Homemade chocolate chips Panettone is the perfect treat for Christmas. You can serve it at breakfast or as a dessert. It always goes great with coffee or tea, and why not with some wine as well:).
0.5dry rapid rise yeast packet packet is ¼ oz, use half (packet is about 21 grams so you would use about 10 grams)
Panettone Dough
4cupsall purpose flour
2cups chocolate chipsstandard is about 1 cup but I love loading it in chocolate chips, adjust as needed.
1tbspvanilla extract
1lemon
1orangeI used a navel orange
6eggs (I used 3 whole eggs and 3 egg yolks)
1stickunsalted buttermake sure butter is room temperature (1 stick of butter in USA is equivalent to 113 grams of butter)
0.5dry rapid rise yeast packetso basically you'll need 1 packet, half for the starter and half for the dough (21 grams of dry rapid rise yeast in total)
⅔cupswarm milk
½cupssugarIf you'll use less chocolate chips, feel free to increase a bit the sugar quantity.
2tbspsconfectioner's sugar (optional)
Instructions
Starter Dough
Mix water, flour and rapid rise yeast in a small bowl. Set aside for about half an hour. Cover the bowl during that time.
Panettone Dough
Dissolve the other half of the rapid rise yeast in warm milk. Use a bigger bowl this time.
Grate the lemon and orange, set those aside as well.
I used a hand held mixer so instructions are listed with that in mind but you can definitely use a stand mixer if you have one and it makes the prep a little easier and faster.
Start mixing the flour into the milk mixture. I mix with my right hand and add ingredients slowly with my left. Add sugar and vanilla. Keep speed on medium, you don't want to mix at a high speed because you'll spin flour everywhere.
Add butter and continue mixing. Slowly add the lemon zest and orange zest. If you like a strong citrus flavor, you can add it all, if you don't or are not sure then add only half the lemon zest and half the orange zest.
On a separate bowl whisk 3 eggs and 3 egg yolks. Add this mix to the main bowl where you're preparing the dough. Continue mixing.
Finally add the starter dough in and mix it all together. If the dough is too thick for the hand held mixer you can continue mixing with your hands (just mix to create the dough, no kneading). Stand mixer should handle this just fine.
Let this dough rise about 1 hour covered up in a bowl in room temperature.
Add chocolate chips, make sure they're well distributed and pour into the paper mold. Dough at this point shouldn't go past the mold's middle height wise.
Let the dough rise for another 2 hrs or so (estimated time, it can vary based on room temperature). The dough should rise over the paper mold's rim until it creates a dome.
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree Fahrenheit (about 200 degrees Celsius)
Bake the panettone mold (place it over a sheet pan) for about 10-15 minutes at this temperature in the middle rack. Depending on your oven size and how tall your panettone dome is, if the dough is too close to the upper wires in the oven lower the rack to the bottom.
Once the dome of the panettone has started to brown a bit, then lower the temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (approx. 180 degrees Celsius)
Bake for 1 hour at 350. Halfway through I added an aluminum foil cover over the panettone to prevent the top from getting too brown.
Once you get the mold out, pinch with 2 skewers crossing about 1 inch from the bottom and flip the mold upside down. Hang the skewers on a parallel surface. This will prevent the panettone to collapse on itself. I used 2 plastic containers that were same height.
Using confectioner's sugar is optional, but if you like it you can sprinkle some on top after the panettone has cooled down.
Video
Notes
Dry rapid rise yeast - it might come in different packages, brands etc so just wanted to clarify that in total you'll need ¼ oz, half for the starter dough and half for the dough. In metric it is 21 grams, half in each. Let me know if you need any help with this step.