Mataloch - The panettone from Lake Como

It is one of the sweet symbols of Lake Como, and more particularly native to Bellagio.

The dough and the processing similar to panettone make it the Christmas sweet of the territory. The main ingredients are in fact: flour, milk, butter, eggs, walnuts, hazelnuts, almonds, candied fruit and dried figs, in addition to anise, an ingredient that gives the name of Matalòch.

This cake was initially born as a breakfast of Como fishermen. Tradition wanted the wives to prepare this food for their husbands which could provide the energy to face an intense working day on their boats, which today we know is also rich in vitamins. proteins, essential fatty acids and mineral salts.

Here is the recipe found by the food blogger La Belle Auberge
150 g of mother yeast
250 g of flour 0
50 g of wholemeal rye flour
1 tablespoon of honey
30 g of milk
80 g of cold melted butter
1 egg
80 g of sugar
1 teaspoon of aniseed, crushed in a mortar and ground into powder
the grated zest of ½ lemon
1 teaspoon of salt
80 g of Corinth raisins (the small dark one)
140 g of dried figs
40 g of candied orange and citron
grappa to taste
40 g of hazelnuts
40 g of walnuts
40 g of almonds

Preparation:
The mother yeast to be used will have just been refreshed. Put it in a bowl, cover it and leave it like that for about 5 hours. After this time, take the dough and put it in the mixer, dilute it with the warm milk, add the honey, the sifted flours and start working. Combine the melted and cold butter, the egg (at room temperature) and the sugar. Season with anise and lemon zest. Finally, add salt. Work the dough at low speed for about 20 minutes. It should be quite tender and sticky.

Chop the dried figs, put them in a bowl with the raisins (previously rinsed under running water) and the citron and orange peels, always cut into chunks. Sprinkle with grappa and leave to infuse for about ten minutes. Coarsely chop the walnuts, hazelnuts and almonds. Add all the dried fruit to the mixture, incorporating it carefully. Divide the mass into two parts, forge loaves weighing about 550/600 g each, arrange them on a plate covered with parchment paper. Leave to rise overnight. The next morning, cook the mataloch in a preheated oven at 190 ° C for about 20 minutes, reduce the temperature to 170 ° C and continue cooking for another 20 minutes.

If you are anxious to try it, just order it from the Baj family that has been protecting a secret recipe since before the French revolution. www.panettonebaj.it

Happy Holidays!