Meet London's panettone maestro

"We make panettone the way it should be – it’s not a brioche, it’s panettone," says Tanzarella of his bakery's festive range.

Situated on the boundary between Zones 3 and 4 of the London Underground, South Wimbledon is not the first destination that might spring to mind when searching for artisanal Italian baking in the British capital. However, this neighbourhood, one stop from the end of the Northern Line, is home to just such a place.

While Tanzarella's background is in photography, his bakery, La Bottega del Pane on Kingston Road, is the result of him missing his home region's famous bread after he emigrated to the UK.

"When I came to London 42 years ago, I couldn’t find the bread I used to have in Puglia, in Ostuni. So, when I left the photography business, I thought about my family background in patisserie and pasta-making, and set up a small bakery here in Wimbledon. We used to only do Altamura bread, though we couldn’t call it as such because of the consorzio."

La Bottega del Pane's bread quickly caught the attention of some of Britain's best chefs.

"I befriended Theo Randall and Heston Blumenthal and they introduced my bread to top restaurants like River Cafe and Novikov," says Tanzarella. "25 years ago I brought Theo Randall to Ostuni, and he fell in love with the place and since then he has gone every single year!"

Producing panettone

Having mastered bread baking, Tanzarella then branched out into the sweeter side of things.

"I decided to explore more, working with pastries and chocolate, putting my artistic vein into something creative. So we started with Easter eggs, which we still do every year, and then there was something missing – panettone, which we started 15 years ago."

"It wasn’t a great panettone in the beginning," he concedes, "but like everything in life, it took time and experience. By finding the right ingredients we were able to make a good product. We wanted to challenge ourselves, and even after 15 years we are still challenging ourselves."

Over the last decade-and-a-half, the production method has been honed, with each panettone nurtured over a 48 hour period. Fortunately, while Tanzanella is hands-on in the bakery, he also has a solid team to help, including second in command Paolo Fasci.

"The panettone is made in three stages," shares Tanzanella. "In the afternoon we do the first refreshment with the mother yeast, flour, eggs and butter. We leave it overnight, until tomorrow morning at three o’clock we put the first mix into the machine and add flour, eggs, sugar and butter, and when the dough is compact we add the fruit and honey etc."

"We then leave it to rest for an hour and a half. Once we have weighed it, we do what we call in Italy ‘pirlatura’, kneading the dough into a ball on the counter, which gives it strength," he continues. "The balls of dough then go into the prover for five-six hours, we then leave them at room temperature for 20-30 minutes, until the outside gets drier. I then cut a star on top, not the usual cross, it’s like giving my signature! They are then baked for roughly an hour. When it comes out we put them on the rack, upside down, for 12-14 hours. Then we package them by hand."

Tanzarella suggests that once customers buy the panettone, it is best for them to wait for around four weeks before eating it for the flavours to properly infuse: "It’s like wine, the more you keep it, the more the flavour comes out."

The importance of ingredients

While time plays a role in making La Bottega del Pane's panettone, Tanzarella suggests that the real key is to source the top ingredients.

"'Artisanal' means going and discovering the best products you can find on the market. Sometimes the quality doesn’t meet the price," he says.

"Barbieri makes the best candied fruit that I have found," he adds. "The smell of this orange is like you have Sicily in your hand. Any artisanal food needs the best quality ingredients."

Tanzarella has also taken great efforts to find the ideal chocolate for some of his panettoni.

"I believe Callebaut's Sao Thomé 70% cocoa chocolate has the right balance of bitter and sweet for the panettone. It has to work with the sweetness of the orange peel and the dough. There are much cheaper chocolates than this one, but if you want to deliver an exceptional product, then you have to use an exceptional ingredient."

Trends

Tanzarella's choice of chocolate will form an integral part of La Bottega del Pane's special panettone for Christmas 2025: Dubai chocolate.

"The Dubai chocolate mix is very sweet, there’s a lot of sugar. So we did a variation to make it less sweet, with 25% less sugar and more pistachio, but with a coat of dark chocolate," he shares.

Previous specials, which had to be ordered in advance by customers, included last year's ice cream-filled panettone, an innovation which was featured in La Repubblica.

"Dubai chocolate is a trend, it will be here this year but probably not next year, whereas the classico will stay forever because it is traditional."

La Bottega del Pane produces between 2,000 and 2,500 classic panettoni each year. As well as these, and the annually-changing special, others in the range include chocolate and orange, chocolate and Williams pear, and a pandorato, which is without the candied peel and dried fruit of a typical panettone.

Perhaps the biggest shock for Londoners will be the price. To contextualise it: British chain bakery Gail's sells its 1kg Classic Sourdough Panettone for £35. On the other hand, La Bottega del Pane's Classic Panettone costs just £25, and only a few pounds more for it to come in a special gifting box.

"Our customers are mainly British," says Tanzarella. "The market has changed a bit in the last six-seven years, most of the British are looking for something particular, something special."

Commenting on Britain's love affair with this sweet festive Italian bread, he remarks: "Many years ago you could only find a few panettoni in the UK, but now you find it all year round, all the supermarkets do it. It has become more popular than Christmas pudding!"

La Bottega del Pane, 171 Kingston Rd, London SW19 1LH, United Kingdom