About Fiasconaro
- Based in
- Castelbuono, Sicily, Italy
- Founded
- 1953
- Known for
- Sicilian panettone made with natural leavening
In 1953 Mario Fiasconaro opened a small gelateria on Piazza Margherita in Castelbuono, known for citrus granitas made with ice from the local snow pits. In the late 1980s his son Nicola, then a young pastry chef, pushed the family to make its own panettone, pairing the great leavened cake of northern Italy with Sicilian ingredients: citrus, almonds, pistachios and manna.
Manna is the sweet sap of the ash tree, collected between Castelbuono and Pollina from July to September by harvesters called mannaruoli. The first Fiasconaro panettone was named Mannetto after it. The dough rises with live mother dough rather than commercial yeast, a process that can take up to three days, and the packaging is assembled by hand.
Panettone is classic in thick wedges with espresso or a glass of Marsala, and leftovers toast well for breakfast.
Fiasconaro questions
What is panettone?
Panettone is a tall, dome-topped sweet bread from Milan, made with wheat flour, raisins and candied orange and citron. It has the look and texture of bread, but Italians treat it as a dessert and cut it into tall wedges. After baking, each panettone is hung upside down to cool so its airy crumb does not collapse.
How does Fiasconaro leaven its panettone?
Instead of commercial yeast, Fiasconaro uses live mother dough, a starter of flour and water full of wild yeasts and bacteria that bakers keep alive by feeding it regularly. It works slowly, so a batch can take up to three days, compared with as little as 12 hours for an industrial panettone. That long fermentation gives the cake its light, fluffy texture, and the mild acidity it creates adds flavor and helps it stay fresh.
