How to prepare Panettone from scratch: from the creation of the sourdough starter to perfect dough

The holidays give us the perfect opportunity to rediscover a slower rhythm in the kitchen, one to which we are no longer accustomed, by making recipes that celebrate dedication and sharing. According to Gianluca Fonsato, a master baker and devotee of wheat grain, the sourdough starter perfectly embodies these values. More than just an ingredient, a sourdough starter is a truly vital ecosystem, whose development requires patience and love. A living compound that lends authentic flavour to baked goods and highly leavened desserts like panettone, a must-have on the Christmas table.

We’ve already featured the recipe for traditional italian panettone, perfect for those who already have their own sourdough starter, on our blog but this time, together with Gianluca, we wanted to create something new: a step by step guide that explains how to get from the flour to the sourdough starter, all the way up to making the perfect panettone. Our in-depth article will help all professionals and home bakers alike who have always wanted to make an authentic panettone but have repeatedly given up, intimidated by the complexities of making the sourdough starter.

This article is organized into three main blocks which lead to the creation of the panettone:

1. How to create the sourdough starter from scratch
2. How to give your sourdough starter the perfect characteristics for making panettone
3. The recipe for making your own panettone with sourdough starter.

Let our practical guide lead you through the process day by day. The journey will require dedication, but your achievement will be special, the true, unique flavour of panettone. Let’s get started!

How to make the sourdough starter for panettone from scratch

In this first section, we’ll try to answer the question many enthusiasts ask: how do you make the sourdough starter?

According to Gianluca Fonsato, just like the biblical creation, a sourdough starter will take six days to make. The seventh day will be a day of rest. On the eighth day, you can develop the leaven’s characteristics to make it perfect for your panettone. The aim of this phase is to create a liquid sourdough starter, known as Licoli. This will be the base upon which we will build to give it the perfect characteristics for baking panettone in the second part of this article.

Day 1. Creation

Let’s start simply: in a jar, mix 50 grams of Panettone flour, 50 grams of warm water, and 10 grams of raw, wild honey.

Honey is the culture starter , a natural concentration of life that will bring the first wild yeasts and bacteria into the mixture. We stir the ingredients together until we obtain a rough, glossy cream, then leave uncovered at room temperature. After 24 hours, something starts to move: small bubbles, a different aroma, a hint of fermentation; the first breath of a living being.

Day 2. Hope

If the surface is dotted with bubbles the next day, we are on the right track.

It’s time to feed the mixture. We refresh in a 1:1:1 ratio, that is to say, with the same amount of Panettone flour, water, and leaven created the day before. If we assume we have 100 grams of leaven, we’ll add 100 grams of flour and 100 grams of water. We then mix it together and let it rest at room temperature again, this time, covering it with plastic wrap, with a few holes punctured in it.

The leaven begins to differentiate, the microorganisms multiply and produce carbon dioxide: it’s a complex biological process that manifests as proofing.

Days 3–6. Growth, Tenacity, Perseverance, Starter

Every day, we repeat the same ritual. We discard a portion, keeping 100 grams, and refresh it according to the 1:1:1 ratio each time.

We would like to emphasize that the discarded portion cannot be reused in any way until the sourdough starter is stable: it is a decidedly acidic compound, unpleasant to the taste, and capable of irreparably altering dough. Once the sourdough starter has reached its equilibrium and maximum efficiency, at the end of the procedure we are describing, any excess from the refreshments can be used in a number of ways, for example as a starter dough (from 10 to 30% of the dough’s weight).

The leaven changes smell and consistency and becomes more regular. If you try to stir it with a fork, you’ll notice a strength, a stringiness. This means the gluten is in tension due to the spurt of carbon dioxide created by our microorganisms. This means that everything is going great.

We can do two refreshments a day, morning and evening, to speed up the selection of the strongest strains.

Throughout this entire process, the leaven must be kept at a temperature of over 20 °C. To do this, we can keep it in the oven with only the light on, which generates about 28 °C.

On the sixth day, after refreshing, let the mixture rise for 3 hours at the standard 28 °C. Then, like all living things, the leaven must also experience the cold. So, we refrigerate it for 24 hours at 4-6 °C, allowing the lactic and acetic fermentations to learn to coexist. Heat generates life, cold generates structure.

Day 7. Rest

The leaven rests. So do we. In the silence of the fridge, it stabilizes, settles, harmonizes. It’s the day when nothing happens, and precisely because of this, everything happens.

 Day 8. Baptism

Now it’s time to use it. We take the leaven from the fridge, let it acclimatize for half an hour, then refresh it again. If you want to use this leaven in a dough, it will need to be refreshed again using the 1:1:1 method. After three hours at 26 °C, it will be swollen, lively, fragrant, and ready to use. In our case, to transform it into the ideal sourdough starter for making panettone, the refreshment will not be 1:1:1, as we’ll explain below.

How to give your sourdough starter the perfect characteristics for baking panettone

To make panettone, you need a stiff sourdough starter, not a Licoli. It must be mature, stable, and have the perfect balance between strength and acidity. A well-prepared sourdough starter is recognized by its ability to triple in volume within about three hours of having been refreshed while maintaining a clean, flavoursome profile free of excessive acidity.

We were still on day 8: we removed the Licoli from the fridge and left it at room temperature for 30 minutes. At this point, the process of turning it into a solid, giving it the perfect characteristics for use in panettone dough, begins.

Stiff sourdough starter has a lower water content than liquid sourdough starter.
The conversion from liquid to solid is accomplished by keeping in mind that liquid sourdough starter is composed of equal parts flour and water. For example, 100 g of liquid sourdough starter contains 50 g of flour and 50 g of water.
To obtain a stiff sourdough starter with 50% hydration, simply reduce the amount of water by 50%. Therefore, 100 g of sourdough starter would be refreshed with 100 g of flour and 50 g of water.

