that I need and I and I find that even if I weren’t filming this for you I find that particularly at Christmas time when

There’s just so much so many other things going on or if you have a toddler or a few you just whatever you’ve just trying you’re taking calls and stuff and and trying to do other things at the same time uh it can get really hard to remember whether you’ve added three eggs

Or four eggs or what measurement you are or in my case I’m doubling the recipe so that’s uh always a bit of a risk because then you can be following a recipe and you think oh no I I forgot to double the flour and only double the sugar so I

Like to measure everything out first I remember when I was watching when I was a little girl and I was watching cooking shows I just used to love how they had everything all neatly uh prepared in little pieces hello hello are we having fun Aton not yet

Three days to go three days oh you’re so in focused am I in focused perfect do you like my dress yes it’s beautiful um so come in and tell us what you think about panon I’m not dressed well as you here we have a real live Italian

Just um what how do you how do you feel about Pon my love that’s the most traditional Christmas not pudding let’s say what is it if you think of Christmas more than even any Savory dish if you say to an Italian what’s Christmasy to eat they

Would all say Pon or pandoro or pandoro it’s it’s true it’s the the truth is that in Italy there’s this big big ideological difference between who likes pandoro that’s the one without raisins and it has a different texture and paneton that’s one that traditionally has dry fruit inside then there’s also

Within that another section of people that want the paneton but without the D yeah so it’s like Florence it’s like on coffee so as usual every place has the their own recipe but the true best at least paneton that I know is the one it’s typical of Milan this is I’m glad

You’re here because um I know I just need to choose I’m going to I’m doubling the recipe I’m going to make two okay so I’m just trying to decide on the flavors so i’ I’ve got chocolate I’ve got pears for chocolate and pear is a great combination but then there are like

Lemon yeah well most the classic recipe has lemon zest lasan Ela Ela okay that that makes sense but so I was thinking of making a classic one oh and and my special Paddington okay um talk to while you’re having a coffee um and the um I was wondering if you have any

Marcala or vinant or something so I can soak the sultanas hello okay so you goty but this is very precious last drops of BR it’s Italian Brandy ah yes okay sto sto branka it’s Brandy yeah and great so I can soak those this is one uh this is a store-bought one pon mandino

So so Mandarin and um and a chocolate um I like it to sort of have lots of Bubbles and holes yeah and it needs to be buttery yes exactly buttery and not heavy it has to be lovely and like you’re eating sweet clouds know that just sort of collapse in your in your

Mouth okay um bye it’s okay ah um and I’ve got my butter could you just pass me my butter it’s just in the fridge excuse me in the um Forno um so it’s important that the butter is lovely and soft so I just put

It in the oven with the light on and now it’s nice and nice and soft okay so I’m going to start with my fresh uh yeast and uh this is in addition to the yeast that we put in yesterday in the Vega so I will just put that into the bowl and my

Water and just dissolve dissolve this and then now I shall add in a flour and I may as well sift it just to be sure uh this again is Manitoba flour I was speaking to some elderly Italians and there used to be many women making paneton by hand uh

Like this without a stand mixer now it’s rare to find anyone who even makes it at all uh in their home let Lear by hand anyway this gives us a good opportunity to have a little chat how is your pre Christmas week going have you bought

Presents you know we haven’t we sort of actually I haven’t got any presents at all um and we were talking and I don’t know something there’s something about buying things just for the sake of it and or or buying things in a panic for people just feels really wrong and uh

Obviously if you see something nice for someone and you and you know you take the time to think about something they really need or something they’d really love that they perhaps wouldn’t buy for themselves that’s good but I don’t uh you know we were talking with my parents

And just saying gosh it’s not it it feels feels wrong to just go and buy meaningless stuff was this week it was uh the day for Santa Luchia Santa Luchia was an extraordinarily beautiful and Wealthy girl in Sicily whose father died when she was young her mother was very sick

And she prayed to have her mother be cured and when she was Luchia wanted to give away all her riches to the poor devote her life to God and helping orphans and widows and others in need but a sutor who was in love with IIA was Furious that she wouldn’t be with him

And that she gave away what I guess would have been her DIY some horrible things happened and ultimately he caused her execution but she is one of the most beloved Saints in Italy today it’s funny it’s it’s winter now in itally but it doesn’t feel it’s not that biting cold

That I suppose some of you have in your in your country right now uh for example I’m just wearing this dress with no with no stockings and and uh and I feel fine admittedly we do have the fire going all day but uh it’s not uh it’s not it’s not

Really that chilly cold where you feel it in your in your bones or you have to or you can’t go outside playing for hours with je Fran or in the garden and uh there’s sunshine and and it’s still quite warm although I I am a bit jealous of if you’re somewhere where there’s

Snow and and and it is that cold I suppose it brings out all the the Christmas m magic you know that that idea of of of rugging up and perhaps I don’t know making a hot chocolate or something or baking I have these uh egg

