Traditional Gluten Free Panettone Recipe

I recently made a large-size Gluten Free Panettone (pronounced pan uh tony) in an angel food cake pan. Panettone is a rich, buttery Italian yeast-cake prepared during the Christmas season. I usually make panettone more like bread than cake as I did in the above recipe link. That version has a crunchy crust, much like homemade bread. However, I figured that many of you would prefer to have a traditional recipe with a soft, buttery texture.

I made a smaller version today, using a 1-quart stoneware crock that I’ve had sitting around since the 90s. I hope you enjoy it. It is to-die-for, especially when warm. You can use this Sourdough Stater Crock without the lid.

Standard panettone pans are often smaller than what I used. My 1-quart crock was more like 5 inches wide in diameter and 6 inches high. So, it didn’t mushroom over like traditional panettone. However, you can buy Disposable Paper Panettone Molds, if you desire. (Be cautious when purchasing as they are available in two sizes. The mini size is 6 x 2.5 x 8.5 inches, and are available in sets of 25. The standard size molds are 8 x 8 x 10.5 inches and sold in set of 6.)

In this version of the recipe, I’ve increased the amounts of candied fruit and raisins but kept the sugar to a minimum. Again, in one of the panettones that I made today, instead of using citron, I used gluten-free, natural, maraschino cherries due to my citrus allergies. It works out just as well, texture and sweetness-wise.

If you don’t have skewers to cool it upside down, you can just place it in on a wire rack. It only shrinks about 1-inch and still is light and tender.

I was concerned that the additional butter would burn the top since I cooked it for almost 40 minutes. However, I just tented it with foil after 15 minutes of baking. It turned out just perfect. I’ll never make it like bread again! I love it, and I hope you do, too!

Traditional Gluten Free Panettone Recipe

51

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 50 minutes

Yield: Makes 6 servings

Traditional Gluten Free Panettone Recipe

Gluten free panettone, a lightly sweetened bread with plenty of candied fruit and raisins, with a tender, buttery texture and soft, dark brown crust.

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup potato starch
  • 1/3 cup cornstarch
  • 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons white rice flour (or more millet flour)
  • 2 Tablespoons + 2 teaspoons millet flour* (or more rice flour)
  • 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 teaspoons nonfat instant milk (or use nonfat milk instead of water)
  • Scant** 1 teaspoon xanthan gum
  • 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons honey
  • 1/3 cup water, heated to 110 - 115°F
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons neutral-flavored oil (I used light olive oil)
  • 2 Tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
  • 1/3 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon pure almond or vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest (bright yellow skin only, grated) (optional)
  • 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter for bread-like texture, melted and slightly cooled
  • 1/3 - 1/2 cup gluten-free candied citron, glazed fruit, or 1/2 (13.5-oz.) jar Royal Harvest® Maraschino Cherries or Bordeaux Maraschino Cherries, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
  • 1/4 cup raisins or Ocean Spray Craisins® (dried cranberries)
  • 2 wooden skewers, for cooling the cake upside down (optional)

Instructions:

  1. Oil a 1-quart stoneware crock, line sides and bottom with parchment paper or oil a mini Disposable Paper Panettone Molds; set aside.
  2. If you're using skewers to cool the cake-bread upside down to prevent shrinkage, find a pot deeper than the height of the panettone and that is less in width than the skewers; set aside, along with two skewers. Alternatively, set aside a wire rack for cooling. When cooling on a wire rack expect about 1-inch shrinkage in height.
  3. Add potato starch, cornstarch, rice flour, millet flour, nonfat dry milk, sugar, xanthan gum, yeast, and salt in the bowl of your electric mixer. Mix on low speed to combine.
  4. Add the honey to the warm water and stir until blended. To the mixing bowl, add honey mixture, eggs, oil, applesauce, vinegar, vanilla, and lemon zest, if using, and beat on medium speed until just combined.
  5. Slowly pour in the melted butter while beating on medium speed until incorporated. Beat on high speed for 6 minutes.
  6. Oil a large bowl and scoop dough into the bowl. Set in an 80°F environment, covered with a tea towel to rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.
  7. Rehydrated raisins in a cup of hot water until plump. Strain raisins and discard water. If using chopped cherries, allow them to drain on paper towels along with the raisins. Fold the raisins and candied fruit into the risen dough.
  8. Place the dough in the pan or mold you are using, and allow to rise until double or triple in size, about 1 hour. (I place the bread in a cold oven. Preheat it to 200°F. Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to rise on top of the range, a total of 1 hour. When using millet and rice flour, it reaches the top of my 1-quart stoneware crock.)
  9. Ten minutes prior to the completion of the rising time, preheat oven to 375°F.
  10. Set a timer for 40 minutes. Bake the pannetone for 15 minutes on one shelf lower than the center of the oven, or on the center shelf if your oven does not have many shelves. Tent the top of your gluten-free pannetone with foil to prevent over-browning; continue baking until the timer is done.
  11. As soon as it is done baking, carefully remove it from the pan. Remove parchment paper and discard. Immediately place two skewers about 1 inch from the bottom of the pannetone. Hold it upside down, and hang it over a large pot until cool. (See example here of the one I made in an angel food cake pan using three skewers.)
  12. Slice and serve warm. Freeze slices in a resealable storage bag. Defrost in the microwave on a low temperature, toaster, or at room temperature. Best if served warm, as it melts the butter inside which makes the texture nice and soft.

Tips

*Millet flour is light yellow and lends the perfect color to this bread. Millet also prevents that chewy texture that rice flour creates when used alone. When using half millet flour versus rice flour, the second rise will probably only double the dough. Using rice flour alone, will most likely result in tripling the dough. However, you have to be careful when over-rising as the cake/bread may fall.

**"Scant" means a little less than. An exact measurement would be to use 7/8 teaspoon xanthan gum, but a little less than one works easier.

2 Replies to “Traditional Gluten Free Panettone Recipe”

  1. What does the 6min of mixing do for the dough? Is it absolutely necessary? A someone who is using a hand mixer not a stand mixer, 6min of mixing is tough going – not to mention a little on the messy side! Also, would you recommend using a dough hook attachment or just the normal beater/paddle attachment?

    Currently baking my first attempt at this recipe now – my 6in panettone tin needed a double batch of dough to fill it, so I’m crossing my fingers it turns out okay as I’m taking a guess at the cooking time! I’m going for 15min without foil and 45min tented with foil.

    1. Mia,

      Long mix times develops a gluten-like texture. Without it, you’ll probably end up with a cake-like texture.

      I would use a whisk attachment in my stand mixer, but a paddle would work. I don’t recommend using a hand mixer when making gluten free bread. However, this recipe is a little softer than traditional gluten free bread dough. A few of my cookbook recipe testers broke their whisks on their had mixers and all purchased a stand mixer.

      Good luck! Let us all know how it turned out.

      Carla

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