Kitchen Detail: The Promise of Panforte

Candied fruit and peel form the colorful heart of Panforte di Siena, the cake that arcs across some 600 years of Tuscan history.

By Nancy Pollard & Elizabeth DiGregorio 

The holiday season is here. The hot and humid “I can’t bear to turn on the oven” days have been replaced with a wintry mix, and our thoughts turn to “What can I bake to share with friends and family?” Many of you have made panettone, fruitcake, figgy pudding, honey cakes, Lebkuchen, and other holiday confections. But, have you ever tackled panforte? If not, you’re in for a treat. The cake is steeped in legend and virtuous attainment, endowed with magical properties since the 14th century. Making panforte isn’t difficult, but top-notch ingredients and a good sense of timing are requisites. The result just tastes so good and lasts so long in the dark period after the holidays that you’ll swear some of those magical powers have endured into the 21st century.

The Best of All Possible Power Bars

The name panforte derives from its forebears dating back to the 13th century—panes melatos, a focaccia enriched with honey, figs, and grapes. When fresh, it was savory, but after a few days it turned sour and developed an intense taste. Hence the name panis fortis, or pane forte, for “strong or sour bread.” Honey was added to the mix, contributing its natural antibacterial properties and a long shelf life, making pane forte the “go-to” road-food for the Crusaders, their version of  a power bar. Read about the history of focaccia in this previous Juicy Post while you are waiting for your panforte to come out of the oven

The Siena Connection

Siennese panforte bakers from profumiditoscano.it.

A bread of many names, panforte was also once pan pepato—when pepper was the flavoring agent. Then Siena, an important spice-trading center during the Middle Ages, got into the act. The robust Sienese spice trade added ginger, cloves, coriander, and cinnamon to the batter, making it more exotic and increasingly expensive.  Panforte became a privilege enjoyed by the nobility and the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. The earliest accounts from the Abbey in Montecelso near Siena show that cakes of panforte (panes melati et pepati—honey and pepper breads/cakes) were paid to the monks and nuns as a tax or tithe.

In researching panforte recipes one can burrow into a rabbit hole of choices. One legend says that panforte should contain 17 ingredients: one for each of the 17 neighborhoods, or contrade, in the city of Siena. It became a trademark cake of  spice sellers, who were the pharmacists of the day. Today, every Siennese pastry shop has its own variation of ingredients. Italian imagination takes over, but, however the elements are assembled, the result remains a dense mixture of honey, spices, candied fruits, almonds, and hazelnuts liberally dusted with vanilla-scented powdered sugar and occasionally a layer of marzipan. Now Panforte di Siena is a PGI (Protectect Geographical Indication) certified product. It is not allowed to contain additives, colorants, or preservatives, so that is the designation you should look for when you want to purchase the genuine article.

History and Legend Distinctively Packaged

Panforte Nero (panpepato) is the oldest version and is made with cocoa and dark chocolate and candied fruit, especially melon. The spices are pronounced, including a good measure of pepper. Legend has it that panpepato’s aphrodisiacal virtues helped “unite families” back when marriages were basically real-estate contracts.

Panforte Bianco, also known as Panforte Margherita, came about as a result of the 1879 visit to Siena by Queen Margaret of Savoy (yes, the same queen whose moniker graces pizza margherita). Her chamberlain had the job of choosing dishes for the “royal palate.” When he learned of the aphrodisiac qualities of the panpepato, he nixed it from the menu.  The Sienese, not wanting to suffer from a moment of  “brutta figura,”  created a more “chaste” or delicate version and christened it Panforte Margherita, using candied citron instead of melon, blanched almonds, delicate spices, and a light honey. Panforte Fiorito is the Margherita recipe with a thin layer of pure marzipan on the top that has been covered with powdered sugar.

Panforte al Cioccolato, also known as panforte delle dame (panforte for ladies) was created in 1820 by Giovanni Parenti, the founder of the first panforte factory. The key ingredients are cocoa, blanched almonds, candied melon, and figs or dates, covered with a thin layer of chocolate fondant. This version takes a page from the popular dessert of the era: Sacher torte.