Yolks here so I’m going to add one egg yolk at a time and just work it into the Dough CH here um I’ll just add another egg and then also we are we’ve got a wedding in uh in in Somerset in L in um in the UK and uh we weren’t sure whether we were going to go because it’ll be the first time that I’m away from John

Franco for a night and oh it’s just I’m so nervous about it and it is not you think that you would want your freedom after I don’t know 14 months of just being on call and and and breastfeeding every two hours for a year and then cutting it down from then but still

Breastfeeding every day you think that I would say oh I want to be free but I don’t I just I the thought of being away from him um and makes me so sad and and uh yeah I don’t know but I I I think we have to obviously he we’re going to be

Leaving him with my parents who H are around him a lot so it’s not like we’re leaving him uh with strangers or or even family that he doesn’t see often so um hopefully that will mean that he is still in a familiar setting and he’s

Still going to be in his own bed and his own house so that we don’t break with his routine and oh well so far the human stand mixer is not tired yet because I’ve been weaning Jo Franco it’s meant that I’ve just been trying to spend extra time

With him to be really present and and and uh and affectionate and and physical with him so that he still feels that he’s not being just cut off and having that all that physical contact kind of severed I I could probably have kept feeding him for another 6 months but

Um yeah I just if we w’t have another child we s of have to give my body the the message that that it’s ready um it’s funny how I mean not to not to scare anyone but you know everyone told me oh just make it to 3

Months just make it to four months just make it to when he’s eating solids and no no that wasn’t the case it’s been it’s been hard uh in terms of he can at night he can have a a breakdown almost every every night but he might just be by Nature a

Bad sleeper because I’m a bad sleeper uh my sister isn’t she’s she was like a little cat that could just curl up and fall asleep anywhere any time and I was just terrible I apparently when I was in in um kindergarten when all the other

Kids lay down and had a nap in the middle of the day and I would just be in a corner and the the teacher would give me some some uh some paper and and a pencil to to to write or Draw or something while the other kids had a nap because I just

Wasn’t just wasn’t interested I just felt I I think I remember some of my first memories are just thinking what a waste why would I sleep when there’s so much to do now technically if you want the most beautiful texture for paneton with a lovely open crumb it’s best to

Begin with a sourdough starter or Leo Madre this would require 7 to 10 days to make a nurture a starter from scratch so unfortunately I didn’t have that option but next Christmas if I’m more prepared I will definitely try it therefore not using a souro starter and not using a

Stand mixer this paneton was from the beginning quite a risk I’m trying to do that I’m trying to pretend that I’m a stand mixer and do the action okay now let’s add in the sugar little bit at a time Again well I’m here chatting to you I might as well uh take this time to say a big thank you to I think you pronounce your name Felicia uh this wonderful woman who also has a baby uh that’s just a bit older what is it 7 weeks I think

She said older than John Franco and she wrote John Franco this card for his birthday and as her child and it was so beautiful that I was reading out and to to he in the kitchen with my mother and we both just started crying when we read it so so thank you so

Much for it’s so beautiful and I I feel very very lucky to to be in contact with people like you who just take that time to wrap a beautiful present and write such lovely words and and uh and anyway she sent me she sent John Franco this

Book uh and it’s all in German but the funny thing is is that we just uh we sat here and then my parents were here I was cooking and and they uh and they just started uh trying to tell the story to John Franco and we worked out the story

Even though it’s in German and uh and he loved it he just loved the book and I and I love the idea that you know in a across the way in another home far far away there’s a little child who’s reading the same story and this one Al

Says I know ah got the idea IDE is everybody works together there’s the elephant and the giraffe and the porcupine you know the stories we read as as children are so important aren’t they we’re getting out some of my um my books from when I was 5 years old and I

Still remember them and particularly there’s this Christmas book that we used to read every year and story time for me and my sister was so uh was so sacred and it was such a lovely time when my both my parents would come into our bedroom and and we would read as a

Family like read out aloud and ah they were just some of my most beautiful memories and always just as a child you you go to sleep feeling so safe and excited your imagination is just going wild with all the different images of the story you’ve just heard

And it’s so much better than than watching something because you you are required to to imagine the scene and uh and just listen to your your your father or your mother’s voice and and uh and what a lovely way to to transition into the dream world oh my gosh Christmas baking if

It’s just for the family uh is is experimenting a bit and and seeing what you what you can come up with and then every year ideally you get better at at a particular recipe if you if you decide to keep it within the family that’s how

I feel about my fruit min’s pies now I can just do it I could do it blindfolded and I think I have to open the door because I’m so hot how do I do it with this I’m going to add the beiger now it’s looking nice and yeasty and puffy I think I

Might have very sore hands after this so I’m just going to add in a little bit rubbing a bit of this at a time so that it can uh really be incorporated well oh I do like this part it just feels so it feels so lovely just just

