Yeast-Risen Pastries

I have limited the pastries in this chapter to the large yeast-risen cakes so popular for holidays and special occasions in Italy. Many of these, like panettone and colomba, are almost exclusively prepared in factories nowadays, by large producers like Motta, Ale-magna, and Lazzaroni. The versions here are home-style ones, not to be confused with their commercially made counterparts.

Many of these pastries contain dried and candied fruit. Read the sections on these in Basic Ingredients and Recipes for information on quality in these products, and see Sources of Equipment and Ingredients for mail order houses.