For 8 pots with a diameter of approx. 8 cm

Ingredients for panettone

• 500 g wheat flour type 405 + flour for the work surface
• 100 g walnuts, roughly chopped
• 150 g dried plums
• 2-3 tablespoons rum
• ½ cube of yeast (room temperature)
• 200 ml lukewarm milk
• 150 g butter + butter for the pots
• 2 eggs
• 100 g sugar
• 2-3 tsp cinnamon
• 1 untreated orange
• Powdered sugar for dusting

Ingredients for stewed plums

• 1 kg plums
• 1 bottle of red wine
• 150-200 g sugar
• Mulled wine spice (to taste)

Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly. Soak the pots for approx. ½ hour. Then drain well. Only now brush with melted butter.

Roughly chop the dried plums and soak in the rum with the walnuts.

Mix the flour with the cinnamon in a bowl and make a well in the flour. Crumble the room temperature yeast into the well and mix with a pinch of sugar and 2-3 tablespoons of lukewarm milk. Cover and leave to rest for approx. 15 minutes.

In the meantime, wash the orange in hot water, dry and finely grate the zest. Add the remaining milk, orange zest, sugar and melted butter to the pre-dough. Knead everything into a smooth dough.

Add the pickled plums and walnuts and knead in briefly. Cover and leave to rise for approx. 1 hour.

Shape the dough into a roll on a lightly floured work surface and cut into 8 equal pieces. Roll into balls and place in the buttered pans. Cover and leave to rise for another 20 minutes.

Bake on the fireclay stone (stone temperature approx. 130 - 140°C) at approx. 220°C top heat for approx. 35 minutes. Allow the top heat to drop to 180-200°C.

While the panettone is baking in the Merklinger, we start with the plum compote. Wash the plums, cut them in half lengthways and remove the stones. Pour the wine into a large pan or roasting tin. Add the sugar and mulled wine spice and bring the pan to the boil in the Merklinger while stirring. Stir in the plums and simmer for approx. 10 minutes.