Panettone French Toast Bread Pudding for Christmas Morning

I visited Eataly this week in search of a Panettone, a rich Italian bread made with eggs, fruit, and butter and typically eaten at Christmas. The bread is made much the same way as Challah or brioche with several eggs and going through multiple risings, but it is traditionally studded with candied orange and citron peel and raisins. Its history goes back to the Roman empire when egg bread was sweetened with honey, but the current incarnation likely originated in Milan and the name is an homage to the papacy.

As Eataly is a well-appointed Italian food emporium in Manhattan, I knew I’d find Panettone there, but I didn’t realize how many kinds. My visit was overwhelmingly decadent, like to a fancy shoe store where every pump, sling back, stiletto, and strappy sandal are displayed like jewels in a case. Each variation, packed in paper or special gift boxes for holiday gift giving, looked incredibly enticing and I almost bought two, but these packages are at least twenty one oz. and that’s just too much for two people in one socially distancing household to share.

I saw Panettone studded with chocolate chips and pears, some with coffee, cream and chocolate, sweetened with limoncello, topped with a chocolate shell, and embedded with candied chestnuts. I circled the displays repeatedly. I backtracked and picked up each package and looked at the ingredients and the name of the company who crafted them. Each family had a history of making this storied bread, most going back to turn of the twentieth century.

After over thirty minutes of rumination, I settled on the simple and traditional Milanese style: candied orange and citron with raisins. I wanted the flavor of the fruit to shine through unimpeded by other things. I didn’t want to “gild the lily.”

When I got home, I cut the Panettone in half and stuck one half in the freezer and began preparations for my bread pudding recipe which I’ve adapted over the years. This is a delightful dish to bake on Christmas morning to share with family as you open gifts but it would be equally lovely as a dessert to eat with a festive lunch or dinner.

As you make this dish, I hope you will conjure up images of Italians walking the streets and alley ways of their ancient cities and towns, shopping for Christmas provisions, and putting a beautifully packaged Panettone in their cloth bag or basket to take home to enjoy or to gift to someone special.

Whether you toast and slather the bread with butter or cream, or you use it in a recipe as I have, I hope you will have a wonderful holiday week. As the Italians say, “Buon Natale!”

Panettone French Toast Bread Pudding

· Approximately 14 oz. of Panettone, cubed

· 8 eggs

· 2 cups unsweetened almond milk (feel free to use either low fat or full fat milk, or a milk/cream mixture if you want to make this richer)

· 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

· 2 tablespoons Stevia (or regular sugar / another sweetener)

· Zest of two small oranges

· PAM cooking spray or butter for greasing your baking dish

· 1 baking dish — either a glass or ceramic dish such as a lasagna or a bread pan

Directions:

· Pre-heat oven to 375 F

· Lay the cubed bread on a cookie sheet and toast for approximately 10–12 minutes until lightly browned– watch closely that you don’t burn the bread

· Beat eggs and milk with vanilla and sugar until smooth (you can use a whisk or a hand mixer)

· Spray your baking dish with PAM cooking spray (or grease with butter)

· Place the bread cubes in the baking dish laying them on top of each other in two layers, and pour egg milk mixture evenly on top

· Sprinkle orange zest over the dish

· Cover baking dish with foil and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight — you want the toasted bread to soak up the egg/milk mixture as this step will make the bread budding puff up beautifully

· The following day take the dish out of the fridge and let it sit for about 30 minutes at room temperature.

· Bake for approx. 35 minutes at 350–375 F. *Use a toothpick to double check that the egg mixture is not too wet. If it is, bake a little bit longer (10 minutes should do it).

· Let cool before serving.