This panettone batch was truly on point. It really is a special treat. Most people think panettone is the boxed version sold in supermarkets around Christmas time. But trust me: it is not, not even close.
True panettone, naturally leavened with a special mother culture lievito madre, is something entirely different and vastly superior. This culture contains a unique balance of wild yeasts and bacteria that cannot simply be created from scratch as with regular liquid or stiff bread leaven. Regular bread leaven does not include particular bacteria necessary to make panettone. So if one cant really make lievito madre, how do you get some? Lievito madre is traditionally passed down from an Italian master to the next generation of bakers. I received mine a few years ago at a master class by Ezio Marinato.
The result is a panettone with extraordinary aroma, texture, shelf life, and depth of flavor — light, delicate, and deeply complex in a way that mass-produced versions could never replicate.
