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Toronto bakeries selling house-made panettone for the holidays

By Liza Agrba
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Baking this traditional Italian sweet bread is no easy proposition, even for seasoned pros. There’s a tricky multi-day leavening process, and missteps yield dry, crumbly, boring loaves better suited for self-defense or propping open doors than holiday indulging. The good ones, though—like the loaves listed below—are plush, luxurious and fragrant: basically everything you want in a baked good. For gifting or eating (whether it be after dinner or for breakfast), here are six excellent Toronto-made panettone for sale this holiday season.

Toronto bakeries selling house-made panettone for the holidays
@Mattachioni
Mattachioni

This beloved Italian bodega is offering two flavours of panettone this year: Moro (chocolate orange) and Alonzi (fruit and nut), each weighing in at a hefty one kilogram. You can grab the 100-percent naturally leavened loaves at both the Dupont and Gerrard East locations—a 10-loaf daily batch is available for walk-in purchasing, but to be safe, you’re best off pre-ordering for store pickup at preorders.mattachioni@gmail.com. There’s also pandoro pacienza—panettone’s cousin—a star-shaped vanilla cake dusted with icing sugar to look like the snow-capped Alps. $36 for panettone, $30 for pandoro.

 

Sud Forno

Sud Forno’s panettone relies on the shop’s own mother yeast for full-flavoured, 36-hour leavened glory. The handcrafted loaves are as traditional as they are delectable, made with ingredients like free-range eggs, Italian flour from a small mill and vanilla beans. Get yours in the Classico (orange and raisin) or Cioccolato (made with Domori 54-percent) flavour. $36 each for store pickup or cross-Canada delivery.

 

Toronto Panettone

Matt Duffy calls panettone the “Mount Everest of baking” and says he has a bit of a crazy obsession with the notoriously difficult-to-make bread. His recipe, made in partnership with Mike Vahabi of @torontopanettone, nixes yeast and baking soda in favour of a traditional five-day leavening process that yields predictably delicious results. It’s available in the classic orange-raisin or a decadent triple-chocolate flavour. Order through @torontopanettone, but expect to be waitlisted. You might also be able to grab some through East Side Bread Co., Duffy’s Stouffville micro-bakery, which specializes in naturally leavened brioche. $25 for 500g, $45 for 1000g.

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Padaria

Padaria Toronto’s dark chocolate chip and candied orange panettone, made in-house over 72 hours, is totally free of artificial flavours and comes in a gorgeous little box, which makes it perfect for gifting. It goes beautifully with brigadeiro or doce de leite, sweet treats that come in piping bags for convenient squeezing over a hefty slice of the Italian bread. $29, available in-store or online for pickup and delivery.

 

Mary’s Brigadeiro

At Mary’s Brigadeiro, the panettone comes stuffed with brigadeiro, a traditional Brazilian chocolate dessert made of condensed milk and chocolate powder. The resulting “chocottone” has a remarkably moist texture—a likely corrective for those who think panettone is dry and boring. Order here for in-store pickup and same-day local delivery (but they also ship worldwide). $21 for 185 grams, $52 for 1.4kg.

 

Forno Cultura

The artisanal Italiano mercatto’s Panettone Classico is no basic b—it’s made with blood orange and raisins fortified with grappa, and has a delightfully crackly bitter almond meringue crust. Also available: the Panettone Ciocolatto Darkside Oscuro, with mosto d’uva, sour cherries, candied orange and bitter hazelnut crust; and the Classico Golden Child, made with 100-percent organic durum wheat Altamura Puglia, toasted anise and a lemon crust. $30 for 450g, $55 for 750g. Available in-store through the new year.

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