At winter holiday time in Italia, out come the fortified breads as treats!

Some like panettone best:

Panettone (name derives from panetto which means small loaf cake) is a type of sweet bread that hails originally from Milano and is, in fact, one of the symbols of that city. As you can see in this map, Milano is way up north.

The origins of this cake appear to date back to the Roman Empire, when the ancients sweetened a type of leavened cake with honey. According to Wikipedia, through the ages this “tall, leavened fruitcake” makes cameo appearances in the arts, such as in a 16th century painting by Brueghel the Elder and possibly mentioned in a contemporary recipe book written by Bartolomeo Scappi, personal chef to popes and emperors during the time of Charles V.  The first recorded association of panettone with Christmas, according to Wikipedia, can be found in the writings of 18th century illuminist Pietro Verri. He refers to it as “Pane di Tono” (luxury cake).

It wasn’t until the 20th century that Milanese baker, Angelo Motta, started producing his eponymous brand of cakes. Motta revolutionized the traditional panettone by giving it its light texture and tall domed shape, achieved by allowing the dough to rise three times, or for almost 20 hours, before baking. Another baker, Gioacchino Alemagna, further adapted the recipe around 1925 and his name still demarcates a popular brand in existence today. The two bakers continued in a very stiff competition, with the happy result that by the end of World War II, panettone was affordable for all and soon became the country’s leading Christmas sweet, even if the baking process had become quite industrialized.

Sold throughout grocery stores around the country (and indeed the world, nowadays), panettone usually has a round base and rises as it bakes into a cupola shape at the top.  Candied orange, citron, lemon zest and dry raisins are added to the dough before baking and thus is often compared to fruitcake. It is usually served in slices cut vertically and taken with sweet hot beverages or a sweet Italian wine.

And with all this panettone demand, all the popular brands try to convince you theirs is the best.

For example: Maino brand, which uses American gospel music:

For another example, Tre Marie brand, which sets up a funny narrative about a family losing all its riches but still manages to have Tre Marie Panettone for Christmas. The whole thing is set to a Bing Crosby White Christmas soundtrack and is funny on many levels!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=hN6VAag9Pa8

Several years ago I decided to bake one of these babies from scratch, thinking I’d like a homemade version better than the store bought; I don’t think it is worth the trouble unless you adore panettone, which I don’t.  But here’s a recipe for panettone from the BBC in case you feel up to the task:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/panettone_16322

Panforte is very strictly Tuscan, originating in Siena.

The name translated means “strong bread;” its original name was “panpepato” (meaning “peppered bread”), due to the heavy use of pepper in the cake. Panforte as we know it today is very much like the fruitcakes served in the United States, with a very dense, moist crumb, loaded with candied fruits and nuts, and the use of strong spices. Legend relates that panforte was popularized during the Crusades when this naturally preserved bread helped stave off hunger among the Christian warriors.  The Crusaders wives, sad to see their husbands ride off to war in far-off places, loaded their bags up with lots of this strong bread, as it traveled well.  It crossed my mind that even if the Crusaders didn’t eat the panforte, they could have used it as a weapon, for it is dense and heavy for its size!

Panforte may, in fact, date all the way back to 13th-century Siena, according to Wikipedia. Documents from 1205 show that panforte was used as a payment by the monks and nuns of a local monastery for a tax which was due on February 7th of that year.

Currently there are many shops in Italy producing panforte, each recipe being a jealously guarded interpretation of the original confection and packaged in its own distinctive wrapping. Usually a small wedge is served with coffee or a dessert wine after a meal, although some people enjoy it with their coffee at breakfast. The Sienese consider their city as the panforte capital of the country and believe it should properly contain 17 different ingredients; there are 17 contrade (districts) within the city walls.

This entertaining video calls forth no less authorities than Queen Elizabeth and Prince Charles and his sons.  Somehow I just never thought of these Brits as huge panforte fans, but what do I know?

