Panettone from Milan to Vilnius

The Panettone from Milan, which perhaps was already in Vilnius in the Renaissance era, is a solid gastronomic tradition of Italian leavened pastry, that has established itself over the years in many parts of the world. Its production and consumption continues to be growing strongly in both industrial and artisanal variants, no longer just for the Holidays season.



In the weeks leading up to Christmas, in many supermarkets around the world you can find very tempting offers of panettone produced in Italy or elsewhere that can be purchased for a few euros. Is this a bad product due to the low price? Maybe not. However, you need to become a better informed consumers. As with many other products in the agri-food sector - in particular when it comes to something that has to do with Italy (a real culinary and gastronomic \"superpower\", imitated practically everywhere) - the market must be transparent - as required by a series of European regulations - and whoever buys a panettone should be put in condition to choose it with full knowledge of the facts, knowing what satisfies his wallet and what he carries in his mouth and satisfies his palate. Although the price cannot be the only parameter of choice, it must be said immediately and clearly that not all panettone are the same. A quick glance at the ingredients and the order in which they are listed (which indicates their degree of presence in the recipe) allows you to know what has been added to prolong the appearance and shelf life of the product, often at the expense of its flavor and fragrance. A cheap panettone can claim to contain a good amount of tasty ingredients, such as raisins (15.2%), eggs from free-range hens (14%), candied orange peel (12%, perhaps with addition of glucose and fructose syrup, as well as sugar), sugar, mother yeast (10%), wheat flour, butter and salt. All necessary ingredients so far; but it can also contain - to lengthen visual appeal and durability - various other ingredients otherwise not necessary, in particular emulsifiers (monoglycerides and diglycerides of fatty acids), skimmed milk powder and, above all, flavors (when not better specified, they are supposed not to be natural). With the result, evident even to a moderately sensitive palate, of having a less pleasant taste than a panettone that does not contain these additional ingredients. ***** In any case, also the panettone of Milan, perhaps the best known Italian leavening cake in the world produced in the form we know for almost a century - but, as we will see, with a much older history behind it - the cake that everyone is fond of, for its connection with the Christmas holidays, for the simplicity and richness of its basic ingredients and for the careful and complex preparation it requires, certainly by an experienced pastry chef (no, definitely it is not a recipe for beginners !), demonstrates how Italian gastronomy - and its many regional expressions, as in this case, of a dessert so typically linked to the city of Milan and its region, Lombardy - is a relevant expression of success of Italian cultural identity.



An identity that is naturally based - in order to be successful - on the constant exchange between a marked link between the products and their manipulation with the territory and, at the same time, the reciprocal influences of culinary traditions with many different regions of the world. So the panettone of Milan, with its typical cylindrical shape, high and with double leavening, which everyone knows to be very demanding in preparation. There are also other alternatives: the lower and wider panettone from Genoa - also called pandolce - or the Piedmontese one, decorated and enriched with a hazelnut or almond glaze, which was first created by the Galup pastry shop in 1922 and is now considered a typical regional specialty. Of course, panettone from Genoa and Turin is certainly much simpler to prepare than the classic one from Milan. A difficult choice, not only for those who want to prepare them, but also for those who just want to taste them! In any case, panettone at Christmas, of any type, as long as it is of quality, is an extremely popular option, both in Italy and abroad, and in any case a choice that produces happiness for all consumers, due to its flavor and capacity to evoke the Christmas holidays to which it is so closely linked. Although the producers are convinced that its goodness deserves to be kept available all year round. ****** In the rich Italian culinary tradition, which is consolidated since the early Middle Ages, and which has its solid roots in Roman gastronomy, but also has ties with the Germanic one, there are some fixed points that orient and influence the taste of the table in the whole world. First the bread. And that of white wheat flour, kneaded and mixed with water, salt and yeast, which is perhaps its most ancient noble expression. At its base, in fact, the leavening of the dough of flour, water and salt. The real secret of the success of Panettone, as any master pastry chef will tell you without revealing his secrets about it, lies precisely in its special leavening process. Which involves the use of sourdough and not only in one but even in two subsequent leavening, which - if well done - give sthe dough an extraordinary lightness. And the art lies precisely in the ability to make the two leavening processes take place in the required conditions, taking care of the temperature of the environment and the force it must have and exert on the ingredients, to allow them to \"get up\" from the surface on which they were mixed. Wheat flour bread is therefore the staple food. Of which the panettone is a rich and extraordinary version, originally intended as the version for the festivities. In fact, on the occasion of holidays and, of course, on the table of the wealthiest, the taste of sweet added to the one of the simple bread.

