23 Nov Sourdough Vegan Panettone
Where Have I Been
Sorry for being so bad at updating the recipes lately, as I wasn’t allowed to bake or cook that much since my surgery. But the good news is, I’m 90% recovered and have been incorporated some light exercise back to my daily routine, such as swimming, yoga and pilates. Weight lifting or high impact workouts (i.e. HIIT) are totally off limit.
#TokyoTokyo
Oh! And I just came back from a trip to Tokyo and I have been sharing all the amazing vegan foods I found on my Instagram (ICYMI). Think cream filled vegan croissant 🍵, vegan melon pan 🍈and molten chocolate cake 🙌🏻 Not only did I stay at the city center, the highlight of my trip is to stay at the absolutely gorgeous Hoshinoya Resort in Karuizawa.
Here are some of my favorite photos I took during the trip. It was actually my first time travelling overseas post-covid and it was a much needed break to recharge and restart. I will be sharing a comprehensive vegan guide – Tokyo version on my blog in the future, so stay tuned!
Okay, enough about me! How have you all been doing? I noticed some of you have been trying my recipes, like the sourdough milk bread and zebra bread, and tagged me on Instagram stories. I love when you try my recipes and tell me how much you love them. That’s the whole reason why I decided to start this blog in the first place.
The Long Overdue Recipe – Vegan Panettone
Almost 4 months ago, I posted this sneak peek video on Instagram teasing about the SOURDOUGH VEGAN PANETTONE recipe that I finally nailed! I started experimenting it last year and failed so many times that I really didn’t bother to try again this year. But then I decided to give it one last try and boom! The most gorgeous and beautiful vegan panettone was born! First, I want to apologize for not posting earlier as promised. But now I’m here, so be prepared and get ready for a long and detailed post on how to make the best vegan panettone you’ll ever taste.
Lievito Madre (aka Mother Dough)
If you have read any other sourdough panettone recipes before, you may already know that Lievito Madre (aka mother dough) is the make-or-break element of the recipe. It doesn’t matter if you use ingredients of the highest quality or you have the perfect temperature of making panettone (it’s 28°C or 82.4°F by the way). You will not get the tallest and fluffiest panettone unless you have an active and ready to go Lievito madre and use it at its peak.
Being a highly enriched dough, your starter has to be extra strong to be able to strengthen the dough and give it a rise. Lievito madre is a stiff sourdough starter that is often used in Italy. It is not only active in nature, but it also has a very mild flavour profile without any sourness. All these make it very suitable to leaven enriched dough with high fat and sugar content, especially panettone and brioche.
Making Lievito Madre from scratch is itself a complicated process which deserve an entire new post for that, so I won’t be going through all that here. But Bake Street has a very detailed post with videos you can take a look if you are interested in making one. The easiest and most direct way, however, is to buy or ask if you can get some from someone else on Facebook group of some local home bakers or even ask a local bakery. That way, all you need to think about is how to maintain it.
You Got This!
After reading this article, if you are feeling intimidated and doubtful of whether you can do this or not. Just try it! You may fail for the first couple of times, or you may not. But when you succeed, you will be super proud of yourself. As you just made yourself the best sourdough vegan panettone! Enjoy the process and have fun! And early Merry Christmas to you all!
Sourdough Vegan Panettone
Course: Baked Goods, Desserts, Desserts / Snacks / Cakes, Editor’s Pick, Featured, Festive, SourdoughCuisine: ItalianDifficulty: Very Difficult8
servings30
minutes40
minutesThis recipe makes 1 big panettone (16cm in diameter) or 3 smaller ones (11.5cm in diameter).
Ingredients
- First Dough
180g High protein flour (I like this flour, but you can use any flour with at least 13% protein)
55g Lievito Madre
97g cold water (around 4°C)
50g demerara sugar
0.8g sea salt
25g soy milk (around 4°C)
77g vegan butter (around 4°C)
- Main Dough
510g First dough (from above)
50g demerara sugar
1.6g malt extract (DO NOT OMIT)
30g soy milk
2.5g sea salt
3g turmeric powder for the color
18g maple syrup
117g vegan butter (around 4°C)
60g cold water (around 4°C)
90g Candied orange (homemade or store bought)
70g Golden raisins (soaked in rum overnight)
70g Raisins (soaked in rum overnight)
- “Egg” Wash
1/4 cup soy milk
1/4 cup malt extract
Directions
- Making The First Dough (Usually prepare at night)
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place the flour, lievito madre, water, sugar, sea salt, then mix under low speed for 5 mins, then speed up the mixer to medium speed and mix for another 5 minutes until smooth.
- Add soy milk in 3 batches, only add the next batch when the first batch is completely mixed in the dough. Continue mixing under medium speed, for another 3-4 minutes.
- Cut the butter into slices (around 1 cm thick), add the butter slices in the dough. Mix until the dough is smooth and feel strong. Remember to monitor the dough temperature from time to time, it should not be higher than 28°C. If the temperature is approaching 28°C, stop and place the dough in the freezer for at least 5 mins until the temperature drops. The time required for this step depends entirely on the power of your mixer. So be patient and only proceed to the next time when the dough is smooth and strong.
- Once the dough is ready, gently shape the dough into a ball. Place it in a bowl, cover and let it sit at room temperature (preferably 26-28°C) until it became 2.5-3 times its original size. You can use the aliquot jar method to monitor the progress. Take a small piece of dough and place it in a straight cylindrical glass, mark the original height, then you can easily see how much the dough has risen using this reference jar of small dough.
- Making The Main Dough
- The next morning, when the dough has risen to 2.5-3 times its original size. Place the dough in the fridge for 1 hour (or freezer for 30 mins).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, place flour and first dough. Mix under low speed until everything is incorporated.
- Add, sugar and malt extract, mix again for another 2-3 minutes until smooth.
- Add soy milk in 3 batches, only add the next batch when the first batch is completely mixed in the dough. Continue mixing under medium speed, for another 3-4 minutes.
- Add sea salt, maple syrup, turmeric powder and vanilla bean paste. Mix until incorporated.
- Cut the butter into slices (around 1 cm thick), add the butter slices in the dough. Mix until the dough is smooth and feel strong. Remember to monitor the dough temperature from time to time, it should not be higher than 28°C. If the temperature is approaching 28°C, stop and place the dough in the freezer for at least 5 mins until the temperature drops. The time required for this step depends entirely on the power of your mixer. So be patient and only proceed to the next time when the dough is smooth and strong.
- Add water. Mix until the dough and silky smooth. And it reaches the window pane stage. The dough temperature should be around 26-28°C.
- On an oiled baking tray, place the dough. Then evenly sprinkle the candied and dried fruits on top, perform a few folds to ensure the fruits are evenly distributed. Let it rise at 28-30°C for 30 mins.
- Perform coil fold. Let it rest for another 30 mins.
- Prepare the panettone mold by inserting the bamboo sticks at the base of the mold.
- Round the dough, then carefully transfer the dough into the mold.
- Let the dough rise at 28-30°C until it doubled in size (around 4 hours).
- Preheat oven at 190°C or 375°F.
- Brush the “egg” wash, score a cross at the top of the dough, then insert a small slab of butter in the middle.
- Bake for 45 mins. Reduce heat to 180°C, bake for 15 mins. Reduce heat to 170°C, bake for 20 mins.
- Hang it upside down for about 12 hours to stabilize the crumb before doing anything with it!