to making a perfect panettone

is if your dough looks like this.

Not just bright yellow, but soft and gooey,

unlike most other bread dough.

Panettone is made with an Italian yeast

called "lievito madre,"

which literally means "mother yeast."

It's a very hard yeast to master.

You need time and a lot of patience,

but here in Milan, the birthplace of panettone,

bakers are only allowed to use this yeast

and this yeast only.

So, what else makes Italian panettone so special?

We're going to find out.

Lievito madre gives panettone its tangy flavor,

but it also makes the baking process much longer.

In total, it takes three days to make one panettone.

Claudia: This yeast weighs 2.5 kilos.

1 kilo will be used for about 25 kilos of panettone dough.

To make panettone, lievito madre

needs to be refreshed three times with flour and water

every 3 1/2 hours.

Claudia: Giovanni uses what's called type 0 flour,

a finely ground flour that makes panettone soft

while keeping it strong and elastic.

Temperature is important too.

Giovanni is looking for 26 degrees Celsius.

The yeast is still a bit cold,

so it will need to mix a bit more.

When it's ready, Giovanni divides it into two parts.

One will be used today for the panettone,

and the second will continue to age

as the original 80-year-old mother yeast.

Then it is rolled to smooth it out,

a bit like croissant dough.

In the evening, after the yeast has been refreshed

three times, it is added to water, sugar,

butter, and egg yolks to create a panettone base mix.

The rest of the ingredients

will have to wait for the next day.

This is how the base mix looks like the morning after.

Claudia: The base mixes with the flour

for only 10 minutes to gain elasticity.

Claudia: Once the network has formed,

Giovanni proceeds to add all the other ingredients:

egg yolks; sugar; a mix of honey, candied orange paste,

and vanilla; then salt; butter; and water.

It will mix for 40 minutes.

Claudia: The candied oranges, the candied cedar,

and the sultana raisins go in last,

as they're there to add flavor

but don't contribute to the texture of the dough.

Claudia: It rests for one hour,

then gets split into 25 parts

before resting for another hour.

Then it has to go through a very important step

called pirlatura.

This movement gives panettone the strength

it will need to grow in the oven.

Claudia: The dough is so strong now

that it needs a little something to point it

to the right direction, which is upward.

This is when molds come in,

called pirottini in Italian.

They used to be made of wicker and were reused,

but now, they're made of paper.

And once the dough is paired

with its corresponding pirottino,

they are there together for the long haul.

Claudia: The panettoni have to rest one more day

in the molds to ferment a bit more.

This will give them a softer texture

and allow the aromas to really burst through.

When the day has passed and the wait is over,

there is still one more thing to do.

Claudia: Have you ever wondered why panettone

has a perfect round shape but an uneven surface?

It all has to do with the way it is prepped

before going into the oven.

This process, when the dough is cut in the shape of a cross,

is called scarpatura

and is the sign of a true Milanese panettone.

Claudia: The panettoni bake for one hour

at 170 degrees Celsius.

As soon as Giovanni and his team churn them out,

they are placed in these special pliers

and turned upside down.

Their dough is very rich, as we've seen so far,

so turning them prevents them from collapsing.

They will rest upside down for eight hours to cool down.

Giovanni: Cheers. Claudia: OK.