Panettone

A bread that takes three days

Traditional panettone is made with lievito madre — a stiff sourdough kept alive for years, refreshed daily before use. The dough goes through three or more rises spread across two to three days, with butter, eggs, sugar, and candied fruit folded in across stages. Industrial panettone shortcuts the process with commercial yeast; artisan producers regard the long fermentation as the entire point.

Cooled upside-down

After baking, panettone is inverted on metal skewers to cool. The reason: while still warm, the tall airy dome would collapse under its own weight. Hanging upside-down lets gravity stretch the crumb instead of crushing it, preserving the open, feathery texture.

A Milan tradition turned global

Panettone’s Christmas-bread status traces back to medieval Milan but the recognizable modern version emerged in late-19th-century Lombardy bakeries. Today it’s exported worldwide, and a competitive artisan scene has produced everything from chocolate-pistachio variations to limoncello, fig, and savory cheese versions.

Pandoro is the cousin

Panettone’s main rival on the Italian Christmas table is pandoro — a star-shaped, butter-rich Veronese bread without the candied fruit, dusted in icing sugar. Italians divide along the panettone-vs-pandoro line; many households serve both.