A very ancient use, which first established itself with the addition of honey, widely used in Roman times and then, in more recent times, with the introduction of sugar, first that of cane and then of beet. A combination of flavors that enriches the dough of the bread and makes it a characteristic expression of a more refined and rich cuisine (\"for gentlemen\" or the festivities). The panettone recipe starts from here and - as for other English preparations (Christmas cake or fruit cake) or German (Christstollen, which is said to originate in Dresden, with candied fruit and almonds) or its medieval predecessors (panpepato di Siena, Buccellato di Lucca , rosemary bread - provides for the addition, in its preparation, of preserved fruit (raisins or sultanas, originally imported from Crimea by Venetian and Genoese merchants and which from this took its name: Sultania, today Sudak, was the port where it was loaded, even if later it was also produced and still is in Greece, Turkey, Iran) and candied fruit (orange peel and cedar): an even more ancient practice, which is already noted in Roman times as the acceptance in the kitchen of typical Middle Eastern influences. And again, to obtain the unmistakable taste of panettone, the addition of fresh chicken eggs to the dough - to enrich it and increase its compactness. In such quantity as to make their taste also felt. So, all simple ingredients with their well recognizable flavors. Which, at the same time, are enriched by their mixing. And that find their happy compendium, which becomes particularly harmonious and highly representative, precisely in the famous rich Christmas bread, called \"panaton\" or panettone, what we all recognize today as one of the most iconic and easily associated symbols of the confectionery gastronomy of excellence of Italy throughout the world, in use throughout the Christmas season and typically in family reunions that are traditionally held in this period. However, the success of the taste of the panettone - and the lightness and fragrance of its rich dough - would not have been possible without the addition of cow's milk butter to the other ingredients. A typical Northern product, which clearly differs from Mediterranean olive oil, which enters into the panettone recipe as the necessary component of fat to be added to the dough and which, in turn, proves to be capable of influencing the taste of the final product. ******

THE INGREDIENTS OF THE TRADITIONAL PANETTONE OF MILAN The ingredients of the traditional Milan panettone recipe are therefore these: • good quality wheat flour • mother yeast (used for double leavening) • granulated sugar (cane or beet) • raisins or sultanas • candied orange and citron peel • fresh chicken eggs • cow's milk butter • water • salt

White wheat flour - As every master pastry chef knows, the choice of a white wheat flour suitable for the production of leavened products and therefore for making a panettone is essential. There are special flours for panettone: soft wheat, type 00, reinforced or \"strong\" (W 340 P / L 0.50 or W 370-390) which ensure better yields in the two expected leavening processes. It is a flour obtained by mixing soft grains, naturally rich in gluten, which in long processes with mother yeast allows it to express its full potential, mixing with the fat of the eggs and butter, dried and candied fruit. The protein composition of these flours guarantees excellent elasticity to the dough and high extensibility, which ensures greater resistance and stability, as compared to other types of flour, allowing regular expansion without sagging. The \"strong\" flour has an excellent development not only in the leavening phase, but also in the cooking one, where the presence of high quantities of heavy ingredients (raisins, candied fruit, etc.) requires adequate performance. The quality of the proteins of this flour is such as to avoid the effect of stiffness that is given by gluten, as can sometimes happen, making the dough malleable and also avoiding the phenomenon of shrinkage of the cooked product a few hours / days after cooking. (a typical effect of those flours to which gluten has been added). The high liquid absorption index of the flour is accompanied by the great ability to retain the liquids inside the finished product, even during cooking and once cooked: in the oven the gradual release of moisture is not accompanied by the phenomenon of “vitrification” of the dough - which could also occur and, over time, the water retention operated by the proteins of the flour allows to keep the product obtained with the right degree of softness, protecting it from the risk of excessive drying.

The sourdough - In the preparation of the panettone all the recipes and the experience of the pastry chefs focus on the great attention to be paid to the procedures to be followed to refresh the yeast several times and, above all, to ensure the protected and controlled temperature and the times in which such processes must take place. Only by observing these real secrets of the art of leavening can the natural fermentation of sourdough - that has always been the basis of every good panettone - can take place. The mother yeast (or sourdough) is simply a mixture of water and flour which, left to ferment in the right conditions of time and temperature, produces a growth of the microflora inside the kneaded mass, subjected to spontaneous contamination by microorganisms. autochthonous bacterial, mainly composed of the development of lactic bacteria, but also yeasts and acetics very varied from each other: overall there are over 300 different species that can be present in the raw materials, and come from the air, from the environment, even from the operator. These microorganisms are in nutritional competition with each other and in the presence of nutrients, water and heat, they grow and multiply, starting the specific metabolic processes of the species to which they belong and then die.