It’s pretty easy to bake panforte: all you need to do is dissolve sugar in honey (see recipe below, you need runny honey!), and add various nuts, fruits and spices together with the flour. The entire mixture is baked in a shallow pan. The finished cake is dusted with powdered sugar; commercially produced panforte often have a band of rice-paper around the edge. This special Christmas treat is a lot easier to make than panettone, so if you feel like giving it a whirl, here’s a recipe:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-1236638/Continental-Christmas-recipes-Pistachio-panforte.html

SERVES 8-10

INGREDIENTS

• 150g (5½oz) shelled pistachios
• 150g (5½oz) blanched almonds
• 175g (6oz) dried figs, quartered
• 100g (3½oz) mixed peel
• 1tsp ground cinnamon
• ½tsp mixed spice
• 2tbsp cocoa powder, sifted
• 50g (1oz) plain flour
• 25g (1oz) butter
• 150g (5½oz) runny honey (say what?)
• 150g (5½oz) soft brown sugar sifted
• icing sugar, to serve

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 170C/150C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base of a 20cm (8in) sandwich tin with baking parchment.

Place the pistachios, almonds, figs and mixed peel in a heatproof bowl. Sift over the cinnamon, mixed spice, cocoa and flour and stir to combine.

Put the butter, honey and brown sugar in a pan, over a medium heat, and stir until the mixture has melted together and just comes to the boil.

Pour on top of the dry ingredients, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Transfer to the sandwich tin and press down with the back of the spoon, making the surface level.

Place in the oven for 45 minutes, until it is bubbling slightly. Remove from the oven and leave until completely cool, before removing from the tin, and dusting with icing sugar.

ADESSO, PANDORO! Pandoro is actually the only one of the three Christmas breads I even like!

Pandoro, which means golden bread, is a Christmas cake that originated in Verona, you know, up in Shakespeare’s Romeo e Julietta land.

As its name implies, this cake has a bright yellow color achieved by the large number of egg yolks and the huge amount of butter used in the recipe; pandoro is baked in a special star-shaped mold. When dusted with confectioners’ sugar, it has the appearance of fallen snow on a tall, Alpine mountain.

Pandoro may be served with many types of creams or sauces, such as mascarpone topping, melted chocolate,

or whipped cream, perhaps with sliced berries, other diced fruits, or even pomegranate seeds.  Sometimes It is served with the top cut away, the center hollowed out, and then filled with ice cream or custard.  Pandoro can be sliced into vertical wedges or cut horizontally into star-shaped slices.  Horizontally cut slices can be arranged into a beautiful Christmas-tree shaped presentation.

This video shows the homemaker how to take a regular pandoro and doll it up for Christmas.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=PtdwnkeGq_M

The following elicits the beat of the 1950s to sell its cake:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=9dVHkhZ-xHo

Biga (Starter)
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces)  All-Purpose Flour
1/2 cup (4 ounces) cool water
1/8 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia* (note to self: find out more about this lovely designated foodstuff)
2 tablespoons (1 ounce) water
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup (2 3/8 ounces) sugar
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces)  Flour; OR 1 cup (3 3/4 ounces) Italian-style flour and 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces)  All-Purpose Flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) golden raisins
1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) diced dried apricots

*Substitute 2 teaspoons vanilla + 1/4 teaspoon lemon oil (or 2 teaspoons lemon zest), if desired.

Biga: Combine the flour, water and yeast, mix till fairly smooth and VERY stiff, and allow to rest, covered, overnight.

Dough: Next day, add the dough ingredients (except for the fruit) to the biga, mixing and then kneading–by hand, mixer or bread machine–till you’ve made a soft, very smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 hour.

Knead the fruit into the dough, trying to leave most of it inside; any fruit on the surface will tend to burn as the loaf bakes. Round the dough into a ball, and transfer it to a lightly greased pandoro pan. Allow it to rise, covered, for 2 hours; it’ll become noticeably puffy, but won’t fill the pan. Preheat the oven to 350°F towards the end of the rising time.

Bake the bread for 10 minutes. Tent it lightly with aluminum foil, and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes, until its interior temperature measures 190°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove it from the oven, let it rest for 10 minutes, then gently remove it from the pan. When cool, sprinkle the bread with confectioners’ sugar or non-melting white sugar, and serve it, sliced, with mascarpone cheese, if desired. Yield: 1 loaf.

Mascarpone Topping:

8 ounces of mascarpone, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 tablespoons milk or light cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Serve at room temperature.

(Makes 1-1/2 cups)

Whether your sweet tooth is of the Milanese, Tuscan, or Veronese persuasion, the cakes must be made using specific ingredients to be truly traditional. If you serve panettone, panforte, or pandoro during your Christmas celebrations, you’ll be in good company– Italian bakers sell an astonishing 117 million cakes a year!  That rounds out to about 579 million euro worth of cake. Buon natale and buona festa a tutti!