What Is Panettone & Why Is It Eaten During Christmas?

Then, last year, a tall, dark, handsome panettone arrived at our doorstep. Its path to the regifting pile was detoured simply because it was chocolate. We don’t refuse anything chocolate — the darker the better.

That panettone from fine-dining Italian restaurant Art di Daniele was revelatory. It tasted like flossy threads of cocoa silk bejewelled with velvety pools of dark chocolate. Thus began our investigation into why some panettones taste like the spirit of elderly aunties past while others conjure up the sensual pleasure of adult candy floss.

A Milanese speciality

Although its origin is unknown, it is widely agreed that panettone was first made in Milan as early as the 15th century. 

Before industrialisation gave way to mass production, panettone was a luxury regional Milanese speciality made for the holidays with obsessive attention to detail. According to Smithsonian Magazine, panettone wasn’t always just a Christmas speciality but a feast day pastry involving ingredients that were hard to come by.

Back then, bread was made with cheaper grains like spelt and rye, but the first panettone was made entirely from expensive wheat flour. Additions like candied citrus peel would have had to come from hundreds of miles away, perhaps even beyond the borders of modern-day Italy, which essentially meant that panettone wasn’t made by the average home baker.

Industrialisation eventually yielded dry, bland panettones made from cheaper ingredients like powdered milk and processed fruit. It was probably this diaspora that migrated through our desk over the years. But the last decade has seen a revival of artisanal panettone as the internet amplified the voices of bakers and fans with strong opinions about how it should be made.

Making panettone is tough work

For the uninitiated, making panettone is hard work. The process starts with a robust lievito madre (mother dough) that must be kept fed and happy at specific pH levels. This provides the foundation for the slow, precise fermentation of two high-gluten doughs fattened with copious amounts of butter and sugar. Multiple rounds of kneading and leavening ensue before the loaves are baked. Once out of the oven, they are hung upside down to cool and preserve their domed shape and rise.

For bakers, panettone is a cruel mistress — unfeeling and high-maintenance, not to be rushed and never to be kept waiting. Daniele Sperindio, chef-owner of the Michelin-starred Art di Daniele and the man behind our revelatory chocolate panettone, has a kinder analogy.

“First of all, it’s alive,” he said. “The mother dough, which is thicker and stiffer than a liquid sourdough starter, is volatile and finicky… like a baby. If you don’t feed it at exactly the right time and the right temperature, you’ll change the pH of the water, and it will act up.”

Matteo Pertoldi, chef-owner of pastry shop Atipico, explained that he refreshes and strengthens his lievito madre thrice daily by slicing and soaking it with a sugar solution to remove some acidity. “This is called bagnetto in Italian, which is literally the word you’d use to describe washing a baby. If the starter is not in good shape, your dough won’t proof properly, which then impacts all the processes that follow.”

Every batch of panettone takes three days from start to finish. Make a single mistake, and it all falls apart. Give it your everything, and it might still disappoint you.

This is why many Italian restaurants work with panettone specialists in the motherland to create their own versions. Pugliese chef Mirko Febbrile of casual Italian restaurant Fico worked with Olivieri 1882, an award-winning family-run bakery in Arzignano, to create Fico’s Panettone Festivo. His bergamot-scented sunset-golden loaf is studded with roasted chestnuts and pools of gianduja (hazelnut paste). “It was best to entrust our panettone to the experts, especially since we don’t have the logistics to produce it,” explained Febbrile. 

“Panettone is special to me because it’s always been a welcome sign that Christmas is around the corner. In Italy, from around the beginning of November, the supermarkets put up tall displays of panettone, and as a child, they seemed larger-than-life to me. Because my father loves panettone, we would have so many at home that we’d be eating panettone till February, which is nice because it felt like a way to prolong Christmas.”

What is particularly special for Febbrile this year is that Fico’s Panettone Festivo will be available for sale in Italy. “I’m really excited that it’ll be sold online (through the Olivieri 1882 website), which means my mother can taste it in Puglia.”

For Sperindio, panettone represents everything he loves about the holiday season. “It’s a symbol of that time of year when family members gather and eat together. You eat the whole day until evening time. You finish lunch at 5pm and then there’s food on the table again at 7pm. So, you know, it reminds me of family,” he said.

Sadly, there will be no panettone from Art di Daniele this year as the restaurant is closed and will reopen in a new location next year. Happily, equally sublime panettone is available at Fico and Atipico, where Pertoldi is making a traditional number strewn with golden raisins and orange peel and another with dark chocolate and praline.

For panettone by some of Italy’s best-known historic bakeries, look to Jupiter 57, where you can even book a free panettone tasting before ordering. As it does every year, Da Paolo Gastronomia is retailing made-in-Italy panettone, with two new additions this season: Panettone Cillegie e More with Italian Marostica PGI cherries and blackberries, and a creamy Panettone Pistachio glazed with white chocolate.