It is recommended to use a strong flour such as Panettone, because it is able to support the development of gluten and subsequent controlled acidification.

The leaven may be kneaded by hand or in a mixer until it forms a smooth, homogeneous dough, slightly elastic and not sticky.
After kneading, it should be rolled out with a rolling pin into a long, moderately wide rectangle, folded in half along its long edge and finally rolled up into a cylinder.

The leaven should then be placed in a bowl sprinkled with flour: it should be left to rise at around 28 °C for 3 hours, until doubled in volume.
Once fermentation is complete, store it in the fridge until the following day.

Day 9. Training

On the ninth day, the stiff sourdough starter undergoes three consecutive refreshments throughout the day, to stabilize the microbial flora, increase its strength, and reduce residual acidity.

Each refreshment follows the same ratio and temperature management (28 °C for 3 hours).

Refreshment formula:

• 1 part Sourdough starter
• 1 part Flour
• 0.45 parts Water (equal to 45% of the flour)

Example:

100 g sourdough starter + 100 g flour + 45 g water.

Refreshing the sourdough starter to 45% hydration instead of 50% hydration makes it drier and therefore more stable. As they say in the trade: “Stiff sourdough starter, perfect panettone.”

A more stiff sourdough starter develops gas steadily, limits the production of lactic and acetic acid, and ensures better performance in the panettone dough.

A suitable refreshment schedule could be as follows: the first refreshment at 9:00 a.m., the second at 12:30 p.m., and the third at 4:00 p.m. For all refreshments, the ratio is 1:1:0.45, as mentioned, and the temperature should be maintained at 28 °C for 3 hours.

It is essential, refreshment after refreshment, to maintain a constant temperature of 28 °C: lower temperatures slow fermentation and promote acidity, while higher temperatures can compromise the balance of the bacterial flora.

After the third development (around 7:00–8:00 PM), the sourdough starter should:

• have tripled in volume in about 3 hours
• be firm but elastic
• have the aroma of sweet yogurt and ripe fruit
• have a controlled acidity of approximately pH 4.2.

This sourdough starter is perfectly mature and ready to make panettone dough.

The recipe for making your own panettone with sourdough starter

We started with just three ingredients—water, flour, and honey—and now we’re ready to translate all our efforts and care into making a perfect panettone. Below, we offer a balanced panettone recipe using your newly created sourdough starter. The second mixture is slightly lighter in butter and egg yolks, which will facilitate obtaining the correct proof.

First mixture

Ingredients for making two 1 kg panettones

• 135 g sugar
• 260 g water
• 540 g type “00” Panettone flour
• 140 g stiff sourdough starter
• 5 g diastatic malt
• 100 g egg yolks
• 110 g butter

Method

Add the ingredients to the mixer in the following order:

1. Sugar and water. Whisk until dissolved.
2. Add flour, malt and sourdough starter. Form into a dough.
3. Add the egg yolks a little at a time, waiting for the gluten mesh to absorb them.
4. Gradually add softened butter a little at a time.

Place the dough in a container and leave until it triples in size, meaning the highest central part of the dough reaches the third mark on the container. It will take about 12 hours at a minimum temperature of 26 °C.

Once this height is reached, we recommend you put the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before proceeding with the second mixing.

Second mixture

Ingredients

first dough

• 110 g type “00” Panettone flour
• 5 g diastatic malt
• 100 g egg yolks
• 70 g sugar
• 5 g salt
• 20 g flavouring
• 65 g butter
• 50 g water (optional)

Method

Add the ingredients to the mixer in the following order:

1. Knead the first dough with the flour and malt for 10–15 minutes.
2. Add the egg yolks and whisk, then add the sugar and whisk until stringy
3. Add salt.
4. Gradually add the softened butter and flavouring. The flavouring is a blend of the following ingredients: 20 g honey, zest of 2 oranges, zest of 2 lemons, and the pod of 1 vanilla bean (or 20 g orange paste).
5. If necessary, but only if the dough requires it, add all or part of water. To determine if the dough is properly hydrated, evaluate its elasticity, shine, and extensibility.

6. Add the extra ingredients (candied fruit or chocolate) during the last two minutes of kneading. The amount of these extras should be calculated on the total amount of the finished dough.

• 25% candied peal
• 15% raisins
• 5% orange
• 5% citron
• or 15% chocolate

Once the dough is ready, let it rest for 10 minutes.

Then leave the dough to rise for an hour and a half at 28 °C.

Then cut the dough into pieces and round them into tightly formed spheres, with a smooth and even surface.

The weight of each piece should weigh 10% more than the declared weight:

• Paper baking mould 500 g → Dough 550 g
• Paper baking mould 1000 g → Dough 1100 g

The final proofing will last 4–6 hours at 30 °C and is over when the dough is 1 cm from the top of a low baking baking mould, which we suggest using instead of a high baking mould.

Just before baking, you can proceed with the optional frosting. The frosting should be prepared the day before and consists of:

• 250 g ground almonds
• 440 g sugar
• 238 g egg whites
• 50 g starch/cornflour

These ingredients should be mixed together without whipping. The resulting icing should be placed in a piping bag and refrigerated.

To bake, follow this rule:

• 500 g Panettone → 35 minutes at 170 °C
• 1000 g Panettone → 50 minutes at 170 °C

Once baked, turn it upside down immediately using suitable skewers and leave to cool for 12 hours before tasting or packaging it.