Panettone Bread Recipe (2024)

Published: Mar 27, 2017 by Dina

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This buttery panettone bread recipe is loaded with fragrant citrus zest, dried cranberries, and golden raisins. The warm fluffy texture will blow your mind!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here. This recipe was originally posted on Mar 27, 2015, we’ve tweaked it a bit since then.

Panettone

This panettone bread recipe is also known as Italian Christmas bread. It’s a sweet fluffy bread similar in texture to brioche bread but made with eggs, dried fruit, and butter. It’s a very easy bread to make, just requires a little bit of patience. But don’t all good things? 🙂

Panettone ingredients

How to make panettone

Start off by combining the yeast with warm milk. Let it sit in a warm place until it becomes frothy. Then add a little bit of sugar and flour. Now mix it and let it sit in a warm place for 30 minutes. This will be the yeast starter.
In the bowl of your stand mixer combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, salt, and orange zest. Now add in the yeast starter, craisins, and golden raisins. At this point lightly mix it with a spatula.
Now toss in the rest of the flour and melted butter and combine all the panettone bread ingredients using the hook attachment.
Next, grease a large bowl with oil and place the sticky panettone bread dough inside. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about one hour.
Now line a springform pan with parchment paper and place the panettone dough inside. You could also use a panettone liner for this to help the Italian Christmas bread hold its shape.
Let it rise for another hour. Then brush it with melted butter and bake the Italian Christmas bread at 340 degrees Fahrenheit for 40 minutes.

What is Panettone?

Panettone is a sweet Italian bread that is made with lots of butter and dried fruit. It is often served around Christmas time. Therefore its also called Italian Christmas bread.

How to serve Panettone bread

Panettone is often served for breakfast or as a sweet treat with tea or coffee. You can eat it by itself or slather on some softened butter and add a drizzle of honey on top.

How long does panettone keep

Like many other homemade breads, panettone can stay fresh for up to 2-3 days in a plastic bag.

Do you love Italian desserts? You might enjoy these Italian sweets.

Mini almond biscotti
Tiramisu Cake
No-bake chocolate salami

Full Recipe Instructions

Panettone

This sweet panettone is the best Italian Christmas bread you have ever tried!

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Italian

Prep Time: 20 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes minutes

resting time: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Ingredients

▢ Ingredients for yeast starter:
▢ 3/4 cup warm milk
▢ 3 tsp dry active yeast
▢ 1/4 cup sugar
▢ 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
▢ Ingredients for rest of bread:
▢ 3 eggs + 1 egg yolk
▢ 1/2 cup sugar
▢ 2 tsp vanilla extract
▢ 1/2 tsp salt
▢ 1 tsp lemon zest
▢ 1 tsp orange zest
▢ 1 cup golden raisins
▢ 1 cup craisins dried cranberries
▢ 3 1/4 cup flour
▢ 5 tbsp unsalted butter melted

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Pour the milk into a bowl and warm it in the microwave so it reaches 110 degrees Fahrenheit. Add 3 tsp of yeast to the warm milk and let it sit for a few minutes or until most of the yeast is soaked.
Lightly stir the milk with a whisk and add 1/4 cup of sugar. Then add 3/4 cup sifted flour.
Stir the mixture until well combined and let it sit in a warm place for about 20-30 minutes to let it rise. I put it in 110 degree oven.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, add the eggs and egg yolk, 1/2 cup sugar, vanilla, salt, and the zested orange and lemon. Lightly mix with a spatula and add the risen yeast starter.
Add the craisins and golden raisins and stir just to combine.
Then add in 3 1/4 cup sifted flour and melted butter and mix it using the hook attachment.
Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and make it into a ball. (The dough will be very sticky). You don't need to kneed it for a long time, just enough to form it into a ball.
Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough into it. Drizzle a little more olive oil over the top of the dough, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Line the bottom of a spring form pan with parchment paper. Then line the sides with a folded piece of parchment paper to support the bread while it rises in the oven. The parchment paper should go about 4 inches above the top rim of the spring form pan.
Place the dough into the spring form pan, make a cross slit at the top and brush it with a little bit of melted butter. Let it rise for 1 more hour in a warm place. Then put it into a 340 degree oven for 40 minutes.

Nutrition

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Reader Interactions

Comments

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Lilyn says

December 02, 2022 at 7:42 pm

Hi Dina
Do u have this recipe in grams?🌷

Reply
- Dina says
  
  December 08, 2022 at 11:38 pm
  
  Hi Lilyn, if you click the metric button on the recipe card, it should convert the recipe to grams. I hope that helps! 🙂
  
  Reply
Olga says

December 28, 2020 at 11:39 am

What size springform pan do you use?

Reply
- simplyhomecooked says
  
  December 29, 2020 at 3:18 pm
  
  Hi Olga, I use a 9 in springform pan for this Panettone bread. Hope you love this recipe! 🙂
  
  Reply
Luda says

April 10, 2016 at 4:56 pm

Thank you for your receipe the bread come so good evrybody like a lot
But in future how long I need to mix dough with hook
It’s so easy to make ????????

Reply
- simplyhomecooked says
  
  April 13, 2016 at 8:28 pm
  
  Luda I’m so glad your family loves this recipe. Mix the dough for about 10 minutes, or until the dough is well mixed and elastic.
  
  Reply