Another end of month Daring Baker post! The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread! I’ve never had panettone before, and am not super excited about about candied fruit things, but happily googled a chocolate based recipe I could work with. Yum!

I got a tip or two from Wild Yeast‘s panettone post, but used a different recipe. The recipe I did use called for a 6″ panettone paper. The one I used was 7 3/4″, but not nearly as tall as the standard ones, I think, so although one of mine (double batch!) overflowed, I don’t think that yours would.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon, divided
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons raspberry jam
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast, divided
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons softened butter, divided
• 4 tablespoons chocolate peanut butter (the recipe originally called for Nutella, but this stuff‘s even more delicious)
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons good quality vanilla
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup

Prepare the sponge by stirring together 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the water, jam, and 1 teaspoon of the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. It seems kind of dry at first, but if you keep smooshing the jam through it eventually works out to a moist dough. Cover, and let sit in a warm place for 3 hours.

When ready, add another 3/4 cup flour, the sugar, and another teaspoon of yeast. Knead, using the dough hook, until smooth and stretchy, 3-5 minutes. Add 3 egg yolks one at a time, and knead until smooth, shiny, and stretchy. This time it seems overly liquidy at first, but becomes reasonable after a few minutes of kneading.

Cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour and a half.

Add the salt, vanilla, honey, and final teaspoon of yeast. Knead for 1 minute, then add the remaining egg yolks one at a time. Knead until smooth. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time. If you add about one a minute, that’ll give the previous bits time to start being integrated.

Add the chocolate peanut butter 1 tablespoon at a time and knead until shiny and stretchy, at least 5 minutes. At this point you want the dough to be able to stretch until light can come through a portion of the dough without tearing. That’s a sign of sufficient gluten formation. Grab a handful of dough off and try it, and if the dough tears continuing kneading for several more minutes and try again.

Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of flour over the chocolate chips and stir together until coated. Knead the chips into the dough, then transfer to a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, prepare the panettone paper by stabbing two kebab skewers through at the very bottom, parallel to each other.

Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared paper. Cut an X in the top with a sharp knife or pair of kitchen shears.

Cover, and let rise until tripled. To help the dough warm back up from refrigeration and get rising, I put it in the oven with the oven light on, boiled a small pot of water, and put the water in the oven, not touching the dough. It was surprisingly warm in there when I checked an hour later, and the dough was finished rising in a little over 3 hours.

Oy!

Preheat the oven to 375. Put the chocottone in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325. Bake until browned and the dough springs back a bit when gently pressed on top, about an hour.

Using the skewers, carefully flip the chocottone and suspend it upside down. (The dough and the papers are both pretty sturdy, the care comes in not burning yourself.) This keeps the dough from collapsing while it cools.

Let cool at least an hour, then prepare the glaze. Combine the butter and chocolate on the stove over low heat until melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients and drizzle/smooth over the chocottone. Let sit until the glaze is set.

It’s a very light, fluffy dough, and I definitely prefer chocolate to the sort of fruit cake sounding bits I guess are in the traditional one. Not bad for a first panettone! I’ll be submitting this to YeastSpotting.

Chocottone

Lightly adapted from About.com.

Dough:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus 1 tablespoon, divided
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tablespoons raspberry jam
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast, divided
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 8 tablespoons softened butter, divided
• 4 tablespoons chocolate peanut butter
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons good quality vanilla
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Glaze:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1 tablespoon corn syrup

Prepare the sponge by stirring together 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the water, jam, and 1 teaspoon of the yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Cover, and let sit in a warm place for 3 hours.

When ready, add 3/4 cup flour, the sugar, and another teaspoon of yeast. Knead, using the dough hook, until smooth and stretchy, 3-5 minutes. Add 3 egg yolks one at a time, and knead until smooth, shiny, and stretchy. Cover, and let rise until doubled, about an hour and a half.

Add the salt, vanilla, honey, and final teaspoon of yeast. Knead for 1 minute, then add the remaining egg yolks one at a time. Knead until smooth. Add the butter one tablespoon at a time. Add the chocolate peanut butter 1 tablespoon at a time and knead until shiny and stretchy, at least 5 minutes.

Sprinkle the remaining tablespoon of flour over the chocolate chips and stir together until coated. Knead the chips into the dough, then transfer to a greased bowl, cover and refrigerate overnight.

In the morning, prepare the panettone paper by stabbing two kebab skewers through at the very bottom, parallel to each other. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in the prepared paper. Cut an X in the top with a sharp knife or pair of kitchen shears. Cover, and let rise until tripled.

Preheat the oven to 375. Put the chocottone in the oven and reduce the temperature to 325. Bake until browned and the dough springs back a bit when gently pressed on top, about an hour.

Using the skewers, carefully flip the chocottone and suspend it upside down. Let cool at least an hour, then prepare the glaze. Combine the butter and chocolate on the stove over low heat until melted. Stir in the remaining ingredients and drizzle/smooth over the chocottone. Let sit until the glaze is set.