The low Genoese panettone is a classic Christmas dessert from the cuisine of this city, and I must say it’s very good. I had been planning to make it for at least 2 years and, above all, to create a recipe as close as possible to the original.
Christmas desserts are really many, but sometimes I try to prepare desserts for this holiday, somewhat different from the classic panettone and pandoro, partly to vary and partly to introduce you to traditional recipes from other places.
I modified the low Genoese panettone a little compared to the original, it would have had candied fruit, more raisins, and chocolate is not included, but at my place, candied fruit is not much appreciated, so I reproduced it by adapting it to our taste.
Consider that to calculate the rising times, you can prepare the dough early in the morning and it will be baked late in the evening, or prepare it in the evening and let it rise all night, perhaps in the turned-off oven.
Try making the low Genoese panettone yourselves and I’m sure that at least the satisfaction of having prepared it with your own hands will be immense!!
Approx. 485 Kcal per person
- Difficulty: Medium
- Cost: Expensive
- Rest time: 9 Hours
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 8 people
- Cooking methods: Electric oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients for the Low Genoese Panettone
- 3.04 fl oz warm water
- 0.88 oz fresh yeast
- 1.14 cups Flour W350
- Risen Biga
- 1.82 cups Flour W350
- 1 teaspoon dry yeast
- 2.71 fl oz Water
- 3.53 oz Butter
- 6.35 oz Sugar
- 1 Orange zest
- 1 Lemon zest
- 4.23 oz Dark chocolate
- 2.82 oz Raisins
- 2 tablespoons Rum
Preparation of the Low Genoese Panettone
Dissolve the fresh yeast in warm water, add the flour, and mix well until you get a smooth and compact ball. Put it in a container, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 6-7 hours in a warm place.
Dough preparation
For this preparation, you will need a kneader, but if you don’t have one like me, you can use the food processor with the kneading attachment.
In the processor, add the risen biga, grated lemon and orange peel, sugar, a little flour, and start kneading for a few seconds, then add the water, rum, dry yeast, and flour little by little, and knead for a few minutes.
In the meantime, soak the raisins in water.
Once all the flour is added, add the softened butter to the dough and knead to absorb it well; it might take 10 minutes of kneading.
The processor will help you obtain a well-homogeneous dough, and the resulting dough will be so beautiful that the rising will be much better than if you worked it by hand.
Finally, add the drained and well-squeezed raisins, chocolate chips, knead for a few seconds, take the obtained dough, transfer it to a floured work surface, work it to obtain a ball, then flatten it so it becomes like a pizza,
…then fold one half over the other, facing each other, and fold the side edges slightly inward, then flatten it, and roll it to form a log.
Fold the dough in three along the length, then flatten it, and you’ll get an oval shape. At this point, fold the wide part over each other (see photo).
Subsequently, fold in three along the length, flatten it, and repeat the steps 2 more times.
Flatten the dough, fold in 3 along the width and then in 3 along the length, flatten; these are the steps to repeat.
Easier done than said!!
At this point, form a round loaf, line a baking tray with parchment paper, place our cake, and surround it with a paper ring (handmade) or with an adjustable cake ring that is 1 finger wider than the cake’s circumference.
Cover the cake with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 6 hours or until doubled in size. Once risen, score a V on the surface (classic sign of this cake) and bake in a preheated oven at 356°F for about 50 minutes, checking the cooking.
If it cooks too much on the surface, cover it with a sheet of foil.
Once cooked, let it cool well, and if you can, enjoy it the next day for a better taste. Store it in a plastic bag.