The use in the baking processes of a mixture of water and flour subjected to the spontaneous contamination of these microorganisms that produce leavening has a millennial tradition, which also precedes the culinary tradition of ancient Rome (it was already practiced in Egypt in 3500 BC) and has allowed to identify, over time, some strains of natural yeasts that are more effective in the preparation of bread products. This is the case of the best known of yeasts for baking: commonly known as \"brewer's yeast\", it is a natural microorganism (a fungus, Saccharomyces cerevisiae) which, when compressed and produced in an industrial way, allows (as in the brewing fermentation of beer), adding it to the mixture of water and flour, to obtain the leavening quickly and easily, by operating a purely alcoholic metabolism. A process quite different (and with a different taste) from the mixture of flour and water subjected to the slower and indigenous contamination of yeasts, lactic bacteria and other microorganisms which is instead known as \"sourdough\" or \"mother yeast\", that - if properly fed and \"refreshed\" and stored in a suitable environment - continues to reproduce endlessly. The fermentation of lactic bacteria (homo- or hetero-fermenting lactic fermentation, based on the contaminating species) is therefore a distinct process from the alcoholic one typical of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. As products of the metabolism thus obtained there are lactic acid, acetic acid, water, carbon dioxide and secondary metabolites, united in an acid mass, improperly called \"yeast\" in technical jargon, a term far from its microbiological meaning, due to the fact that it contributes to \"raise\" the mass in fermentation, with the production of gas: it is a physico-chemical process that brings to the finished product, once cooked, a series of positive aspects, including a specifici taste, greater digestibility and shelf life. The artisanal sourdough is therefore made up of a specific indigenous and wild microflora, not stable, in which microbial species coexist, each time different. Once obtained, it must be kept \"alive\" by means of successive \"refreshments\", i.e. periodic kneading - at set time intervals - with certain quantities of flour and water. Only this procedure allows the microorganisms that compose it to be constantly nourished and therefore placed in a position to operate their specific metabolism that will allow good leavening. The particular microbiological, organoleptic and fermentation characteristics of the sourdough vary not only in relation to the environment in which they are kept and refreshed, but also to the geographical area of origin, to the production mechanism, and to random factors that are difficult to control. The internal microflora and the balances that are established are very unstable and subject to various growth factors (pH, temperature, nutrients, oxygen, water, nutritional competition, microbial species present, etc.) which change with each refreshment.

There is a tendency to make some confusion between sourdough and carryover dough. In reality, sourdough, or sourdough yeast, are the same thing. Carry-over dough, which in Southern Italy is also called \"crescent\" or \"criscito\" is the dough that, removed from the previous processing, complete with all ingredients, including salt and S. cerevisiae brewer's yeast, is used in the subsequent mixes. Unlike brewer's yeast, sourdough hosts, in addition to the yeasts of which the dominant genus is Saccharomyces, also several species of lactic bacteria of the genus Lactobacillus. The symbiotic culture of yeasts and lactobacilli of the sourdough leads to an acid fermentation that is both lactic and alcoholic at the same time. The acidic environment reduces the possibility of contamination by other non-acidophilic bacterial species. The carbon dioxide produced induces the formation of the characteristic \"bubbles\" that characterize the cavity of the bread and panettone. During cooking, all the volatile substances produced by the metabolisms and part of the water contained in the dough evaporate. Unlike that induced by brewer's yeast, acid fermentation is much slower and requires a more complex processing, which allows to obtain some advantages, but can also represent a major disadvantage of using sourdough at industrial level, due to the greater difficulty management and precisely the long rising times required. However, there are many positive properties recognized to natural sourdough: due to longer processing times, greater digestibility of proteins (due to proteolysis operated by lactic bacteria); better workability of the mixture; during cooking, the color of the crust will be darker (free aminoacids react with sugars in the so-called \"Maillard reaction\"); the aroma obtained will be more intense; flavor and fragrance, which depend above all on the type of fermentation, on the presence of lactic and acetic acid and also on the strains of microorganisms that make up the mother, will be particular and more recognizable; a greater bioavailability of minerals (as bacterial phytases release the chelated salts of phytic acid). In addition, panettone and any other leavening product obtained with sourdough keeps naturally longer than that obtained with brewer's yeast, without the need for any type of additives.

Spontaneous sour dough made from flour and water, refreshed for three days or more The classic preparation of the mother dough begins with a spontaneous sour dough which, thanks to the microorganisms naturally present in the flour and in the environment, triggers the fermentation and consequent leavening in a normal dough of flour and water left to acidify spontaneously for a more or less long time. To speed up fermentation, other ingredients can also be added to the dough: yeasts, exogenous lactic bacteria and sugars, fruit, yogurt, bran, honey, etc. In particular, on the surface of many fruits, the bloom that contains, among other things, Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This method gives rise to a chaotic development of various microbial species, also pathogenic to humans, which are spontaneously selected with the increase in the acidity of the dough and the decrease in the content of oxygen and sugars. Usually unwanted organisms are inactivated, yeasts and lactic bacteria are developed, but the variable microflora often does not allow to preserve its characteristics for long. Through appropriate processing, or subsequent reshuffling with other water and flour in doses appropriate to the characteristics of the pasta, the spontaneous sour dough can become a sourdough. Another method of sourdough production is that of priming with starter cultures, i.e. selected microorganisms from laboratories or from stable acid mixtures. They are found on the market in liquid, frozen, dried or freeze-dried forms, but their use is not always a guarantee of specificity and cellular vitality. Alternatively, you can get the sourdough by asking for a part of it from those who already own it or from an artisan baker.

