For the first time, Sydney’s Sonoma Bakery and Icebergs Dining Room & Bar have collaborated on a Christmas panettone fused with Australian native ingredients, with the Italian sweet bread available on the dessert menu at Icebergs group venues, and for sale at select venues from Monday 16 December.
The panettone, which measures 14 centimetres in diameter, is the result of a nine-month project led by Sonoma’s executive pastry chef Alejandro Luna, Sonoma’s bakers, and Icebergs’ Alex Prichard (head chef) and Brittany Smith (pastry chef). There’s significance to this collaboration too – Icebergs was one of the first restaurants to use Sonoma’s bread in 2003, with founder Andrew Connole personally delivering the loaves to the Bondi restaurant.
Panettone in the making.
It’s a 36-hour process to make the panettone. The primo impasto – the first dough – is made with a sourdough starter which imparts a characteristic sour flavour and aroma. This dough is left to bulk ferment for 14-16 hours then mixed through with honey, vanilla roasted macadamias, milk chocolate, Davidson’s plum and sour cherries that have been soaked in lemon myrtle syrup. It’s then proofed and baked for exactly 38 minutes. As per the traditional panettone-making process, when the bread emerges from the oven, it’s hung upside-down for six hours to preserve its distinctive domed top.
“I don’t think I’ve had a Christmas without panettone since I was about 2,” says Icebergs owner Maurice Terzini. “It’s such a central part to every Christmas, and I’m so glad to have this new edition joining this year.”
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The panettone are hung upside down to preserved their dome tops.
Icebergs recently farewelled Monty and Jaci Koludrovic (executive chef and executive pastry chef), with Monty describing the restaurant’s Italo-Australian menu as “food that Nonna would recognise, but would never cook.” For Terzini, the Italian-inspired, native ingredient-fused panettone is on-brand with Icebergs’ culinary vision. “This collaboration is a labour of love and represents the true essence of Icebergs Dining Room and Bar,” he said in a statement.
The panettone is for sale from Monday 16 December until sold out at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, CicciaBella, The Dolphin Hotel, Victor Churchill and DRNKS (online store). It costs $35.
It will also appear on the dessert menu for a limited time at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar, CicciaBella and The Dolphin Hotel.
