Product Code Database
Panettone is an Italian cuisine sweet bread and fruitcake that is associated with the city of Milan. It is usually prepared for Christmas and New Year in Western Europe, Southern Europe, and Southeast Europe Europe, as well as in South America, Eritrea, Australia, and North America. Panettone is tall, with the appearance and texture of bread. Despite such an appearance, panettone is understood in Italy to be a dessert; one that would be out of place in a bread bakery.
/ref> Food historian Francine Segan describes the cake as "probably" created in the 15th century. Despite panettone from Milan being the most popular variety across Italy, Italian author Ada Boni reported in her 1969 Italian Regional Cooking that claims of creation exist across northern Italy—in Venice and Turin with their panettone, and in Genoa with its Genoa cake, known in Italy as pandolce.
Popular tales abound describing panettone's creation. In the most famous, taking place in the 15th century, a wealthy Milanese noble sought to marry the daughter of Tony, a poor baker. To ingratiate himself, the noble furnished the girl's father with the ability to source the best quality flour, eggs, raisins, candied citrus, and sugar, leading to the development of a rich bread to great commercial success. This new food was named pan di Tonio, and the noble was given the hand of the baker's daughter in marriage.
In another telling, the roles are reversed, with a baker named Tony hoping to marry the daughter of a rich noble. Creating and serving panettone in an effort to impress, Tony was rewarded with the noble's approval and his own bakery. Food scholar Cathy Kaufman identifies the popularity of this account in its proximity to analogies within Christian thought, which analogise romantic love and the love of Jesus Christ at Christmas. Another reason Kaufman supplies is the popularity of weddings during the twelve days between Christmas and Epiphany in pre-industrial Europe, after the slaughter replenished food stocks.
Panettone may be mentioned in a recipe book written by Italian Bartolomeo Scappi, a personal chef to and during the early 16th century in the reign of Charles V. The oldest and most certain attestation of the panettone is found in a register of expenses of the Borromeo college of Pavia, Lombardy, in 1599: on 23 December of that year in the list of courses provided for Christmas lunch, costs also appear for 5 pounds of butter, 2 pounds of raisins and 3 ounces of spices given to the baker to make 13 "loaves" to be given to college students on Christmas Day. The first recorded association of panettone with Christmas can be found in the Italian writings of the 18th century Enlightenment thinker Pietro Verri. He refers to it as pan de ton ('luxury bread').
The first printed recipe for panettone appears in the third edition of 1853's Nuovo cuoco economico milanese by Giovanni Felice Luraschi ( pasta per far panatoni). Panettone around this time was unaffordable to much of the Milanese. One such purchase of a small panettone and 200 grams of sugared almonds from a pastry shop is recorded in 1874, costing 2.35 lira (approximately in 2020).
During the 1970s, panettone entered the cuisine of southern Italy at a time when a singular, national Italian cuisine emerged. Advertisements on television promoted panettone in the new markets, arguing its industrial production ensured hygiene and quality.
Nestlé took over the Motta and Alemagna brands in the late 1990s, but Bauli, an Italian bakery company based in Verona, has since acquired Motta and Alemagna from Nestlé. Although panettone remained associated with holidays, by this point it was eaten throughout the year in Italy. By the 2010s, panettone produced by artisans or flavored with local ingredients held in higher regard in southern Italy over those produced industrially. One such variation in Campania was a panettone flavored with limoncello.
In North America in the 21st century, some bakeries and cookbooks moved to a panettone made from wild yeast rather than commercial yeast, following a major bakery in Italy that had gained commercial success with wild yeasts. In the UK, panettone is sometimes used to make bread and butter pudding.
As of 2007, efforts were underway to obtain protected designation of origin (PDO) and denominazione di origine controllata (DOC) status for panettone.
Panettone is shaped on a surface that is sometimes buttered and then baked in a tall, cylindrical mold. Atypically for a sweetened dough containing yeast, panettone is not steamed during cooking. Baking paper designed specially for panettone is sold commercially. After baking, panettone is hung upside down as it cools, preventing the bubbles in the dough from collapsing. In a commercial bakery, this may be done with special equipment, and in smaller batches they may be hung between tables, suspended with wooden skewers.
Panettone has a cupola shape, which extends from a Cylinder base and is usually about high for a panettone weighing . Other bases may be used, such as an octagon, or a frustum with a star section shape more common to pandoro. It is made during a long process that involves curing the dough, which is acidic, similar to sourdough. The proofing process alone takes several days, giving the cake its distinctive fluffy characteristics. Variations include plain or with chocolate.
Panettone is cooked in a range of sizes, from individually portioned cakes to large cakes that are cut at service. Among the Milanese, panettone is eaten with various courses, including breakfast, afternoon tea, and dinner. Alongside, the Italian dessert wine Vin Santo or a sweet white wine are often drunk. Panettone is sometimes served in its baking paper, which often features decorative designs.
Prices for panettone varied starkly by source. In 2011, a panettone purchased from an Italian supermarket could cost less than (), compared to the few produced by artisans which often could cost . Outside of supermarkets, industrially-produced panettone are sold in some bakeries.
|
|