Compared to other types of yeast (brewer's yeast), the mother yeast is more digestible and more easily assimilated, it makes the mineral salts and proteins present in the dough more available, it does not cause annoying abdominal swelling, it is a valid rebalancer of the intestinal bacterial flora, enriches foods with useful lactic bacteria and gives a lower glycemic index (even using non-whole flours).

Granulated sugar - transition from honey to sugar, first from cane and then from beet While in the past cane sugar, although known (Alexander the Great describes it, it was first obtained in India and Persia), it was considered only as a medicinal component, the Arabs introduced its cultivation in Sicily (the so called “Persian cane”) and Spain, and the Genoese and Venetian merchants imported it as a spice (“Arabian salt”), since the times of the Crusades, so that it began to be used as a luxury item in the kitchens of the nobles and wealthy. Introduced in the Caribbean with plantations established since the time of Christopher Columbus, a thriving import traffic was born, which made the product, although still luxurious, more common. This gave a considerable boost to the culinary art, allowing the birth of European pastry as an autonomous art. It gradually became a more popular commodity in the 1700s, also thanks to the usage of consuming it in combination with cocoa, milk and coffee. Only since the Napoleonic era has an industrial process been developed to obtain it from beets.

Raisins or sultanas White grape of the Vitis vinifera species (Vitaceae family) is of very ancient origins: it seems to originate from South-Western Asia, from where it would later have spread to the eastern Mediterranean: Greece, Turkey and Iran. Izmir, Corinth and Malaga are the best known places for its production and trade. Probably it takes its name from the city of Sultania (or Soldania, today Sudak), on the Crimean peninsula, an ancient Venetian and Genoese trading port. In the sixteenth century, Venice rivaled with Great Britain in the sultana grape trade, of which the latter was a great consumer. Currently Turkey and Australia are the major producers. White sultanas, characterized by very sweet berries, without seeds and with a thin skin, has always been used for the production of raisins (or raisins), that is the dried one, obtained by dehydration. But not all raisins are sultana. Sometimes it is instead Zibibbo grape, also white but with seeds, or black Corinth grape, characterized by completely seedless berries, generally small and dark purplish in color, while the one with the largest and darkest berries is usually the Spanish grape from Malaga. Drying process uses heat to reduce the moisture content in food and can be done in various ways. The oldest one consists in just exposing the fruit to the air and the sun for weeks or months and is still partially used today for sultanas. The raisins thus obtained can be recognized because they are darker and it costs more. The price also depends on the fact that behind a kg of raisins there are about 4 kg of fresh grapes. The modern technique, on the other hand, immerses the freshly picked grapes in a solution of water and potassium carbonate. Thus dehydration is faster. Then the grapes are placed in the freezer to eliminate any parasites, washed and dried in artificially heated rooms, with hot air or in special ovens (or subjected to a mild pasteurization). An oil bath follows, necessary to ensure that the berries do not stick together, and finally packaging. Preservation is one of the major problems of dried fruit and therefore also of raisins. Thus, preservatives are often used (usually sulfur dioxide or its salts), which prevent the development of mold and neutralize the enzymes that would rot the fruit and deteriorate its color. These preservatives, indicated on the label with abbreviations ranging from E220 to E227 and for which the law has established the maximum usable values (2000 mg / kg), at moderate doses do not create health problems. The important thing is not to exceed the daily limit of 0.7 mg per kg of body weight, because they interfere with the metabolism of some aminoacids and in particularly sensitive people can cause gastric irritation, migraines or respiratory crises. A good advice is to prefer products without preservatives and organic ones, in which it has not been added sulfur dioxide. Before consuming the raisins, it is better to rinse them and leave them in water: not only to make them rehydrate, but also to make them lose some of those oils used to ensure their conservation.



