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Panettone is the classic Christmas bread that is made fresh in bakeries all over Italy. You can also find it boxed up and looking quite beautiful in most American shops this time of year. The problem is that when you open the gorgeous foil wrapping you are presented with a stale, dried out version of this wonderful tradition. The solution is to make your own from ABin5 (p.201). It is as easy as all the other recipes in the book and your house will smell of sweet honey and lemon zest. I like to load my Panettone up with several different dried fruits to give it wonderful flavor and that bejeweled look. I also sprinkle it with sugar right before I put it in the oven to make a sweet crust on the outside of the moist cake like bread.
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I'm Zoë François and I love to bake. This is where I play with sugar and take the mystery out of baking everything from cookies to wedding cakes. I studied pastry at the CIA, worked in restaurants, write cookbooks and now you can also find my creations on the Cooking Channel, Fine Cooking Magazine, General Mills, Cooking Club Magazine and Breadin5.com. 
I saw something the other day that mentioned to hang your panettone upside-down to cool, in order to make it lighter in texture. Any thoughts about that? Thanks!
Hi Jen,
As far as I can tell it is the same reason you hang an angel food cake upside-down to cool, so that the cake doesn’t compress and lose its light texture. Some recipes even say to cool them on a pillow to protect the shape while the bread cools. This all seems a bit fussy to me, but if you happen to have a panettone rack then by all means use it!
Zoë
Hi Zoe, Thank you so very much for everything you’ve done on your website. I enjoy reading all the deserts. I think you are very, very talented. I have ordered your book from Amazon.com and am looking forward to receiving it. Now, I have one problem here and I wonder if you can help me out. Last night I mixed a big batch of challah dough and left it on my kitchen counter to double. Maybe I left it too long at room temp, it trippled before I moved it into the fridge!! Today when I had a look at the dough in the fridge – it collapsed!! I think it had risen too much too fast initially. Now, is there any way that I can salvage this dough? Thanks. Shiao-Ping
Hi Shiao-ping,
Thank you for the lovely note!
What you describe with the dough rising and then collapsing is absolutely normal for the dough. it will collapse and never rise in the bucket again. Continue with the recipe as it reads and you should have a wonderful loaf.
Enjoy, Zoë