We wait for it every year at the end of the year. And when her plump figure appears, we can’t suppress our pleasure. And no, it’s not about Santa Claus, but about panettone, this pastry specialty from northern Italy which has conquered the French for several years. This surge can be seen everywhere from the month of November: on the shelves of supermarkets, in traditional bakeries and even in the chalets of Christmas markets. But what makes the French want to bite into this Milanese brioche so much?
On paper, the panettone recipe looks as simple and accessible as that of yogurt cake: just mix butter, eggs, flour, water and aromatic paste made from citrus fruits, candied fruits, malt and mother yeast. But reality would discourage the most valiant Sunday pastry chef.
Caring for yeast like a baby
“It takes 3 days to make a panettone. And what’s more, extremely precise temperatures must be respected at each stage of production,” explains Francesco Vescio, pastry chef at pasticceria Simona, an Italian pastry shop located in the center of Paris. His sidekick, chef Anna Dal Maistro, explains the process: “the first day, we take care of the mother yeast like a baby! We feed her and shower her several times a day so that she gains strength. We also start preparing the dough. At this stage, the temperature must not exceed 24°C so that growth does not begin. On the second day, aromatic ingredients such as candied fruits are added to the dough at a temperature of between 28 and 30°C so that growth can begin. If all goes well, its size will be multiplied by three! It is also the day of the pirlatura, a very precise gesture which consists of shaping the pieces of dough before putting them in the cardboard molds in which the panettones will be cooked. After an hour of cooking on the third day, the panettones must dry upside down to prevent them from becoming all rumpled.
Many pastry chefs and delicatessens now also offer panettone in the same way as the traditional Yule log. Fauchon, Pierre Hermé, Benoît Castel… They all want their piece of the pie. This is also the case of the famous Belgian chocolatier Pierre Marcolini who, thanks to his Italian origins, has always celebrated Christmas with a panettone in the center of the table. “This specialty has been part of my culture since I was born,” the chef tells us. Besides, I remember that as a child, it was with panettone that we were introduced to alcohol, by dipping a piece in wine! » At the end of the year, he joined forces with one of the Italian masters of panettone, Iginio Massari, a famous pastry chef based in Brescia in Lombardy. “I chose collaboration because you cannot improvise as a pastry chef, there is expertise and advanced know-how to be respected,” explains Pierre Marcolini, who supplies the chef with chocolate for this exclusive creation. How do you recognize a quality panettone according to him? “It must be hypercellular and above all tear clearly, not stretch like a croissant when you cut it by hand.”
In parallel with the production of artisanal panettone, it is mainly in supermarkets that benefit from the excitement around this product, with a cheaper industrial offer, between 5 and 15 euros when it is rather 20 to 40 euros for a panettone pastry. “We are witnessing a growth in sales in hypermarkets and supermarkets of 15% between 2020 and 2022”, explains Claire Luquet, director of the Casino brand, who specifies that “classic Panettones represent 54% of sales by volume, followed by mini formats (14%) while chocolate ones represent only 6% of the sales volume. »
Panettone has become such a popular cake that some offer it all year round. This is the case of chef Christophe Louie who has just opened a boutique in the 3rd arrondissement of Paris almost entirely dedicated to this Italian specialty. This December, production is running at full speed with 150 panettones coming out of the oven every day. Your choice: candied fruit, chocolate or even Christmas rooibos as part of a collaboration with the tea brand Dammann Frères. But to convince the French to eat this brioche all year round, he frees himself from tradition: “salted panettones made with capers, anchovies and olives or even with dried tomatoes and oregano are delicious as an aperitif. From January, I will offer a Cacio and Pepe panettone (cheese and pepper). I also imagine sweet versions with recipes that change according to the seasons. Like chocolate-chili pepper for Valentine’s Day, or a recipe that I have already tried using physalis, passion fruit and milk chocolate. One thing is certain, the French have not finished having brioche…