Ricardo Vélez #PR53

Ricardo Vélez

Ricardo is a pastry chef from Madrid who owns five establishments in the capital (Moulin Chocolat, Moulin Chocolat Estudio –production and R&D facility-, The Pâtissier and Maison Glacée –with 2 stores-). Vélez also advises two of Madrid's most iconic establishments: the Lhardy restaurant and the San Ginés chocolaterie. His talent earned him the title of Best Pastry Chef in Spain 2014 by the Royal Academy of Gastronomy (Paco Torreblanca Award). He also received numerous other recognitions, such as the Prix au Chef Pâtissier from the International Academy of Gastronomy, among others.

Throughout the 180 pages of this monograph on the Vélez universe, we will find a total of 43 creations – all of them with their detailed elaboration process – divided into his five spaces. Moulin Chocolat covers a wide variety of products, from pastries to cakes, spreads, truffles and macarons – with seven different fillings. In The Pâtissier, the focus is on the bakery and savory side, with preparations ranging from bread and quiches to marinated salmon. Maison Glacée covers recipes for different types of ice creams and sorbets, the making of his famous wafer, the equally iconic cream bamba, and an assortment of cookies. At Lhardy, you can find different typical Madrid proposals such as the bartolillo, the merliton, or the restaurant's legendary soufflé. Finally, this complete monograph is topped off with the recipe for the churro truffle from San Ginés.

In this edition, we present 2 reports, starting with a baker from Santander and another from Madrid. Both have great prestige.

La Crujiente

Santander's most emblematic bakery for the past ten years, the work of the union of Agustín Martínez and Jaime de Diego. Its success, based on its excellent bread made daily, in an artisanal way, with patience, sourdough, natural yeast, and a stone oven, immediately conquered a loyal and numerous clientele. After opening two more establishments in the capital (in Puerto Rico and General Dávila), they recently opted to open a store with a workshop in Liencres, a tourist town on the coast, 9 kilometers from the capital.

Levaduramadre

Exactly five years ago, we presented Moncho López's bakery in edition 23, with the headline "Tradition is modernity" which, we believe, perfectly summarizes the spirit of Levaduramadre: breads made with the utmost respect for artisanal tradition, but marketed in a modern, dynamic, very current way.

Doing things well has its reward: in 2017, it had three establishments; currently 56, of which 14 are personally operated and 32 are franchises. Two workshops, the second inaugurated in 2020, distribute freshly baked bread at three different times, so that customers always find exquisite bread, although the use of sourdough means that it can be stored for a long time while maintaining its organoleptic qualities.