Traditional Milanese Italian Panettone Recipe

Last updated on June 8th, 2026

Milan’s most cherished Christmas gift to the world stands tall and proud in bakery windows each holiday season. Panettone is the bread that defines an Italian Christmas, and it has for centuries. But ask someone about making it from scratch and you will get a nervous laugh. The reputation is well-earned: panettone is demanding, temperamental, and unforgiving of shortcuts.

It is also one of the most rewarding things you can bake.

This recipe does not cut corners. It walks you through everything and if you follow it with care, you will pull a properly risen, honeycomb-crumbed panettone from your oven.

A Quick History Behind this Italian Holiday Favorite

Panettone traces its roots to medieval Milan.

The most popular legend credits a young nobleman who disguised himself as a baker’s apprentice to get close to a girl named Toni. To impress her father, he baked an enriched bread studded with dried fruit. The baker’s patrons loved it, and word spread across the city.

Over time, “pan del Toni” became panettone.

The story may be embellished, but the geography is not. Panettone is a Milanese invention. The Lombardy region’s butter-rich culinary tradition shaped the bread’s character, and the city’s cold winters provided ideal fermentation conditions long before refrigeration made temperature control easy.

Authentic panettone relies on a living starter, a slow fermentation, and a baking and cooling method that cannot be rushed.

Understanding the Process Before We Start

Making panettone spans two full days.

Day one is entirely devoted to building and refreshing the starter.

Day two is the main dough, two rises, the bake, and the critical upside-down cooling.

Clear your schedule for both days before you begin.

The Starter (Biga)

The starter is a firm preferment made from flour, yeast, and water.

Over 24 hours, you feed it twice. Each refresh adds 50g of strong bread flour and 30ml of lukewarm water, maintaining a roughly 5:3 flour-to-water ratio. This keeps the biga firm rather than slack, which is the traditional approach for Italian starters. A firm biga develops the acidity and gluten strength that give panettone its tight, open crumb.

Do not skip the refreshes or shorten the fermentation windows. The flavor of your final bread is built almost entirely during this stage.

Temperature

Fermentation is sensitive to temperature.

Below 22°C (72°F), the process slows dramatically. Above 28°C (82°F), it overproofs and produces off flavors. Aim for a consistent 24 to 26°C (75 to 79°F) throughout both days. A turned-off oven with the light on, or a warm spot near a radiator, usually works well.

The Windowpane Test

Before you add the fruit on day two, your dough must pass the windowpane test.

Pull a small piece of dough and stretch it slowly between your fingers. If it stretches thin enough to see light through without tearing, the gluten is developed enough. If it tears, keep kneading.

A dense, collapsed panettone is almost always the result of underdeveloped gluten, and no amount of patience during the rises will fix it.

Ingredients

For the Starter (Biga)

• 100g strong bread flour
• 30g active dry yeast
• 60ml lukewarm water

For Each Starter Refresh (x2)

• 50g strong bread flour
• 30ml lukewarm water

For the Main Dough

• 500g strong bread flour
• 150g granulated sugar
• 250g butter, softened
• 6 large eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 120ml warm milk (about 38°C / 100°F)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 orange, zested
• 1/4 tsp salt

Fruit and Topping

• 150g candied orange peel
• 100g candied citron
• 200g golden raisins, soaked in warm water for 30 minutes and drained
• 50g blanched almonds (optional)

Making the Perfect Panettone

Day One: Building the Starter

Step 1: Make the initial starter

Combine 100g strong bread flour, 30g active dry yeast, and 60ml lukewarm water in a small bowl. Stir until a shaggy dough forms. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature (24 to 26°C) for 12 hours. The mixture will become bubbly and develop a faintly sour, yeasty smell. That aroma is a good sign.

Step 2: First starter refresh (12 hours in)

Add 50g strong bread flour and 30ml lukewarm water to the existing biga. Mix thoroughly until fully incorporated. Cover again and leave to ferment for another 6 hours. The starter should look visibly bubbly and feel light and pillowy when pressed.

Step 3: Second starter refresh (18 hours in)

Six hours after the first refresh, feed the starter a second time with another 50g strong bread flour and 30ml lukewarm water. Stir well to combine, cover, and allow to ferment for a final 6 hours. By the end of this 24-hour process, your starter should be active, fragrant, and nearly doubled in volume. It is ready to leaven the main dough.

