Cossetta’s Panettone Rises to New Heights

Jaime Martinez, Cossetta’s Executive Chef of Bakery and Pastry Production, received Best in the Americas awards for both traditional and chocolate panettone at the Panettone World Cup — Americas Selection, held in September in Las Vegas. Twenty-six pastry chefs from North and South America competed for the right to enter the 2026 Coppa del Mondo del Panettone in Milan next fall.

In 2009, as he was planning the renewal and expansion of his West 7th destination restaurant, Dave Cossetta also conceived the idea and vision of becoming a center for the production of panettone, the iconic Italian sweet bread that has been baked in Italy for more than 400 years. He would begin to create a team and the necessary resources to achieve that goal.

Visionaries often lack the executive and organizational abilities necessary to bring their ideas to fruition — not so with Cossetta. He was already building a complex and wide-ranging business that combined the restaurant with a market offering imported and house-made groceries and foods, a bakery and coffee shop and a catering arm, with further plans for a more formal dining experience and more. The more included the panettone project. His staff members were offered opportunities to learn new aspects of the business and advance in their careers,

The Person for the Job 

There had been rumors among staff members about the panettone idea. Martinez, who had headed the production side for the restaurant and catering, was encouraged to aim for a position in the project, so since Panettone was Italian to the core, he decided to start studying Italian. When Dave did ask him to take the lead in the project, he also learned that his first stop would be France, to study for his certification as a Pastry Chef. French books replaced Italian ones.

Returning to St. Paul to start the test kitchen and lead the panettone project and all aspects of Cossetta’s baking, Martinez continued to learn. Masters of Italian baking were brought to St. Paul to teach staff and to help the team understand the complexities and subtleties of the art of panettone.

Because the vision was to complete at the world level against already accomplished Masters, Cossetta committed to provide his team with the best equipment and ingredients possible. He began to import machinery from Italy and Sweden. The soft wheat flour from Molina Dallagiovanna, a Northern Italian miller founded by the family in 1832, is a special professional grade for baked desserts. Candied fruits from Sicily are of the highest quality. The yeast came to St. Paul as a historic100-year-old starter, for which the responsibility of nurturing would fall to the Cossetta team. Every aspect was considered. Because pure water is essential for the health of the Madre and the ultimate quality of the panettone, they installed a reverse osmosis system.

Science and Art

The process is truly artisanal at every one of the 14 steps over almost 60 hours needed to produce a finished panettone. For Cossetta’s, each batch yields 500 panettones.

In our conversation with Martinez, we kept returning to the subject of the Lievito Madre, the Mother Yeast. This narrative represents Martinez’s experience and understanding of this uncanny living organism.

The Madre is alive. Many readers have worked with yeasts — in breadmaking, sourdough (where you may have nurtured your own “starter” for years) and home brewing. When used in artisanal panettone, the artisan and the Madre are in a much more complex relationship, because the culture’s characteristics require careful maintenance, and sometimes even “behavior modification.” The relationship between Martinez and his Lievito Madre emerges clearly as we discuss the art of panettone.

The Madre is affected by the physical and human environment, Temperature, humidity, noise — and also mood, distress, anger. She absorbs the energy around her, and can become upset, tired, needing calming and rest. She can be happy or unhappy, and when unhappy needs to be cared for the way we care for our family members. “If we’re not in a good mood, calm, steady, we may end up with a hard, dry result.” She also needs time to adapt to new environments, so for the World Cup competition in Milan next fall, the team will travel three weeks prior to the event to allow for this need, to regain equilibrium.

Attention to the Madre’s needs is apparent at every step of the long process. Periods of rest, replenishing the sugars the yeast feeds on, washing, careful control of the temperature. “The key is control: the microorganisms naturally present are guided into a state that favors sweetness, alcohol notes and leavening strength — not sourness as in sourdough starter,” according to Wikipedia, and that control is apparent in Martinez’s work – it allows the team to address the many criteria judges use to determine success: Appearance: shape, volume, color; Structure: honeycomb, fruit distribution, roundness; Sensory qualities: aroma and aromaticity, flavor, softness, overall balance. 

It is no small matter to produce what has been called “The Mount Everest of Leavened Bread.” The International Baking Industry organization considers panettone “the ultimate test of baking mastery” that requires “an almost supernatural understanding of fermentation.”

And now . . .

A celebration of Cossetta’s sweep of the Panettone World Cup Americas Division and official opening of Cossetta’s Panettone Production Kitchen and Warehouse was held on November 20 at the Exchange Street site. Perhaps it will be known as the Palazzo Panettone. Mayor-elect Kaohly Her joined Dave Cossetta in a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Cosetta will begin selling their award winning panettone online this December. Visit www.cossettas.com to order yours.