Gradually adding to the flavor and the texture and and uh and I don’t know what is it what is it about tedious recipes that attracts me so much the funny thing is that although I had done a few days of research on paneton it was not nearly enough afterwards I fell even deeper

Down the wormhole and I read how it is considered the Mount Everest of baking and hardly anyone’s first panon is a success in fact one blog post of an expert Baker wrote you have to be physically and mentally strong in order to attempt baton and she even suggested

Getting a support group because there are so many communities where everyone just uh supports each other during the whole weeks or or days of of of baking and and offers uh advice to each other because so many things can go wrong there are so many different variables depending on the temperature of your

Home and many other things anyway I’m kind of glad that I didn’t know too much on my first time because I ended up really enjoying the process even though I was probably making a million errors the other thing this this blog post said is that every time you bake panon the

Most important thing is to learn something and you have to learn it with the dough between your fingers you have to feel it you have to smell it you have to see it there’s no point in just getting the perfect formula you have to have experience with feeling the dough

And feeling when it goes wrong and feeling when it goes right and knowing how to read uh your instincts with panon I’m sitting down because I’m getting a bit tired but the dough now with the butter Incorporated is feeling really lovely and smooth and velvety and I can’t help but feel

Hopeful uh but of course one won’t know until the very end it’s always a bit of a a bit of a risk when you do these these uh recipes which are a long process and then particularly with baking and then you don’t find out until the very end whether there whether

You’ve made um errors along the way that have that are going to seriously impact the texture or or the flavor but [Applause] Oh Where [Applause] Hello hello dar Hello okay now that I’m sweating I just want to show you this uh you see here this shows the look how beautiful and elastic it is it’s perfect so now I can’t believe it I’m so proud I did this all by hand and um so now I can shape It okay and then I have a container here so I will just lift this up put it in the container and then I’m so excited I think it’s gonna be lovely okay now we just leave this to rise I might put it in the oven with the light on lay the

World in and airing till he appear and the Soul f it wor a thrill of the we World rejoices for your breaks and you glorious on your oh the the Angel’s voice say Oh night divine oh night when Christ was born oh night div oh night Night oh night the stars are bright Shin it is the night of our Dear long lay the world in sin and Aing so he appear and the Soul f it wor a thrill of the we World Rejoice is for your prise and you will in glorious M on your oh here the Angels Oh oh when Christ was born oh Night Night my back is sore it’s late I’ve got to prepared enough for John Franco and this is not it’s not it’s not as good as it could be hope that I somehow can get find some energy from somewhere because doing this all day oh no the batter is failing the batter’s ending as

Well I come this farther I can’t let my standards drop at this final Hour For [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] Look at that Bubble look at these bubbles oh my gosh I’m so excited you just look beautiful yes you do look at it it’s just so bubbly and oh I’m so excited okay now I’ll leave this to form a bit of a crust and then I’ll cut a uh

Across at this point I made a glaze of vanilla ground almonds egg whites sugar and corn flour I put this glaze on the classic paneton and it was delicious I also decorated it with almonds which when roasted and crispy were just so yummy on top but I shouldn’t have cut

Across and out of the glaze as well it was 5:00 a.m. I hadn’t slept because of John Franco crying because he misses breastfeeding and clearly I’m a panon amateur then I had a problem with our oven the temperature light was going on and off so one never knows exactly when

It’s properly preheated with them safely in the oven I got to preparing my weapons for hanging them upside down which is the crucial famous step that maintains the fluffiness and doesn’t have them sinking as soon as they’re out of the oven after 40 minutes I protected

Them with Alf oil so that the tops don’t burn then I got nervous and I think I should have taken them out at an hour but they felt very tender and wobbly so I left them in another half hour which I’m pretty sure was a mistake although

The result was still delicious so who knows not dropping not dropping I think I just hold it like this no I can’t handle it I can’t handle it it feels too vulnerable it feels too Vulnerable the classic paneton didn’t rise as much as it should have but that was my fault with the glaze and cutting it however the taste and texture were very good considering I didn’t use a sourdough starter and mixed it all by hand Okay there you go okay so this is your classic panon okay M smells Delicious M very nice W very nice flavor and this is the chocolate you can just bite into it so we’re going to the chocolate one chocolate and orange M very nice m So was it worth it yes but I guess like most things in life you have to be committed to the long term to really get fulfillment and I am just at the start of my panoni journey and I hope to make it every Christmas and get better and

Better you have to enjoy the process even if it’s humbling even if it shows up all your errors you have to take pleasure in knowing that next year is another chance to learn to grow and to know that you may never reach Perfection but that maybe that’s never the goal

It’s to live everything we do in life with heart and hard work and a mind open to learning Merry Christmas my beautiful Community thank you for watching and thank you for coming with me on this little paneton journey I wish you a beautiful holiday and I will see you Alima

You thank you my darling thank You when Christ was born oh night Div oh night all night divine