As you unwrap a Panforte di Siena, study the beautiful paper: It is a pictorial history. If you are making panforte, we hope you channel the monasteries, the Crusaders, the pasticcerie whose dedication to the confection keep its history alive today. Traditions and legends abound in Siennese panforte. It was believed that each cake had mystical properties—from losing your senses at the first bite to leading you to mend your wild ways! Old recipes state that the man who made panforte had to be virtuous, because those virtues led to panforte’s perfection. They advise not to skimp on the nuts or honey because walnuts, almonds, and hazelnuts are symbols of abundance and fertility, and honey is a talisman that the coming year be sweet. The order of mixing the ingredients was important: candied oranges, candied lemon skin, cinnamon bark, corianders, aromatic pepper, cloves, nutmeg. These are to be followed by adding honesty, laboriousness, love for good things, and temperance. Just do your best.

Panforte Will Get You Through the Jan-Febs.

Panforte is meant to be savored at room temperature. It is a quick power snack with your coffee before yoga.   Small slices redolent with powdered sugar are a great pick-me-up with a cup of Assam tea. Or a small wedge makes a perfect dessert with a sweet wine such as a vin santo or a marsala dolce. It is also wonderful with prosecco . . . which is no surprise. And, like a good-quality fruitcake, panforte (whether homemade or store-bought) is an excellent antidote to the blahs of Jan-Febs (a term we adopted from one of Liz’s friends).

Food & Wine magazine, December 2017, has an excellent article on the four landmark shops for tasting and buying the best panforte, including Pasticcerie Sinatti, whose version we used to sell at La Cuisine. Also, if you want to buy some panforte ingredients home, the Antica Drogheria Manganelli ships candied and cubed citron, orange, cherry, and melon from its online store. Our personal quest is to purchase a panforte from Pasticceria Buti, Il Forno Il Magnifico, as well as the first two mentioned, just to decide for ourselves which qualifies as best.

https://www.palazzoravizza.com/food-wine/where-to-eat-the-best-panforte-in-siena

Panforte Superior Sources and Prep Advice

Elizabeth DiGregorio and I wanted to give you the option of a traditional panforte as well as Panforte Margherita (with the Fiorito option of marzipan) and Panforte Cioccolato. The process of making panforte is fairly simple. Sugar and butter are dissolved in honey, and various nuts, fruits and spices are mixed together with flour. Then the two are folded together. The entire mixture is baked in a shallow pan lined with parchment and optional wafer paper. The finished disc is dusted with sifted powdered sugar or a layer of chocolate fondant.

Buy only highest-quality ingredients, particularly the candied fruits and nuts. We found hazelnuts from Piedmont to have a better taste than our domestic ones. Our favorite candied fruit comes from either Agrimontana, Sandro Vanini, or International Glace. Explore these suppliers to see their distributors. You may want to order in bulk from them. Market Hall Foods is a very good online source for panforte ingredients, including almonds, hazelnuts, and pistachios and Stramondo Marzipan. Amazon is our online source for India Tree sugar. For paper molds, we feel the best are produced by an Italian company, Novacart.

Assemble and measure all ingredients before you start the recipe.

Parchment paper liners and strips on the side make removing a panforte stress-free. We suggest buttering them both.

Experiment with size and baking forms. We used the 6″ x 2″ round low panettone paper pans from Novacart (follow the link to purchase). But you can make them in individual rings on a baking sheet that is lined with parchment or in an American-style layer cake pan or springform pan.

Edible wafer paper makes a wonderful base. Lay it on top of the parchment and it becomes the base of the panforte when the confection is removed from the pan.

Have all your dry ingredients mixed in a bowl. Then start melting the sugar, honey, and butter. This is the perfect time to pull out a Thermapen, because you do not want this mixture to get hotter than 240F.

Mix the sugar/honey mixture over the fruit and nut mixture, using a large wooden spoon.

Buttered hands or buttered spatula are key to spreading the mixture into the cake pans. The dough is actually quite malleable.

Panforte should have cooked edges but be a bit gooey in the middle. The cake will solidify as it cools.

(Click here for a snowy panforte finish.

Liberally apply sifted powdered sugar to the cooled panforte. For added complexity, Italian-style, bury a vanilla bean in powdered sugar and let it scent the sugar. How much? As the Italians say, “Come se non ci fosse un domani” (like there’s no tomorrow).

—Elizabeth DiGregorio

Panforte Margherita or Fiorito