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Fermentation Atlas

Cereals and bread from Italy

Panettonepanettone

Panettone is a tall, soft, butter-rich sweet bread raised by a sourdough (lievito madre), not by baker's yeast alone. The mother dough is refreshed several times, then mixed into a first dough that rises overnight. A second dough adds more butter, yolks, sugar and fruit. It rises again in a paper mould, is baked, and is hung upside down to cool. Made in 6 steps over 28 h – 41 h. The longest step, mix and rise the first dough, takes 18 h (De Vero L 2021) and runs at 20–22 °C (De Vero L 2021). Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis and Kazachstania humilis do most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main step18 hReported[devero2021]Mix and rise the first dough
Temperature20–22 °CReported[devero2021]Mix and rise the first dough
AciditypH 3.8–3.9Measured[devero2021]Refresh the lievito madre
Fully documentedCereals and bread28 h – 41 hMore cereals and breadMore from ItalyMore from Peru

Recipe

Amounts from a sourceDough amounts from one bakery make studied by De Vero et al. 2021, which added no fruit or aromas. The percentages are the legal minimums or limits of the Italian decree of 22 July 2005.
About 28 % of the refreshed sourdoughLievito madre (sourdough) · Refreshed with type 0 wheat flour and water; the law requires a natural sourdough leaven[devero2021][dm2005]
4.0 kg + 1.5 kgWheat flour · First dough, then second dough[devero2021]
1.25 kg + 1.0 kgSugar[devero2021]
1.0 kg + 1.0 kgEgg yolks · The law requires at least 4 % yolk[devero2021][dm2005]
1.5 kg + 2.0 kgButter · The law requires at least 16 % butterfat[devero2021][dm2005]
2.1 L + 0.25 LWater[devero2021]
0.05 kgBarley malt[devero2021]
0.065 kgSalt[devero2021]
At least 20 %Raisins and candied citrus peel · Required by law; the study dough left them out[dm2005]
Up to 1 %Baker's yeast · Optional, allowed by law on top of the sourdough[dm2005]
Starterlievito madre (type I sourdough) kept by back-slopping

Total time across the recorded steps: 28 h – 41 h

Start
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25–35 °CpH 3.8–3.9

What changes: Flour and water go into the mother dough several times to wake it up

Step 1 of 6
Refresh the lievito madre
Time
4–16 h
Reported
Temperature
25–35 °C
Reported
Salt
None given
Acidity
pH 3.8–3.9
Measured
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Yeasts
F. sanfranciscensis
Kazachstania humilis
Levilactobacillus brevis

Output: active sourdough.

Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

F. sanfranciscensis and K. humilis dominate

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

What makes this one different

In Italy the name panettone is reserved by law for a bread raised by natural sourdough, with set minimums of butterfat, yolk and fruit. Baker's yeast may be added only up to 1 %, so the sourdough does the main leavening.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Pandoro (Verona)Star-shaped, with no fruit and at least 20 % butterfat; also a sourdough bread by law.
  • ColombaDove-shaped bread with a glazed top, sugar grains and at least 2 % almonds; at least 15 % candied peel by law.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

The Italian decree of 22 July 2005 fixed the legal definitions of panettone, pandoro and colomba.

  1. [dm2005] Italy, Decreto 22 luglio 2005, Disciplina della produzione e della vendita di taluni prodotti dolciari da forno, Gazzetta Ufficiale n. 177 of 1 August 2005 (copy hosted by Frareg)spec
  2. [devero2021] De Vero L., Iosca G. et al. 2021, Yeasts and lactic acid bacteria for panettone production, an assessment of candidate strains, Microorganisms 9(5):1093paper
  3. [garofalo2008] Garofalo C., Silvestri G., Aquilanti L., Clementi F. 2008, PCR-DGGE analysis of lactic acid bacteria and yeast dynamics during the production processes of three varieties of Panettone, Journal of Applied Microbiology 105:243–254 (abstract read)paper
  4. [jamanca2022] Jamanca-Gonzales N.C., Ocrospoma-Dueñas R.W. et al. 2022, Influence of preferments on the physicochemical and sensory quality of traditional panettone, Foods 11(17):2566paper