Category: Panettone Page 1 of 2

Low Touch, High Impact

On November 13, 2020

Producing a highly labor-intensive, high ingredient cost product in a professional kitchen is a dance. We skillfully balance light surface touches – always respectful of the safest possible protocols – with the need to give equal space and protection to others with whom we work.

So it is with gift giving an artisan product. The quality ingredients permeating panettone like a line of ore are one step of the dance that manifests in a successful loaf. The dance truly occurs when one develops a feel for how the dough responds to humidity in a proofer or various oven temperatures we might test when baking off sample loaves. Quality and skill marry to give our guests confidence in purchasing Essential Panettone as gifts.

Today ends the order period for Essential Panettone Artisan Milanese and Essential Panettone Northwest.

The only exception we can make is for larger gift orders that specifically target the December holiday season. So, if gifting to co-workers or professional contemporaries is a consideration this year, keep in mind that shipping time to the Midwest and East Coast is 4-5 business days. We would need an order for those gifts a full 14-days ahead of your requested delivery date.

Please email me directly at linda@essentialconfection.com with any such requests so I can ensure that our production aligns with your request.

Courier charges to Portland Metro zip codes are only $5 per package. Shipping elsewhere in the U.S. is $12 per package.

“Ultimate” annual purchase, and Essential Butter Cake orders, as always, may be placed anytime.

This is the story of Essential Panettone.
https://youtu.be/ytyU652HAw4

We so appreciate your support.

https://www.essentialconfection.com/q4-2020

#essentialconfection

Bringing Pleasure and Comfort

By lindanaylor

On November 7, 2020

In Panettone

As I continue to strive for excellence in product quality, I find it useful to remember that quality attainment is incremental – and that a series of tiny successes converge to produce a beautiful end result.

As I write to you and well into our 3-week panettone order period, I continue daily testing of the product. I’m seeking tiny, incremental ways to improve rise, tenderness of crumb and evenness of internal garnish distribution. Feels a bit obsessive, but it’s a feature of how I pursue quality through experimentation.

As you consider upcoming holiday gift-giving, please reflect on how personal the gift of a simple, luxurious, artisan loaf can be in bringing pleasure and comfort to those whose presence in your life you honor.

This is who we are.

This is the story of Essential Panettone.

https://youtu.be/ytyU652HAw4

One week left to order.

https://www.essentialconfection.com/q4-2020/

#essentialconfection

Building a Great Small Thing

By lindanaylor

On October 25, 2020

In Panettone

The growth of Essential Confection feels like building a great small thing. Many forms of effort are required every day to mold the component pieces into the whole and, on many days there is no clear path in sight.

Then, literally without notice, the pieces fall silently into place.

Test-baking Essential Panettone for today’s launch involved the requisite two-day forcing of sourdough starter nearly to its limit, then patiently and methodically adding key ingredients that add richness and character in a deliberate attempt to challenge the starter to support them.

In the end, there is a metamorphosis, and a fragrant, supple, lithe dough arises as validation of the effort. So comforting as a baker.

The christening of such a product deserves special marketing. We’re introducing Essential Panettone Artisan Milanese and Essential Panettone Northwest with our first video. It’s even more special in HD, if you have that option! Have a look:

https://youtu.be/ytyU652HAw4

One other key update. We’ve successfully re-established shipping relationships for individual purchases and for the Ultimate annual purchase. Portland Metro is now serviced by a local courier for $5 per shipment or $20 per annual purchase. All other national residential destinations are $12 per shipment or $48 for annual purchase.

Join us. Our order window is 3 weeks only.

www.EssentialConfection.com

#essentialconfection

Gifting as an Expression of Relationship

By lindanaylor

On October 14, 2020

In Panettone

Doing the work we must do today – basically, creating value in the present – and attempting to plan for a tomorrow which, in the current environment seems almost unfathomable, feels very unsettling and even risky.

Yet, that is exactly the life strategy we’re given the opportunity to mold for ourselves, our businesses and our relationships.

Relationship has more importance for us now than has likely ever been so in our lifetimes. Adaptability – coded into our DNA – and a splash of resistance to extreme change confront each other head-on in each decision.

Gifting is an expression of love and appreciation in personal and business relationships. The season of gifting will shortly be upon us.

We offer the convenience of gifting and shipping to multiple addresses, and you may include a personal message to your recipient.

You may select either Essential Panettone Artisan Milanese or Essential Panettone Northwest. Please consider joining our gifting experience when the Essential Panettone season – three weeks only – opens on 23-Oct.

https://www.EssentialConfection.com

#essentialconfection

The Single Best Resource for Flavor Pairings

By lindanaylor

On October 10, 2020

In Panettone

Creating layers of flavor in any confection product, dessert or savory dish results from the practice of paying attention to affinity flavors. Affinity flavors are flavor relationships that are the epitome of flavor pairing.

The single best resource for understanding flavor pairing is The Flavor Bible. The book is used extensively by professional chefs, pastry chefs and avid home cooks to build a cook’s confidence in flavor relationships – not only on recipes. The authors, Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg, also published What to Drink with What You Eat and The Vegetarian Flavor Bible.

Interestingly, the category of citrus has the unusual effect of being, not only an affinity for myriad other ingredients – many types of cheese, berries, fish and shellfish, greens and salad – it actually enhances flavors in its own category.

Lemons have the versatility to be a dominant flavor or they can contribute subtle background notes. Eureka lemons, very high acid and piquant, have, perhaps the greatest versatility. The Meyer lemon, actually a lemon hybrid, has far less acid, a very thin skin, luscious lemony-tangerine flavor and lovely perfume. Because its flavor is so delicate, the Meyer lemon is not well suited to supporting background flavor. Meyer lemons would never be recommended for canning as they contribute insufficient acid.

Both orange and lemon zest support the flavor of the finest quality European candied orange peel in Essential Panettone. Citrus is the perfume that wafts magically through the air when Essential Panettone is unwrapped and sliced.

The Essential Panettone order window – 3 weeks only – opens on 23-Oct.

Please join us.

www.EssentialConfection.com

#essentialconfection