Wild Yeast

I started making panettone at Christmastime in 2006. Over these few years, I have tried variations on the recipe (here’s a chocolate one, and here’s one studded with bits of chocolate and ginger), but this is the one I keep coming back to. I still hold my breath each time I make it, because it’s fussy and needs to be pampered. But given patience, discipline, and a loving hand, it does not disappoint. Light and buttery, citrus-y sweet and holiday-special, its baking is a ritual that comforts and satisfies me. Sharing it with my family, and with you, makes me unreasonably happy.

 I first posted this panettone in 2007, and the recipe hasn’t changed. But I have accumulated a few refinements and lessons learned, so I thought it was time, once again, to tell you everything I know about making panettone.

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For this month’s Bread Baking Babes assignment, Gretchen Noelle (Provecho Peru) chose this Apple Kuchen, a German apple …. cake? Yes, “kuchen” is German for cake, but this yeasted pastry is more like a cross between a cake, a bread, and a scone, topped with apple pie filling. It is a snap to make and keeps fabulously well. In fact, now, four days after baking, I think it is even better — more moist and richer-tasting — than on day one.

You will find the Apple Kuchen recipe on Gretchen Noelle’s blog. I followed it pretty much whole, except for a couple of things. I  – being me — used instant yeast (5.2 grams) instead of active dry. Like Gretchen Noelle, I made up my own definition of apple pie spice: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon each allspice, ginger and nutmeg; and 1/8 teaspoon cloves. And I forwent the cream cheese topper because I just felt like going topless.

This is a recipe I would encourage tweaking, especially the filling. The other kuchen-conquering Babes have ideas and advice: Elizabeth (blog from OUR kitchen), Elle (Feeding My Enthusiasms), Tanna (My Kitchen in Half Cups), and Lien (Notitie van Lien). Details about baking with us as a Buddy are at the end of Gretchen Noelle’s post. Happy holidays from the Babes!

This week’s YeastSpotting is dedicated to our dear friend MC (Farine), who has suffered unimaginable loss in the senseless and devastating tragedy in Connecticut today. Our hearts are with you, MC.

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Loaves and Rolls, Second Batch
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