Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: Panettone!

The tall, sweet, tender, cakey yeast-raised breads, studded with raisins and citrus, sometimes dried fruit, often chocolate, can be found in stores for as low as $10, but they're generally between $20 to $50, with some closer to $80.

Panettone is not tricky to make yourself. The rich dough is very soft and sticky, and tends to have a long rise time to develop the flavour and give it a very tender, airy texture.

Typically, it's baked in a cardboard panettone mould that gives it that chefs' hat shape and allows you to cool it upside down, like an angel food cake, to maintain that light texture.

You do this by sticking wooden skewers through the base of the baked loaf, in its mould, and inverting it inside a large pot to cool.

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You can order them moulds online, buy them at cooking stores like the Cookbook Company or craft stores like Michael's that have a baking section.

If you'd rather streamline the process and not rely on sourcing moulds, here's a recipe for a sweet, fruited holiday bread that's like a cross between panettone and stollen, requires a far shorter proofing time, and is shaped and baked on a sheet. 

And if you're looking for new uses for store-bought panettone, U.K. food writer Nigel Slater's grilled mincemeat sandwiches on panettone are sublime. Slice panettone crosswise into round slices, sandwich with mincemeat (and soft mascarpone, if you like) and cook in a skillet with butter, grilled cheese-style, until crisp and golden and oozy on the inside. Slide out onto a serving plate, dust with icing sugar and serve warm, in wedges, as you'd serve a mince tart.

Not-quite Panettone

This fruited holiday bread is like a cross between panettone and stollen. Its texture is denser than a long-fermented, tall panettone, lighter than stollen and not baked upright in a mould like panettone.

Feel free to use whatever dried fruit you like, or swap dark chocolate chunks (so good with the orange!). If your yeast is regular, not instant, dissolve it in the water before you whisk in the eggs, orange zest and vanilla.

• ¾ cup warm water
• 3 eggs (or ½ cup JUST Egg, or leave them out and reduce the flour by ½ cup)
• finely grated zest of an orange
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 tbsp instant dry yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ cup butter (dairy or plant) or coconut oil, softened
• 1½ cups mixed dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries)
• ¼ cup dark rum (or sherry, or orange juice, or tea)
• icing sugar, for dusting

In a medium bowl, whisk together the water (dissolve the yeast in the water first if it's not instant), eggs, zest and vanilla.

In a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine the flour, sugar, yeast and salt. Add the egg mixture and knead until the dough comes together.

Add the butter or coconut oil and knead for about five minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic — it will be sticky.

Leave it in the bowl, cover and let rest for 1½ to 2 hours.

In another bowl, soak the dried fruit in the rum, juice or tea, stirring once or twice. After the rise, fold the fruit and any liquid in the bottom of the bowl into the dough.

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Pat it out into a large oval an inch or two thick and fold about two-thirds of it over, like starting to fold a letter, or shaping stollen. Place on a parchment-lined sheet, cover with a tea towel and let rise for another hour or so.

When you're ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Bake for about 40 minutes, covering loosely with foil if it's getting too dark, until deep golden and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped, or the inside registers between 195 F and 210 F on an instant-read thermometer.

Let cool at least slightly before dusting with icing sugar.

Makes: 1 large loaf.