ruthie, you're probably back by now, I hope you had a great trip. I've been doing "international" cookies too, LOL, but not because I decided to, just because that's what struck me. I just made cuccidati, a fig filled cookie that a friend sent me and I loved them. I've made Venetian rainbow cookies with almond paste, and I've made good old American toll house cookies and grandma's molasses cookies and peanut butter cookies. Elery and I are making cannoli tomorrow, and I've done the Scottish shortbread and the spritz and the pfefferneuse. I think I'm not going to do any more baking except cut out and frosted sugar cookies with the grandkids! Now, that pannetone. Here is a recipe from King Arthur Flour for a traditional pannetone, it requires an overnight resting of the "biga", which is just the yeast with a bit of water and some of the flour, kind of like a sourdough "starter". The bread is made using the biga the next day. I didn't have orange oil or the special seasoning thing you can only get from King Arthur Flour, LOL, so I used the vanilla and some orange extract. My family loves this recipe and since it uses dried fruit instead of the candied stuff, I like it too. I do not like candied fruit at all. Anyway, it's easier than it looks and the recipe came from King Arthur Flour: Overnight Panettone This traditional Italian holiday bread will stay fresh longer when it's made with an overnight starter. Biga (Overnight Starter) 3/4 cup (3 1/8 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/16 teaspoon yeast (just a pinch) 1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) water Dough all of the biga (above) 2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour 1/4 cup (2 ounces) water 2 large eggs 1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 ounces) unsalted butter 1 1/4 teaspoons salt 1/2 teaspoon Fiori di Sicilia flavoring OR 1 teaspoon vanilla + 1/8 teaspoon orange oil 2 1/4 teaspoons SAF Gold instant yeast OR 1 tablespoon instant yeast 1/3 cup (2 1/4 ounces) sugar 1/2 cup (3 ounces) golden raisins 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) slivered dried apricots 1/2 cup (2 ounces) dried cranberries or flavored fruit bits 1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces) dried pineapple, chopped 2 tablespoons orange or lemon zest The Biga: Combine the biga ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, cover, and allow them to rest overnight (8 to 12 hours). Dough: Combine all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and mix and knead them togetherby hand, mixer or bread machinetill you've made a soft, smooth dough. Allow the dough to rise, covered, for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until it's puffy (though not necessarily doubled in bulk). Gently deflate the dough, and knead in the fruits and zest. Shape the dough into a ball and place it in a panettone pan or other straight-sided, tall 1 1/2- to 2-quart pan. Cover the pan and let the dough rise till it's just crested over the rim of the pan, about 1 hour. Bake the bread in a preheated 400°F oven for 10 minutes; reduce the oven heat to 375°F and bake an additional 10 minutes; then reduce the heat to 350°F and bake for 25 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil if the crust appears to be browning too quickly. Remove the panettone from the oven and cool completely. This recipe reprinted from The Baking Sheet Newsletter, Vol. III, No. 2, December 1991 issue. Annie

Sally, Baking with Julia is one of my favourite cookbooks. I use her recipe for French bread and it is her recipe I use for Croissants and the Pain au Chocolate. I can highly recommmend both recipes. If you are really in the mood for baking you can't go wrong with the croissants. Make half croissants and half Pain au Chocolate. They freeze well too. I know that there are a few more recipes in that cookbook that I have made, but unfortunately, Moe already boxed up all my cookbooks so I'm without any cookbooks until after we get moved. Or until I have at least 80 feet of bookshelves built. LOL! Ann

The fecipe you posted could go in the refrigerator after the first kneading....but the interesting thing I am learning is that a rest in the refrigt akes the place of most of the kneading... Un baked dough keeps 5 to 6 days before it begins to go gray and funky.....but when it does....just add more flour and water and a bit of sugar and call it a starter or poolish or biga or whatever.....use some in your next batch of bread. Really unless it begins to mold or get really nasty sour, it's good for a long time! Linda C

Tried to post again and it still doesn't show up anywhere but in my own activity log so I copied it here. ---- I am going to post the recipe as I first started using it. For my taste, the bread was too sweet so in parentheses I will put what I use now. ---- 2 cups water - 110°-120° 3 Tablespoons sugar (1 slightly rounded Tablespoon) 1-1/2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast 1-1/2 teaspoons salt (slightly rounded) 1/4 Cup Vegetable Oil 6 cups flour* ---- Fit mixer with paddle. Put water and sugar in mixer bowl, stir to dissolve sugar. Sprinkle yeast over and let sit until foamy, 5- 15 minutes (I stir slightly to get the yeast into the sugar water.) I find that 5 minutes is generally sufficient. Add salt, oil and 3 cups of the flour. Mix very well. Change from paddle to dough hook, on low, add the other 3 cups of flour. Once most of the flour is incorporated, raise mixer speed to medium and mix until it becomes a cohesive whole, with no flour on sides of bowl. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 4-6 minutes, using the most minimum of flour possible, just enough to keep it from sticking to your hands. Place in a LARGE greased bowl, turn once to grease all sides of dough, then cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. After 1 hour, punch dough down and form into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans, cover and let rise until dough crowns to a little over 1" above pan tops. Preheat oven to 350° Bake loaves for 25 - 30 minutes, if browning too quickly, cover loosely with foil after 18 minutes. I let the loaves sit only for a minute or 2 in the pans then turn them onto a rack to cool. Let cool completely before cutting. ---- *OK so here's the thing about flour. The original recipe called for All Purpose flour. I only use bread flour and just because I got silly and ordered a bunch of durum flour and need to use it before it goes bad, I actually substitute 1/2 cup of it for 1/2 cup of the bread flour. I am not scientific enough to know if that actually does anything to make the bread soft but still able to hold together when cut or not. If anyone here knows please feel free to chime in. If it really does make some kind of difference I will replenish my supply once it's gone. If it really serves no particular purpose I will go back to all bread flour. I probably have enough durum for 7 or 8 more batches