Panettone is the traditional Italian new year’s cake. It name implies that it is actually considered to be a large or special bread (“Pane” in Italian) rather than a modern days cake. In fact, traditional cake recipes originated from the addition of something tasty in the bread’s dough before baking it. The Italians from the city of Milan just took it a few steps further and decided that in this festive occasion one must add the most exquisite ingredients they could find, which in old times meant butter, milk, eggs and raisins. Along the years the recipe traveled throughout Europe and other goodies were added to it, such as, among many others, chocolate, marzipan, candied fruit and vanilla.

In the process of veganising the traditional recipe, we decided to give it a nutritional makeover and to simplify the multi-step 3 days recipe as well. Here we present our own simple, vegan & wholemeal version named Panatalizio, the Christmas-time Bread.

Preparation

1. Pour all the ingredients of the leavening dough into a large bowl in the order indicated above, in order to give the yeast the optimal activation conditions.
2. Wait for 5 minutes while they yeast wakes up.
3. Mix and knead the dough intensively for about 5 minutes until a homogeneous, soft and sticky dough is formed.
4. Cover the dough with a matching lid or a sealed bag and let it rise for 24-36 hours at room temperature. Every 6-8 hours approximately, gently fold a few times the dough from the edges into its core, in order to push the dough back down and to let it rise again and again.
   
   At this point the dough should have tripled in size and have a really pleasant scent, with slightly pungent notes of sourdough. If not so, make sure that the temperature is adequate, meaning that if the dough has not risen at all and it does not have a strong smell then it needs a warmer temperature, but if the dough is too smelly and wet it is overreacting and must be placed in a cooler environment.
   
5. Add the flavoring ingredients and knead until they are evenly distributed over the dough.
6. Pour the dough into a high Panettone baking form with a detachable bottom. A high pot with a diameter of between 16-20 cm, covered with baking paper, would also suffice.
7. Cover the dough again with a matching lid or a sealed bag, and let it rise for another 6-12 hours at warm room temperature.

8. Heat the oven to 180 ° C (top and bottom convection heat).
9. With a very sharp knife cut the top of the dough crosswise and pour a drizzle of soy drink and a drizzle of rapeseed oil over it.
10. Bake for about 20 minutes until a light crust forms at the top.
11. Loosely cover with an aluminum foil, lower the heat to 160 ° C and continue cooking for about 40-50 minutes, until the whole house smells festive.
12. Leave to cool down for a couple of hours.

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