Candied fruit (orange, cedar) Necessary in Panettone to enrich the dough and enhance the aroma. The sugar it releases has a natural preservative action in the panettone for at least 15 days. The candying of fruit (or other plants) was in fact born as a preservation technique that allows it to be kept for a long time, sometimes even for months. Already known in China and Mesopotamia by immersion in a sugar syrup (initially palm or honey). It was often the only known preservation method: the ancient Romans kept not only the fruit, but even the fish by dipping it in honey ! The precursors of candying are the Arabs, who introduced it in Sicily, for the treatment of citrus fruits, between the 9th and 12th centuries. The word \"candy\" itself comes from the Arabic qandat, in turn a transcription from the Sanskrit khandakah (\"sugar\"). Thanks to the Venetian and then the Genoese merchants, candied fruit was appreciated in the West as an import product from the Mediterranean. The first documents that testify to the use of candied fruit in Europe date back to the sixteenth century. At the time, candied fruit were assimilated to spices. In Italy, they become a key ingredient of some of the most famous desserts of the culinary tradition: among these, precisely, the Milanese panettone, but also the famous Sicilian cassata. In the candying process, the water content is reduced with an osmosis exchange, while the sugar content is raised to over 70%. In the process, the nutritional qualities of candied fruit can be almost completely lost: only some vitamins are preserved; the preservation of the aromas instead depends on the type of procedure followed and the skill of the pastry chef: in industrial processing they can almost completely disappear, while they can be preserved and thickened in a concentrate if the entire processing cycle is carried out cold, without distorting the candied fruit due to heating. Normally, beet sugar is used for candying. Particularly valuable candied fruit is obtained by candying in honey or cooked grape must (as is the case of “saba” or “sapa” in Emilia- Romagna Italian region). To obtain the candied fruit, it is covered with syrup, so that the osmotic exchange takes place, which can last from a few days to a week, depending on the fruit. The syrup is then drained, and than boiled, with the addition of sugar and poured again on the fruit, in an operation called “giulebbatura”, from the Arabic \"giuleb\" (rose water), due to the similarities of the aromatic water distillation process, which can be repeated several times, until the desired degree of candying is obtained.



Fresh eggs from free-range hens - The proteins contained in the egg yolks allow the mixture of the Panettone to be mixed and thus define the final structure of the cake. The role of egg yolks in panettone is so central that from 22 July 2005 its use is protected and regulated by the disciplinary which regulates the production of panettone in Italy: it requires the use of \"category A\" chicken eggs or egg yolk, or both, in quantities such as to guarantee not less than four percent in yolk.

Butter It must be of good quality, centrifugal, clarified. The butter used for the preparation of the Panettone must be very soft and like an \"ointment\", but not liquid, hot or half soft or - worse - heated on the fly in the microwave or placed extemporaneously to heat sources (otherwise the panettone will not string).

Ludovico Sforza (1452-1508), known as \"il moro\", uncle of Bona Sforza

Milan, courtyard of the Sforza castle The history of panettone and its legends: from Milan to Vilnius? Panettone is certainly one of the main and best known leavened sweets of Italian gastronomy. Very popular and widespread both throughout Italy and in many countries abroad, where it is exported in large quantities, it is increasingly known and in an increasing number of cases it is produced locally and consumed mostly, but not exclusively, for Christmas and during the end of year festivities, as a seasonal dessert, traditionally linked to this time of year. Its seasonality, together with its identity linked with Milan still remain today some features of it. It is also one of the most traditional culinary expressions, typical of the city of Milan (Panettone di Milano) and has been made famous throughout the world for the great success of its commercial products (Alemagna, Motta) since the 1920s. Already Pellegrino Artusi, in his famous recipe book \"The science in the kitchen and the art of eating well\", published starting from 1891 and who created one of the first coherent visions of Italian gastronomy, combining in a single work the recipes from the different regional traditions, gives the home recipe of Panettone, contrasting it with the commercial one, already in use then.



The artisanal panettone, which started as a niche product, of higher quality, is enjoying a considerable and growing success as opposed to the industrially produced Panettone. To confirm the richness and variety of the Italian gastronomic offer, a different tradition is the one that accompanies the low panettone or pandolce of Genova. Like many Italian dishes, panettone also originates from the culinary tradition and only later on was identified with a characteristic name, which in turn contributed to increasing its notoriety and popularity. Panettone seems to have had its origins in the kitchens of the Sforza house in Milan. Everyone knows that Bona Sforza, Sigismondo the Elder's Italian wife, brought with her from Italy to Lithuania many artists, craftsmen and of course also cooks. And with them many inspirations and ideas came to Vilnius, including - why not - gastronomic know-how and recipes. And perhaps, even if it is certainly not proven, it is possible that the cooks of the aristocratic lady belonging to the Milanese Sforza family may have brought with them and also made in Lithuania the recipe for panettone, which according to the tradition was \"invented\" in the kitchens of his great-uncle, Ludovico il Moro. Panettone may therefore have been cooked and served as a Christmas dessert at the lavish banquets which used to be held in the Grand Ducal Palace in Vilnius. History has not handed it down to us and therefore we will never know for sure. However, it is certainly a plausible hypothesis that panettone was already known in Lithuania in XVI century ! ******* According to one of the explanations on the origin of the name of this popular dessert – panaton – a Christmas bread, an enriched one, that since the Middle Ages was prepared in popular homes, and not only in the aristocracy ones, for holidays and special occasions. Which subsequently has become one of the most recognized and characteristic sweets of the Italian gastronomic tradition in the world. Antonio (or Toni) would have been a cook of the lord of Milan Ludovico Sforza il Moro and would have produced it by working a loaf of mother yeast several times, making it particularly soft, adding flour, eggs, sugar, raisins and candied fruit, until obtaining a very leavened dough, so tasty and so much appreciated at ducal banquets, that Ludovico il Moro would have decided to recognize the merit and to name the product of his kitchens after the creator Toni, calling it “Pan de Ton”, panetton. Several other anecdotes accompany the origin of the panettone and its name: Sister Ughetta, Ughetto, etc. And although they can be more legend than reality, they confirm the link between the city of Milan and its culinary and gastronomic tradition.





