Panettone: Ingredients

Panettone

Ingredients 

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

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2 eggs

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3 egg yolks

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3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

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1 cup milk

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1 cup sugar

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1/2 cup currants, soaked in warm water for 1 hour and drained

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2 oranges, zested

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2 teaspoons cream of tartar (tartar krema)

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1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

* If cream of tartar is used along with baking soda in a cake or cookie recipe, omit both and use baking powder instead. Directions 1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. 2. Butter and flour an 8-inch round deep cake pan or panettone mold. In a mixer, cream the butter with the eggs and egg yolks until pale yellow, 3 to 4 minutes. 3. Replace the beater with the dough hook attachment, and with the mixer running, add half of the flour. Add half the milk and mix for 1 minute. Add the remaining flour followed by the remaining milk and all of the sugar and mix well. Continue mixing and kneading with the dough hook until the dough becomes dry enough to handle. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and sprinkle with the currants, orange zest, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Knead by hand for 5 to 10 minutes. 4. Place the dough in the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. The top will be quite cracked. Remove from the oven, invert onto a rack and cool. Slice into wedges to serve. Yield: 1 cake, 12 slices * Cream of tartar is the common name for potassium hydrogen tartrate and also tartaric acid, an acid salt that has a number of uses in cooking. It is obtained when tartaric acid is half neutralized with potassium hydroxide, transforming it into a salt. Grapes are the only significant natural source of tartaric acid, and cream of tartar is obtained from sediment produced in the process of aging wine. It is found on the insides of the wine barrels and sometimes at the bottom of bottles of wine. It crystallizes out as a hard crust in the barrels. Cream of tartar is best known for helping stabilize and give more volume to beaten egg whites. It is used as the leavening agent in baking powders. It is also used to produce a creamier texture candy and frostings. It is used commercially in some soft drinks, candies, bakery products, gelatin desserts, and photography products. Cream of tartar can also be used to clean brass and copper cookware.