Tried version two this weekend. Added 1 Tbs. of Brandy and 1 Tbs. of Triple Sec - gave the dough the perfect "sharp" taste I was looking for. Chopped up some Cadbery milk chocolate bars for mini-chocolate chips. Added a nice Chocolate "stripe" to it, but the Milk chocolate melted faster than the semi-sweet. This leads me to another question - would I mess it up to much if I were to let it go through the first rise, and then put it in the fridge to bring down the temperature, then take it out, put in the chocolate chips once it is cool enough to not melt them, and then bring it back up to warm and shape it from there and let it go through the final rise? Would there be a time that would be too long to leave it in the fridge? For example if I made the starter one day, let it cool in the fridge the next, and did the final rise and bake on day three? Also, does the liquor interfere with the yeast rising? I didn't notice a big change in volume, but still wondered.
Thanks for all the help. One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post is that this blog has lead me to only purchase your products. When I know that you take so much pride is protein content, etc. it is what I want to bake with!
Thanks for your kind words, Julie. Your "double chocolate" panettone sounds delicious. Should be no problem chilling the dough; it will actually help its flavor, up to a point. I wouldn't chill longer than 48 hours, and even that might be pushing it; the milk, butter, and eggs start to go a little "off" after awhile. And alcohol won't slow the rise - again, unless you use too much, and then it's not really the alcohol slowing the yeast, it's the sugar. 2 tablespoons alcohol should be fine. Enjoy -PJH
December 7, 2008 at 8:50pm