Another Milanese, Ughetto degli Atellani, also from the court of Ludovico il Moro, of whom he was the falconer, could also have invented the recipe for panettone. In order to frequent the baker's daughter, named Algisa, while remaining incognito because his rank did not allow it, he would have been hired as a shop boy, and to revive the shop's business that was not going well, he would have tried to knead this sweet bread, which was an immediate great success. *****

The production of panettone In the early 1920s, two Milanese pastry shops, Angelo Motta and Gioacchino Alemagna, decided to modify the recipe and the traditional shape, starting to propose a taller and softer panettone, allowing a more accentuated vertical shape. Seeing that the dough being cooked \"sat\" spreading out, they started to pour the dough into a cardboard sheath, the guepiere, a paper-straw bandage in a crown, which supported it during cooking and prevented it from burning. That re-shaped panettone, immediately imitated by many other producers, substantially has remained the same since then. The success was such that the shops of the two original confectioners expanded and multiplied until the opening of two factories, that started producing along assembly lines a production destined for both the domestic market and very soon also for export. Prices dropped and many families abandoned lengthy and difficult home preparation to buy ready-made panettone. The early planes pilot and Fascist Italo Balbo, on the occasion of his famous flight in 1933, with which he crossed the Atlantic Ocean reaching New York with a squadron of seaplanes, embarked on one of them a ten-kilo Motta panettone wrapped in an Italian tricolour flag. At the end of the fifties of last century, the Motta and Alemagna logos became one of the most known symbols of the economic boom. Panettone was no longer just a dessert but also a gift item, to be offered in elegant tin boxes, along with wines, sparkling wines, chocolate and gastronomic specialties. In the richer boxes, other traditional sweets could also find a place, such as nougat or panforte, but with a secondary role. It was the sign that the typical Milanese product had become the typical Christmas cake of all Italians. Subsequently, the production of panettone, both in Italy and abroad, became very large and diversified. To the traditional recipe of Milan, even if it is produced elsewhere, many others have been added, with practically endless variations and modifications. Today it is practically impossible to count all the versions in which panettone is offered: filled with all kinds of cream, glazed, mixed with soy milk to meet vegans, stuffed with caviar or covered with gold or silver flakes. An enrichment of taste that does not always keep in line with the flavor and quality of the original process. And it is to put a stop to this expansion of the range of panettone that the Milan Chamber of Commerce in 2003 registered the trademark of the Panettone Typical of the Milanese Artisan Tradition, specifying the ingredients and preparation system in a production specification approved by a Technical Committee of the Milanese Master Confectioners composed of representatives of trade associations in the sector and a representative of consumers.

Lorenzo Bellotto, the Sforza castle in Milan (1744) The range can be distinguished between industrial panettone, available in greater quantities and at much lower prices, and artisanal panettone, which by its their very nature implies much lower production and higher prices. The rapidly growing artisan production market is now as big as industrial production. The definition of artisan Panettone should refer to the production by an artisan, or a small entrepreneur who personally and professionally leads his company, mainly carrying out his own work, even manual, in the production process. A craftsman therefore does not produce in series, in an automated way, but should rather ensure manual processing conducted with a maximum number of 22 employees. The panettone on the market produced in hundreds or thousands of pieces may also be called artisanal, but not necessarily are of quality. When production reaches tens of thousands of panettone (the Bauli company, for example, produces more than eight million panettone), the term artisan production is inappropriate if not misleading. According to an Italian Ministry of Industry circular of 2003, terms such as “artisanal production” do not guarantee superior organoleptic, nutritional or health qualities; and \"handmade\" does not necessarily increase the quality of the product, even if it can provide information on the production method, where the manual execution of all stages of the production process can be demonstrated.

