Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy. That’s about 10 minutes or so
Mix in the flour
In the mixer bowl, mix together the yeast and water and allow to stand until creamy. Again, about 10 minutes or so
With the paddle attached mix in the sponge, eggs, flour, and sugar
Add in the butter and mix for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and even
With the paddle mix in thoroughly the eggs, egg yolks, sugar, honey, scraped vanilla bean, essences/extracts, and salt
Mix in the butter until smooth
Add the flour and slowly incorporate
At this stage the dough will seem a little too soft, like cookie dough
Replace the paddle with the dough hook and knead for about 2 minutes
Don’t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 2/3 cup. Be careful the excess flour will affect the finished product
Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise in a warm place for 2 hours then put it overnight in a cool spot like the fridge. Next day take it out and let it wake up and rise to at least 3 times its original size
Drain and pat dry with paper towels
Now take your dough and cut it in half. Remember we are making two panettoni
Combine all your filling ingredients and mix well
Press out one portion of dough into an oval shape
Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over another quarter of the filling
Roll into a log shape again
Repeat with the second portion of dough
Shape each into a ball and slip into your prepared pans, panettone papers or homemade panettone papers
Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to double in size. If it has been rising on the kitchen bench in a warm place it should be doubled in about 2 hours
When you think your dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to moderately hot 400º F
Just before baking carefully {don’t deflate it!} cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob {a nut} of butter
Reduce the heat again to moderate 325°F and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean
Cool the panettone by laying them on their side cushioned with rolled up towels. Turn gently as they cool
The slow rise of the dough makes a great tasting panettone. My panettone molds were bigger and the dough did not really rise well beyond the rim. But I loved the delicious flavors of this bread-cake even better after a day or two.