It is, at long last, back.
Panettone, the high-rise Milanese sweet bread with a tender, golden crumb and often studded with pearl sugar or chocolate and bejeweled with dried fruits and candied citrus, is synonymous with the Christmas season. This leavened loaf, which delightfully teeters into cake territory, has turned into something of a Moby Dick for many an American baker, a holiday challenge that allows them to earn their stripes.
Famed Bay Area pastry chef Roy Shvartzapel, who’s noted for having what many consider the best panettone in the United States, called it “the mountaintop of baking.“
Requiring time, laser-like attention to detail and a counter-intuitive upside-down cooling process to prevent the airy dough from collapsing under its own heft, it’s a demanding creation most dedicated bakers take on at some point in their careers. And while many qualities of the bread can be found at a range of shops, from Trader Joe’s to Claro’s Italian Market, panettone can be a transcended experience when done well — the kind of experience two bakers are serving up in Orange County.
61 Hundred Bread
For Karlo Evaristo, baker and owner of 61 Hundred Bread, panettone has become, as he admits, an “obsession.” So much so that his dedication led him to fly to Italy to learn the craft firsthand.
He’s now hooked on the process, which he described as “pretty finnicky.” A single loaf ($65) requires a minimum of four days of work. The foundation is his lievito madre, the natural starter he cultivates, which must be in a perfect state. “It has to be in a certain state or it will just fall apart,” he said. This delicate balance is so crucial, in part, because the bread is so rich. “There’s so much fat in it, there are so many yolks and butter in it,” he noted. He goes on to add that the process is so detailed that “I don’t think I would have figured it out if I didn’t have somebody to teach me.”
The transcendental quality of his final product, a 900-gram loaf with three kinds of chocolate (white, caramelized, semi-sweet), has made his effort worthwhile. As he noted, panettone is “all i currently think about.” He plans on baking 45 to 60 leaves weekly for the holiday season. (He also suggested that he might bake these breads outside the holiday season, saying, “I think I’m going to do this indefinitely, because I’m pretty hooked.”)
Find it: 728 Poinsettia St., Santa Ana
Origin Baking Co.
For Brenden Wong of Origin Baking Company, this year marks his sixth holiday season “taking on the Mt. Everest of baking,” he noted on social media. Wong echoes the sentiment of panettone being the ultimate test, stressing that his all-natural, long-fermented bread “demands patience, precision and a lot of heart.”
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Wong’s panettone ($55) achieves its signature texture using his established sourdough culture for leavening. Each loaf is intensely rich and features top-notch ingredients like grass-fed butter, egg yolks and vanilla bean. His loaves are studded with candied orange peel and raisins plumped in rum. The flavor is brightened with the assistance of both lemon and orange zest. Finishing the sweet bread is an elegant, crunchy almond macaron glaze.
Describing his crafted loaves as “a true labor of love,” Wong will produce “very limited batches” each week throughout the holiday season. Preorders are now open at Origin Baking Company, with a small amount available at Wong’s December pop-ups. (Direct message Wong @origin_baking_co for pop-up details; visit originbakingco.com for preorder.)
Find it: 11901 Westminster Ave., Garden Grove