Grant Crilly is the Executive Director and cofounder of ChefSteps. Grant is a classically trained chef and, prior to ChefSteps, he worked on the award-winning cookbook series Modernist Cuisine and cooked at various restaurants, including L’Astrance in Paris, Busaba in Mumbai, and Mistral Kitchen in Seattle.

Grant Crilly

Light and luxurious, panettone is like a fruitcake and a brioche had a baby. A sweet, rich, citrus-scented dough is studded with booze-soaked cherries and candied orange zest, this Italian holiday classic can’t be beat. Traditional panettone takes days to bake—made with a wild yeast starter, the dough is built over time and left to ferment and rise as nature works her magic. We’ve sped up the process to get an elegant bread with a delicate, feathery texture in one day. Many “quick” recipes result in loaves that are dense with a tight crumb. The gold standard of panettone is large and irregular air pockets and a soft interior that’s as light as a cloud. The name of the game here is maximum air and we’ve got a few tricks up our sleeve to achieve that hallmark interior. The final secret of panettone is the cooling process—this rich loaf must hang upside down to prevent collapsing and to maximize the air pockets in the crumb. Forget those disappointing boxed loaves dotting the shelves at the grocery store. This year, make your own magnificent holiday panettone—in less than a day!

Holiday Panettone