Panettone (Italian Christmas sweet bread) recipe

Christmas is coming!!!! Just the right time to prepare a traditional Italian Christmas bread - Panettone:-) It's absolutely delicious, full of flavor and very soft. Make some mini versions of panettone and give them to your friends for Christmas - they'll sure appreciate a lot:) 

You need (for 12 muffin - size pieces or 1 big panettone):

- 200ml (7 fl oz) milk
- 70g (1/3 cup) butter
- 3 yolks
- 120g (4 oz) sugar
- 400g (14 oz) self-rising flour
- 1tsp salt
- 4g (1tsp) dried yeast
- 50g (2tbsp) raisins
- 50g (2tbsp) candied orange
- 1 lemon zest
- 1 orange zest
- 1tsp rum
- 1/2tsp turmeric powder (optional) - serves to give a beautiful yellow color
- 1tbsp natural yogurt
- 1tsp baking powder

Combine the warm milk, yolks, yogurt, rum and melted butter

Add the sugar, salt, lemon and orange zest and mix well

Add the candied orange and raisins

Add the flour, turmeric powder, dried yeast and baking powder

Knead the dough and leave it to grow for 2-3 hours in a warm place

If you want to make mini - versions of panettone divide the dough in 12 equal pieces and place them into the muffin molds (if you are going to make 1 big panettone place all the dough into the panettone mold). Cut a cross on top of each panettone and let them grow for another 40-50 minutes

Put some butter inside each cut

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F and bake the breads for 50 minutes. In case the breads are brown on top but still not cooked just cover them with an aluminum foil and go on baking them

Remove them from the oven, let them cool and enjoy! Merry Christmas:-)