Marchesi 1824 ★ 4.6
Marchesi 1824 in Centro Storico is the Sunday-morning brunch option for purists who want the Milanese pasticceria experience at its most historical.
Order: Panettone toast with Langhe butter and chestnut honey
History
The panettone took shape in 15th-century Milan and the modern industrial form was codified by Angelo Motta in 1919, who introduced the tall cylinder shape and the long natural-yeast fermentation. Gioacchino Alemagna built the rival Milan brand in 1925; both were merged into Nestle in the 1970s. The artisan revival of the 1990s onward, led by Iginio Massari and Davide Longoni, returned the panettone to 48-hour natural-yeast leavens and small-batch baking. Marchesi 1824, Pasticceria Cova, Olivieri 1882 and Pave all bake canonical Christmas versions; a 1kg pasticceria panettone runs 40 to 80 euros, an industrial supermarket loaf 15 to 25.
Common allergens: Gluten, Egg, Dairy
Make it at home
Ingredients
- First leaven (lievito madre): 100g active sourdough starter, 100g strong bread flour, 50ml water
- Main dough: 500g 00 flour (high protein), 150g caster sugar, 5 large egg yolks, 200g butter at room temperature (cubed), 200ml whole milk warmed to 30C, 8g salt, 1 vanilla pod scraped
- Fruit: 150g candied orange peel diced, 50g candied citron peel diced, 100g sultanas soaked in 50ml rum and drained
Method
- Day 1 morning: feed the starter with flour and water. Cover and leave 4 hours at 28C until tripled in volume.
- Day 1 afternoon: in a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, salt, vanilla and warm milk. Add the egg yolks and the leaven. Mix on slow speed for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic.
- Add the butter cube by cube, mixing on medium-slow for 15 minutes until the dough is glossy, elastic and pulls cleanly off the hook.
- Fold in the candied peel and rum-soaked sultanas by hand. Cover and rest at 28C for 6 to 8 hours until tripled in volume.
- Day 2 morning: shape into a tight ball and drop into a paper panettone mould (16cm diameter, 16cm tall). Cover and prove at 28C for 6 to 8 more hours until the dough crests just below the rim.
- Score a cross on top, dot with butter. Bake at 175C for 50 to 55 minutes. The internal temperature should reach 94C.
- Skewer the bottom of the panettone with two long metal sticks and hang upside down between two stools to cool for 8 hours. This is essential or the crumb collapses.
Tip from the editors. The 48-hour natural-yeast leaven is what separates an artisan panettone from an industrial loaf.
This is the TableJourney editorial recipe, modelled on the canonical bistro / counter version. The first place to try the dish in its city of origin is below.
Where to eat panettone
Panettone in Milan
Pasticceria Cova ★ 4.7
Pasticceria Cova on Via Montenapoleone has made Milanese confectionery since 1817, the tea room of the fashion-week circuit. The panettone and petits fours are bough
Worth the queue: Panettone classico with Madagascar vanilla
Pave ★ 4.5
Pave in Porta Venezia is the natural brunch destination for the city's artisan-pastry crowd on weekends. The bomboloni, brioches and freshly baked cornetti fill the
Order: Bombolone alla crema and single-origin filter coffee
Davide Longoni Pane ★ 4.7
Davide Longoni Pane in Milan's Porta Romana is the city's most respected bread baker, running nine Milan locations from the Via Tiraboschi original.
Worth the queue: Pane di pasta madre with heritage grain
Princi ★ 4.5
Princi at Via Speronari near the Duomo has set the Milan bakery standard since 1986, the flagship of the Rocco Princi-designed forno group. The pizza al taglio, foca
Worth the queue: Pizza bianca al rosmarino
More cities are in research. Want panettone covered somewhere specific? Tell us where you want to eat.