A holiday party-ready panettone you can make at home

Open this photo in gallery:

’Tis the season for towering displays of Italian panettone, those buttery fruited yeast breads that, in their irresistible hatbox-like packages, can set you back $50 or more.

Unlike dense fruitcakes, panettone are light and airy, rich and brioche-like, baked in paper moulds that allow them to rise high and then cool upside-down in order to maintain their height as they set. You can buy panettone moulds to make your own at home, and there are plenty of online instructions to make them out of parchment, but the loaf itself can be tricky – many bakers struggle to get that lift in a dough weighed down with butter, sugar, eggs and fruit.

Smaller loaves tend to rise higher, and rich breads such as panettone can benefit from the added gluten in bread flour to give it the support and structure it needs. But there’s no need to make a special purchase if you don’t already use bread flour. Made from hard Canadian wheat, the all-purpose flour in Canada tends to contain more gluten – the primary protein in wheat – than flour in the U.S. or Italy, and is ideal for panettone and other holiday breads.

This festive cranberry-orange bundt is a different kind of fruitcake

You could source paper panettone moulds for this recipe – the dough is sufficient for one standard mould six inches in diameter – or you may find it easier to bake as a round or oval, or in any tall ovenproof jar or ramekin, made taller with a cuff of parchment. An assortment of sizes is fine, and produces enough to both keep and share.

Panettone at home

This dough will be quite sticky – almost batter-like – but it’s okay, don’t panic. It’s far easier to make with a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, but can also be done by hand – just don’t add extra flour to make it easier to handle. Dampen your hands and fold it over itself; once it has rested, the flour will have absorbed some of the moisture and it will be less sticky.

• 1 cup raisins and/or currants and/or dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup warm water or milk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour, or half all-purpose, half bread flour, plus extra if needed
• 3 large eggs
• A bit of grated orange zest, from about half an orange (optional)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup candied citrus peel or chopped dried apricots
• 1 egg, for brushing
• Icing sugar, for dusting

Put the raisins (or currants or dried cranberries) into a bowl and cover with hot water. (For added flavour use tea, orange juice, rum or brandy.) This is only necessary if your raisins are fairly dry – you don’t want them sucking the moisture out of your dough. If they are nice and plump to begin with, you can skip it.

Put the warm water or milk into a large bowl, preferably the bowl of your stand mixer, and sprinkle the yeast overtop. Let it sit for a few minutes, then stir to dissolve. (If you’re worried your yeast may be old and inactive, add a pinch of sugar and wait until you see some foaming action. If you don’t, get some fresh yeast.)

Panettone takes the cake: How the Italian delicacy became a must-have for the holidays

Add the sugar, flour, eggs, orange zest and salt and beat by hand or using the dough hook attachment of your stand mixer until you have a sticky dough. Continue to beat, or if you don’t have a stand mixer, fold it over itself, for several minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic.

Cut the butter into about tablespoon-sized pieces and add them one at a time, with the mixer going, mixing for several minutes. You’ll have a smooth, sticky dough. Drain the raisins very well and add them along with the candied peel, folding and incorporating them into the dough. Return to the bowl (or leave it in there), cover and let rise for two to three hours, until it has about doubled in size. (Alternatively, cover and refrigerate it overnight.)

To make a single loaf, shape the dough into a large oval on a parchment-lined baking sheet and fold about a third of it over itself, lengthwise, in the style of stollen, or shape it into a ball. For smaller loaves, grease two to three Weck or other oven-safe jars or ramekins (you could make them taller by making a cuff with a double layer of parchment) with butter or shortening, shape the dough into balls and drop them in. Let the dough sit for another hour, to rise again until they reach close to the top of the jars.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Stir the egg with a fork in a small dish with about half an eggshell’s worth of water or milk, and brush it over the top of the loaf or loaves. (If you made a round loaf, slash an X in the top with a sharp knife.) Bake for about 30 minutes for smaller loaves in jars or about an hour for a single loaf, covering loosely with foil partway through if they are darkening too much (though they will get very dark) until deep golden and hollow-sounding when tapped on the bottom. Dust with icing sugar, if you like, before serving.

Makes one or more loaves.