Panettone is therefore artisanal if it is handled, but this does not necessarily happen for every single piece. In the aforementioned disciplinary of 2003 of the Chamber of Commerce of Milan, which registered as a trademark the Panettone Typical of the Milanese Artisan Tradition, it is specified what allows to certify the panettone as an artisanal product and the deadline of his shelf life is limited to no more than thirty days, as the maximum time by which it can be sold from the date of production, because it is free of preservatives. Besides the original ones, the use of any other ingredients, even if harmless, is not allowed, such as: brewer's yeast (which alters the leavening processes), starch, vegetable fats (excluding cocoa butter), whey and derivatives, soy lecithin, emulsifiers, dyes, artificial flavors, preservatives (sorbic acid and potassium sorbate). Mixes of flour, semi-finished products, mono and diglycerides and candied fruit with sulfur dioxide are also excluded, even if they are allowed in many competitions. To be able to cost less and have a longer duration commercial panettone add to the basic ingredients syrups of invert sugar, glucose or glucose-fructose, mono and diglycerides of fatty acids, sorbic acid. In addition to sugar, candied citrus peel may contain other ingredients, such as glucose-fructose syrup, citric acid as an acidifier, sulfur dioxide as a preservative / antioxidant. A 2005 Italian Ministrty of Industry decree regulating the quality of panettone production in Italy prevents other lower quality ingredients, such as hydrogenated vegetable fats, margarine, artificial flavors and other ingredients that are widely used by the confectionery industry in other products. Mother yeast and fresh eggs, as well as a two-leavening process are part of the legal regulations and indispensable in order to use the name of Panettone. Eggs and butter can be frozen, Uht milk, mother yeast powder, candied fruit made with glucose syrup are allowed. The quality of the raisins and the flour, as already discussed earlier, can be variable. Panettone that can be defined as such, artisanal or industrial, are already good products, but it is the raw material and the processing used that make the difference. Emulsifiers or preservatives such as sorbic acid and potassium sorbate are allowed by the specification and although they should not be demonized, they indicate that the product has additives aimed at lengthening its expiration. Natural aromas are sometimes added to give a nicer scent, even in the absence and to replace long and expensive processes such as those required to produce candied fruit pastes, infusions of citrus peel, real vanilla beans (very expensive). Behind aromas and preservatives, are often hidden the famous \"semi-finished products\", i.e. mixes of flour and dried mother yeast that make life easier for those with little experience or who want to save time - they are widespread, their producers sometimes even act as sponsors of sector competitions.



Invert sugar, glucose, glucose-fructose syrups While in the past honey and then cane sugar were used to sweeten, the latter was joined by beet sugar, less valuable than cane sugar. More recently, syrups have been introduced in industrial preparations and are gradually replacing sugar: inverted sugar syrup, which is obtained by splitting sugar (sucrose) into its two components, glucose and fructose, by means of a enzyme (invertase) extracted from yeast. Since fructose has a higher sweetening power than sucrose, this procedure allows to save on production costs by using a smaller quantity of sugar. Glucose and glucose-fructose syrups are obtained by transforming starch (usually corn) into glucose or glucose and fructose using enzymes extracted from bacteria and fungi. Also in this case we are dealing with sweeteners whose cost is lower than that of sugar. Fructose is suspected to raises the level of triglycerides in the blood and glucose to raise blood sugar faster than sucrose. Emulsifiers - The mono and diglycerides of fatty acids are an additive (code E 471), obtained from animal and / or vegetable fats, used as an emulsifier in industrial panettone to make more stable the mixture between water and fats (of eggs and some butter); without it these two components - water and fat - would separate much more quickly, compromising the appearance and taste of the panettone. The best emulsifier would be lecithin (code E 322), especially if extracted from egg. In good quality panettone, no added emulsifiers are needed since the lecithins naturally present in eggs used as ingredients already perform this function. The food legislation does not provide limits for emulsifiers (they can even reach over 10 grams per kilogram of product). However in such cases the flavor of the panettone tends to be greasy and bitter and once ingested it converts into triglycerides. In short, the emulsifiers guarantee better preservation of the product with the addition of natural additives. An artisanal panettone, without these additions, can instead last a maximum of 40 days, within 30 it ensures the best yield. If, on the other hand, it lasts a couple of months or from December to March, then the ingredients must be checked. Sorbic acid - due to its antimicrobial activity it is a preservative (code E 200). It was obtained from unripe rowanberries, today by synthesis in the laboratory. It can cause allergic or intolerance disorders. In tests on guinea pigs it would raise cholesterol. Flavors - are added to compensate for a lack of fragrance and flavour, due to poor quantity or poor quality of the ingredients. Unless explicitly specified as \"natural flavor\", it is an artificial additive.



