Pan dulce is the centrepiece of the Argentine Christmas table, brought by Italian immigrants as a local adaptation of panettone. It is an enriched sweet bread dough, loaded with candied fruits, raisins, walnuts and almonds, and sometimes a splash of rum or anise. Unlike the tall, domed Italian panettone, the Argentine pan dulce is shorter and wider, baked in a round or free-form shape, and it is denser and less airy. Every bakery in Argentina sells pan dulce from November, and families buy or make several for the Christmas Eve feast. It is eaten sliced, with coffee or sweet wine, throughout the Christmas season, and the combination of the sweet, buttery bread with the fruit and nuts is the taste of an Argentine Christmas.
A dense, buttery, fruit-studded sweet bread, fragrant with anise and rum, each slice packed with raisins, nuts and candied fruit. Eaten with coffee or sweet wine at Christmas, the festive bread of Argentina.
The bread is an enriched dough, long-proved. Flour, eggs, butter, sugar, milk and yeast are kneaded into a soft, rich dough, loaded with candied fruit, raisins, walnuts and almonds, and proved for 2 to 3 hours until doubled. The dough is shaped into a round or dome, proved again, and baked at 180 degrees C for 35 to 45 minutes until deep golden. A sugar glaze or dusting finishes it. The long prove develops the flavour and the airy-but-dense texture, while the butter and eggs give richness. The Argentine version is shorter and denser than the Italian original, reflecting local preference for a less airy, more cake-like bread.
Variations
Some add chocolate chips. A savoury version with olives and cheese exists. Rum soaking is traditional.
On the Palate
Where Pan Dulce sits in the Argentinian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 10How it's made
5 steps · 45 min
- 18 min
Knead 500g flour with 100g sugar, 7g yeast, 2 eggs, 100g melted butter and 150ml warm milk into a soft dough.
- 25 min
Work in 200g mixed candied fruit, 100g raisins, 100g chopped walnuts and 2 tbsp rum.
- 38 min
Prove 2 hours until doubled; shape into a round on a lined tray; prove 1 hour more.
Watch outProve until doubled — the long rise builds both the flavour and the light-but-dense crumb; rush it and the loaf bakes heavy and dull.
- 48 min
Bake at 180 degrees C for 35 to 45 minutes until deep golden and hollow-sounding.
Watch outBake until deep golden and it sounds hollow when tapped — a dull thud means the rich, fruit-heavy centre is still doughy.
- 54 min
Cool; dust with icing sugar. Slice and serve with coffee or sweet wine.
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