Gourmet Panettone Recipe

A festive gourmet panettone for Christmas, filled with savory foods.

A well-known Christmas dessert, panettone is a tall, cake-like bread. There are several possible stories of how it came to be, but whether panettone was invented by a hawker, a nun, or a court cook, it is worth the time it takes to make! This gourmet panettone recipe leads with savory flavors instead of sweet, and it makes a great starter for a Christmas meal.

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For the starter dough:

150 grams (1 cup) Manitoba flour
100 grams (½ cup) whole milk
2 grams (½ teaspoon) brewer's yeast

For the dough:

400 grams (3 cups) flour, type 0
120 grams (½ cup) whole milk
80 grams (1 stick) butter
40 grams (3 tablespoons) sugar
1 medium egg
1 medium egg yolk
2 grams (½ teaspoon) brewer's yeast
8 grams (1 teaspoon) fine salt
2 grams (1 teaspoon) malt

For the shrimp filling:

170 grams (6 ounces) shrimp
5 grams (2 teaspoons) chives
80 grams (5 tablespoons) cocktail sauce

For the salmon stuffing:

100 grams (½ cup) cream cheese
10 grams (2 teaspoons) fresh liquid cream
Fine salt to taste
Black pepper to taste
15 grams (2 tablespoons) chives
80 grams (2 ounces) smoked salmon

For the goat cheese filling:

160 grams (5 ounces) goat cheese
10 grams (1 tablespoon) tomato paste
20 grams (1 tablespoon) fresh liquid cream
40 grams (1 ounces) radicchio
100 grams (3 ounces) prosciutto cotto
Black pepper to taste
Fine salt to taste

For the asparagus stuffing:

150 grams (5 ounces) asparagus
100 grams (3 ounces) robiola cheese
Fine salt to taste
Black pepper to taste

Directions

To prepare the dough:

Place the sieved Manitoba flour, milk, brewer’s yeast in the bowl of a planetary mixer. Mix the ingredients until a coarse dough forms. Cover this starter dough with plastic wrap, and leave it in the refrigerator overnight (12 hours).
Add ½ teaspoon of yeast, 120 grams (½ cup) milk, malt, sugar, and sieved flour, type 0, to the starter dough. Mix briefly using a planetary mixer with the dough hook attached, adding the egg and salt. Continue mixing until a smooth and elastic dough forms. Add the softened butter a little at a time. Continue mixing until the dough wraps around the hook.
Shape the dough into a ball, and place it in a buttered bowl. To leaven the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it inside a turned off oven with its lights on for approximately 4 hours.
Place the dough onto a floured surface, and stretch it by pulling out the corners. Fold it 3 ways, and pull the short sides to stretch it. Start rolling the dough, pressing down on the closure with your thumbs, gradually bringing the outer corners toward the middle. Place the resulting ball in a 1-kilogram (2.2-pound) panettone mold. Allow it to leaven for approximately 4 hours in a turned off oven with its lights on, until the dough rises up to the edge. Brush the top with an egg yolk, and place the risen dough on the lowest rack of a conventional oven preheated to 170°C (338°F) for approximately 45 minutes (or in a convection oven at 150°C (302°F) for 35 minutes).
Insert a toothpick in the middle of the panettone to check if it is done. Remove it from the oven when the toothpick comes out clean. Allow the panettone to cool upside down, which can be done by inserting a skewer on both sides of the panettone and balancing it on two jars or pans of similar height. Place the panettone in the refrigerator before filling it.

To prepare the filling:

Start with the shrimp filling by boiling the peeled shrimp in salted water for 2 to 3 minutes. Drain and place the shrimp in a bowl, and mix it with the cocktail sauce and finely chopped chives. Keep it in the refrigerator.
Prepare the salmon filling by melting the cream cheese with the milk. Add the finely chopped chives, and stir to incorporate the ingredients. Place it in the refrigerator. It will be used as a base for the salmon filling during the assembling of the panettone.
Prepare the goat cheese filling by placing the goat cheese in a bowl with milk, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Mix the ingredients together, and place the mixture in the refrigerator.
Prepare the asparagus filling by washing the asparagus and removing the hardest and stringiest green part using a potato peeler. Leave the asparagus whole, cutting off the stalks and chopping them into small pieces. Blanche the small pieces of the stalks for a couple of minutes until they are soft. Drain and set them aside. Cut the tips of the asparagus in half (lengthwise), and blanch them for approximately 5 minutes. Drain and set them aside. (They will be used during the assembling of the panettone). Place the chopped pieces of the stalk, robiola cheese, salt, and pepper in a food processor. Mix the ingredients until the mixture has a creamy consistency. Place it in the refrigerator with the other condiments.
Wash and cut the radicchio into strips.
Cut the panettone horizontally into 8 layers of equal thickness, including the cap. Use the first layer as a base, and spread the chive cream over it, with the salmon slices on top. Spread the asparagus cream over the next two layers of the panettone, arranging the asparagus tips on top of the cream. Continue this process by adding two more layers filled with the tomato cream, the radicchio, and the slices of prosciutto cotto, followed by another two layers spread with the shrimp cocktail. Lastly, place the cap of the panettone. Your gourmet panettone is now ready to be served!