The ingredients are always listed in descending order by quantity used: therefore, if the emulsifiers are positioned more towards the end of the list, the quantity present will be less. On the contrary, butter, a prized food, the higher it is in the list, the greater the quantity used. *****

Panettone and pastry products create an annual turnover for Italy which in 2018 reached the value of 1.3 billion euros (and a + 12% was recorded in the first eight months of 2019); the national market worths 217 million euros; the exports go mainly to France, Germany and the USA. 40,483 companies are active in the production and trade of sweets and bakery products in Italy, a figure which remained stable in the last five years (Naples 2,447 confectionery companies, Rome 1,875, Milan 1,844). The sector employs about 167,000 workers. Of the 29,000 tons of panettone produced in Italy, about 80% is distributed in the large-scale retail channel. The production of artisan panettone today corresponds to a market that is worth 107 million euros (of the 217 million overall). A California producer, after having practiced with the master pastry chef Iginio Massari, also sells his panettone in Europe; the main producer in the world is Bauducco, a Brazilian of Italian origin, grandson of a baker who emigrated from Turin in 1948: he owns 6 panettone factories in the United States and produces 200,000 tons per year; the second is d'Onofrio: the founder Antonio D'Onofrio left the province of Caserta at the end of the 19th century to settle in Peru, where the homonymous company is well established in the confectionery industry and whose main specialty are precisely panettone. The possibility of creating a protected designation of origin for panettone is being studied.



Panettone recipes The internet offers a wide range of recipes available in all languages, even on video. However, the difficulty and the long duration of preparation remain unchanged. Among the most relevant recipes are those by Pellegrino Artusi, the one from the renown magazine “La cucina italiana” and the famous recipe book “Il Cucchiaio d’ argento”. Pellegrino Artusi in his \"The art of eating well\" dedicates the recipe of panettone to his own cook. Here are the links for the recipes of the Cucchiaio d’argento www.cucchiaio.it/ricetta/ricetta-panettone/ and the one of La cucina italiana www.lacucinaitaliana.it/tutorial/le-tecniche/come-preparare-il-panettone/ .

The pastry chefs The Academy of Italian Pastry Masters (AMPI) brings together many of the best in the sector and considers panettone as one of the main specialties with which to compete. On an international level, there is also the coveted recognition of the \"Coupe du monde de la patisserie\", which every year unveils new talents. In Italy, the master pastry chef Achille Zoia is considered the \"Father\" of modern Panettone and the specialized press refers to Iginio Massari as \"The Master of the Masters\". However, we can mention many pastry chefs who prepare extraordinary panettone, no longer only in Milan but in their workshops spread across all regions of the country. Among them there are Davide Comaschi, Gino Fabbri, Vittorio Santoro, Pierpaolo Magni, Francisco Torreblanca and the world champions of pastry Luigi Biasetto, Fabrizio Donatone, Francesco Boccia. Other names to mention are those of Marco Antoniazzi, Francesco Borioli, Davide Comaschi, Salvatore De Riso, Giancarlo De Rosa, Denis Dianin, Salvatore Gabbiano, Dario Loison, Pietro Macellaro, Pasquale Marigliano, Alfonso Pepe, Marco Rinella, Paolo Sacchetti, Vincenzo Tiri and many others.

The best panettone Every year, numerous fierce competitions are held between the most qualified pastry chefs to be able to win the coveted recognition of the panettone of the year. The criteria for recognizing a good panettone include consistency, color, structure of the crust, texture, hydration and aroma, but these are only some of the parameters to be taken into consideration for a correct sensory analysis. In order to judge a perfect leavened product with competence, identifying the organoleptic characteristics and considering the multiple variables referred to a visual, tactile, olfactory, gustatory and finally experiential evaluation, a series of parameters have been identified in order to define \"the\" quality panettone: finish and size; a taste of panettone includes a whole slice, which has different parts and textures, and not just the first bite. The quality of a panettone is given by the correspondence between the various characteristics. When we have in our hand a soft slice, well hydrated but not moist, with a good scent, with candied fruit in pieces, which comes off evenly from the center and melts in the mouth, then we are faced with a panettone made to order of art. In the mouth the panettone must not have to form a chewy morsel: in this way the flours, if of quality, will confirm that they have been able to incorporate the fats evenly. The slice of panettone, then, must come off from start to finish, and not come off in pieces. The cavity inside the panettone must be uniform and well developed (the industrial ones have it small to dry out less and last longer); the crust must be firm, with the dough and a golden-brown color, without burning. Quantity, size and density of candied fruit are a symptom of quality; a light and soft consistency indicates that the leavening took place with adequate times and therefore also the cooking took place in the correct way; good smell (chemical or stale odors indicate a poor product); being able to recognize many and different aromas - from that of mother yeast to that of candied fruit or crust - is synonymous with complexity, long processing times, which allow the formation of tertiary aromas and give a homogeneous and balanced texture. The right dosage of the aromatic components contributes to the final taste; all flavors must be recognized, with no one prevailing over the other. Quality and origin of the ingredients shown on the labels and expiration date: the shorter it is, the more it will be made without preservatives; a coherent, homogeneous, balanced taste will remain etched in the memory as something highly pleasant and will be easier to remember: this sensation will be the real parameter for a more conscious future choice in buying the really good panettone.