Refresh the sourdough. We start the preparation of the cake with the refreshments of the sourdough. Make three consecutive refreshments, always at room temperature and preceded by a washing.
The ideal would be to perform the refreshments all in the same day at intervals of about 3-4h, but depends on the condition and the strength of your yeast. In my case I started the morning around 8:00 and brought to room temperature after the yeast I ran the washing in warm water with sugar at 2%, then I did the first refresh and around 9:00 it started rising and then around 13:00 I made the second refresh and the third at 17:00, then at 20:00 the yeast was ready for the first dough of panettone.


First mixture
To make the panettone is fundamental the process of mixing, where in addition to the hard work of the ingredients is also very important the order in which they are added.
It would be good to use the mixer with which you get a product well-strung and suitable for leavening, but also those who do not have a mixer can make at home panettone. Therefore we illustrate the procedure for the kneading by hand.
In a large bowl put the sourdough (or alternatively beer yeast) and melt with water, then add the flour and begin to knead very thoroughly, initially the dough is very sticky, but as we proceed with processing it will come off from the wall and will become more workable. When you obtain a very smooth (it will take at least 20-30 minutes), add the egg yolks, when they have been incorporated, add the sugar and continue to knead, eventually also incorporate softened butter.

It will have to be a very soft dough and it should be elastic but not sticky. Once the mixture is smooth and uniform arrange it in a large bowl and let it rise until doubled in volume. I've left it overnight because due to the presence of eggs and butter the fermentation process of the yeast will be slightly slow.

When the dough has doubled in volume you can proceed with the second dough. Deflate the yeast mixture and knead vigorously with the flour and water until dough is very elastic and soft but not sticky. Then add half of the egg yolks and half of the sugar and continue to knead, add the remaining parts of the egg yolks and sugar and mix again.

Then add the softened butter into small pieces and keep on working the dough until the butter is well incorporated. Finally, add the raisins soaked kept, candied fruit and chopped to pieces, honey and lemon zest. To avoid raisins and chopped candied fruits cling together with others you can lightly flour them before you add them to the mixture.

However, knead well and whrn you have obtained a homogeneous mixture, you can proceed with portioning (is taken the necessary amount of paste for panettone) and then to pirlatura (rounding dough), once you get a ball the size you want put the dough into the cups for panettone in this case we in addition to the classic shape of panettone we also made of smaller sizes, and we have used the muffin tins.

The dough should fill the molds (or cups) for a little over a third of the volume (though less than half). Let rise until it reaches the edge of the mold, then leave panettone in the air so that it forms a crust on the surface, in the meantime it will have risen still forming the classic cupola. At this point you can proceed with the scarpatura, that is engraved with an X on the surface, put a knob of butter in the center and bake at 190° C for 20 minutes for small panettoni and about 40 minutes for panettone the bigger.
When they are cooked, pierce with the knitting needles (in the case of small panettoni I used wooden sticks for skewers), turn them upside down and leave them suspended between two supports 5-6 h to dry.

Panettone is a traditional cake of Milan, but now has entered in the Christmas food in Italy. It is inserted in Foodstuffs of the region of Lombardy and since 2005 its production, along with that of other products, is protected by a specification that specifies the ingredients and some of them even the minimum amounts so that the finished product can be defined Panettone.

Panettone is a leavened product obtained with natural leavening, his dough should be soft and the taste and smell should be at levels characteristic of the sourdough leavening, with a cylindrical shape with the classic cupola whose surface has to be cut as characteristic (scarpatura).
Each step of the procedure, from kneading to baking and cooling, has its peculiarities and variations only in the procedure can also cause substantial changes in the product up to get a true customization.

Get a good handmade product is not easy, especially if you do not use the mixer; however www.Tiraccontounaricetta.it offers a preparation of Panettone done by hand, it is a bit 'difficult, but it's worth it ... it's not particularly sweet, but if you combine it with the cream is perfect, otherwise you can adjust the amount of sugar to your liking ..

But where does the Panettone come from?
One legend has it that the Panettone be born at the time of Ludovico Sforza, called "Il Moro", his cook was commissioned to make a cake for Christmas dinner, but this was forgotten in the oven and burned. In order to remedy it was brought to the table a cake made by the small kitchen boy Toni who with the leftovers in the pantry had made a sweet bread flavored with candied citrus and butter.
The cake proved a great success and the Duke wanted to know what it was called this cake and then cook revealed: “L’è ‘l pan del Toni” (It's the bread of Toni), that over time became Panettone.

Energy: 224.24 Kcal
Total Dietary Fiber: 1.53 g
Alcohol: 0.00 g
Water: 21.91 g
Total Protein: 3.55 g
Animal protein: 0.80 g
Plant protein: 2.75 g
Total lipids: 8.59 g
Lipids animals: 8.31 g
Plant lipids: 0.28 g
Cholesterol: 83.23 mg
Available Carbohydrates: 35.42 grams
Starch: 16.94 g
Sugars: 18.48 g