What a challenge! After making son many breads and being obsessed with my sourdough, this 2011 I decided to finish the year making il Panettone. Of course, with natural sweet sourdough starter, the traditional way. Not only that, but I decided to sell them (If they worked out well of course) as now I am also selling my bread each week with pâtés, cheese, marmalades and home-made things. Anyway, lots of nerves. I started Wednesday to convert a portion of my liquid 100% hydration sourdough starter into a stiff one (50% hydration). Y finished baking on Sunday, 9 kgs of panettone, which ended up being 16 panettone. They were soft, spongy, and really tasty. Of course I have some critiques of my own and would like to improve some things for next time -> January, that way, next year I’m an expert Are you ready for a fully detailed recipe???

Ok. But first, I’d like to tell you my favorite story about where this delicious sweet bread came from. There are many, this one is my favorite: It’s Christmas eve, and the 1500’s. Duke Ludovico, known also for the “Lord of Milán” is hosting a huge party. Time for dessert is coming, but turns out the cake is ruined. However, Antonio one of the dishwashers took some leftover fruits from the party and was baking a sweet bread for him and his family. The kitchen smelled so nice, the cook decided to serve his bread as dessert. The Duke liked it so much, he entered the kitchen asking for the cook that had made the dessert. …’Antonio’, ‘il pane di Toni’, and so today we know it for ‘Panettone‘.

It is very important that you manage well your time. You will be needing a 2-day early start to get your sourdough ready and ‘sweet’ (no acid).

The result was a very spongy soft crumb. Maybe next time I’ll add a bit more starter and I will feed it longer to get it more active. I feel the fact it took so long was this one. I’ll let you know!! They were really amazing and tasty. Great experience. Giving it a second one in January for sure.

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The ocassion couldn’t have been better: my close friend Evita invited me to Becerril de la Sierra, a beautiful place outside Madrid, for lunch with her husband and her two beautiful daughters. And if you want to win the children and conquer the adults, I think no-one does that job better than chocolate. On the bus ride, everyone looking at me, or well, the dessert, because to be honest (you can judge by the picture!) it turned out perfectly beautiful and delicious!!

The recipe has a really nice spice touch, that goes so nicely with the chocolate: the crêpes have some Cointreau, clove and cinnamon and the chocolate mousse is made with a fresh ginger-infusioned milk and orange zest. Exquisit. The inspiration came from FOOD52.

It requires time and organization, but if you have an afternoon off and guests or you are a guest for next day, believe me when I say you’ll have everyone in love with you by the first bite. The crêpes with the mousse make and elegant and fun dessert.

Ok!! Let’s go to the step by step recipe.

Delicious!!!!

Thanks to Evita and Fer for a lovely day!!! I leave you with some pictures from  their daughters!

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A tart was my first thought. So, I went on and started to read Julia Child and research a bit on what I could do with the plums. And I adventured myself (I’m more of a salty cook than sweet), and went on into complicating myself more and more… because from a tart, I changed into plum compote, crème pâtissèrie and ended up with a crêpe gâteau with plum-crême pâtisserie and almonds. Flambeed on the top with sugar and orange juice. I must say, it was sooo much worth it. Amazingly french, amazingly tasty. Now it is my duty to tell you how to make it.

1. We start with the Plum ‘Cardinal’ (Compote of fresh plums)

Curious fact: plums are really good season fruits because they mature very slowly once they are taken out of the tree, and when they start to mature they generate a lot of taste and aroma. So, before thinking they are not good because they’ve been for a while in your kitchen, you must know they are really tasty and ready for you to make an amazing dessert with them.

Just to let you know, If you eat them like this with some ice-cream they are amazing!

Delicious!!!

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Let’s go step by step, first the pastry, then the cream and finally making the strawberries and ending the dessert. It is important that it stays in the fridge until before serving and to add the syrup when it is cold.

Delicious!!

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So… the method I used with a traditional ice-mold was a little complicated when taking the Bon Bons out of the mold. Some of the couverture chocolate brok :$ . However, I later saw that either with a silicone ice-mol or dipping the ice-cream into the chocolat you will get a less “rustic” result. You can try either method. My friend Sandra, for example, told me she liked them best in a less “perfect state”.

So, I’ve seen that another way of making them is to: once you’ve got the ice-cream, make some small balls and freeze again. Then take out and very fast dip them into the chocolate and back to the freezer again. I’ll try this next time and let you know!!

How where they? Perfect.

So, to serve I placed a quenelle of chocolate ice-cream, three Bon Bons over the top and some mint leaves for decoration. Dessert for angels…they are so beautiful!

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And on Friday, my friends took me to a surprise ‘gastronomic’ trip to Salamanca, and I took a box with cupcakes for them to eat on the road…

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