Panettone

Refresh the starter two or three times in the days before you begin. It has to triple in 3–4 hours at 26 °C, or the dough will not lift all that fat.

This last refresh goes into the first dough at its peak.

Make a syrup with the sugar, the honey and the water, and emulsify the yolks and the butter into it. This is what lets a hand-kneaded dough take the fat without breaking.

Knead the flour, the lievito madre and the syrup by hand. Rest 20 minutes. Add the fats, knead, rest again. Work in slaps and folds on the bench: it goes soupy at first and comes back together. It should pass the windowpane test.

Ferment a few hours at room temperature, then 12–24 hours in the fridge. It has to triple.

Slice the oranges, skin and all. Mix with the sugar and rest 20 minutes. Cook over low heat 40 minutes, then blend.

Make it the day before, it keeps in the fridge.

Day 2. Mix the first dough with the flour, then the liquids, then the fat, then the sugar and the salt, each one fully absorbed before the next. Knead until it passes the windowpane test again, resting whenever it stops cooperating.

Add the fruit and the nuts last, working just enough to distribute them.

Rest 20 minutes and shape into the mold. If it is too slack, give it a few folds with rests in between until it holds a ball.

Proof about 6 hours at 30 °C, until the dough reaches two fingers below the rim.

Score a cross on top and set a piece of butter in the middle. Bake at 170 °C for about 55 minutes.