Day Two: The Main Dough

Step 4: Mix the dough

In a large bowl, or in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the mature starter with the 500g of strong bread flour, 150g sugar, and 120ml warm milk. Mix on low speed until a rough dough forms. Add the 6 eggs and 2 egg yolks one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. This step takes patience. The dough will look shaggy and messy at first. Keep going until each egg is fully absorbed before adding the next.

Step 5: Add the butter

With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the 250g of softened butter in small pieces of about 20g at a time. Wait for each addition to be fully incorporated before adding more. The whole process takes roughly 10 minutes. Once all the butter is in, the dough will transform: it becomes silky, glossy, and pulls away cleanly from the sides of the bowl. This is what you are looking for.

Step 6: Add aromatics and knead

Add the vanilla extract, orange zest, and salt. Knead on medium speed (or by hand on a lightly floured surface) for 15 to 20 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic, and passes the windowpane test described above. Do not rush this step.

Step 7: First rise

Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm, draft-free spot at 25 to 27°C. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, which will take approximately 4 to 6 hours. The long, slow rise develops the complex flavor that makes this bread worth the effort.

Step 8: Fold in the fruit

Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Flatten it gently and distribute the candied orange peel, candied citron, and drained raisins evenly across the surface. Fold the dough over itself repeatedly to encase the fruit, working gently to avoid tearing the gluten structure. You want an even distribution throughout the dough, not crushed fruit and broken strands.

Step 9: Shape and pan

Shape the dough into a smooth, tight ball by pulling the surface taut and tucking it underneath. Place it seam-side down into a greased 1kg panettone mold, or a deep, tall 20cm round cake tin lined with parchment. The dough should fill the mold to about the halfway point.

Step 10: Final rise

Cover the mold loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm spot until it crests roughly 2cm above the rim. This takes 2 to 3 hours. Do not cut this rise short. The dome that forms here is what gives panettone its signature profile.

Step 11: Score, top, and bake

Preheat your oven to 175°C (350°F). Using a sharp knife or bread lame, score a shallow cross on the top of the dome. If you are using the optional almonds, press them gently into the scored lines now. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes until the bread is a deep, even golden brown. If the top starts to darken too quickly, lay a loose sheet of foil over it after the first 30 minutes.

Step 12: Test for doneness

Insert a long wooden skewer into the center. It should come out clean, with no wet dough clinging to it. If you have an instant-read thermometer, the internal temperature should read between 93 and 96°C (200 to 205°F). If the bread needs more time, return it to the oven in 5-minute increments.

Step 13: Cool upside down

This step is not optional. Immediately after removing the panettone from the oven, pierce the base of the mold with two long metal skewers inserted horizontally near the bottom, forming an X. Flip the panettone upside down and suspend it between two objects, such as stacked pots or a pair of tall books, so it hangs freely without touching anything beneath it. Leave it to cool completely for at least 2 hours.

The reason: panettone’s crumb structure is fragile when hot. The weight of the bread, combined with the enriched dough’s natural tendency to compress, will collapse the interior if it cools upright. Hanging it inverted keeps the dome tall and the crumb open. Professional bakeries use special hooks for this purpose. The skewer method works just as well at home.

Serving and Storage

Once completely cool, serve panettone in wedges. The traditional accompaniment is Moscato d’Asti, though a strong espresso or a cup of hot chocolate works equally well.

Wrap any leftovers tightly in plastic wrap, then foil. The bread keeps at room temperature for up to two weeks, though the texture is at its best within the first three to four days.

After that, day-old panettone makes excellent French toast.

A Note on Technique

The dough requires gentle handling and precise temperature control. Each step builds upon the last to create the characteristic honeycomb texture that makes panettone unique.

Quality ingredients matter here more than in most baking. Use the best candied fruit you can find. Cheap candied peel is often rubbery and overly sweet; good-quality citron and orange peel should have a clean, bright flavor that comes through in the finished bread. The same goes for butter: a higher-fat European-style butter gives a noticeably richer result.

Read through the full recipe before you start. Both days involve long, passive fermentation windows, but they also require you to be present at specific intervals. Knowing the timing in advance will save you from discovering, at midnight, that you missed a refresh window.

Patience is your greatest ally in this baking endeavor. The process may seem daunting, but the result – a golden, aromatic, butter-rich bread that towers with dignity on your holiday table – is worth every minute of effort.

Yes, making panettone is a beautiful way to embrace the spirit of Italian Christmas baking. When you pull that golden dome from the oven, and when you flip it upside down on its skewers and watch it hold its shape, you will understand exactly why Milanese bakers have been making this bread for centuries.

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