Ricardo Vélez #PR53 (ebook)

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 venues: the Lhardy restaurant and the San Ginés chocolate shop. 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 accolades, 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 with detailed preparation processes – divided into his five establishments. Moulin Chocolat covers a wide variety of products, from pastries to cakes, spreads, truffles, and macarons – with seven different fillings. At The Pâtissier, the focus is on the more bakery and savory side, with preparations ranging from bread and quiches to marinated salmon. Maison Glacée includes recipes for different types of ice creams and sorbets, the making of their famous wafer, the equally emblematic bamba de nata, and an assortment of cookies. At Lhardy, you can find various typical Madrid proposals such as the bartolillo, the merliton, and the restaurant's legendary soufflé. Finally, this comprehensive monograph is topped off with the recipe for San Ginés' churros truffle.

In this edition, we present 2 features, starting with a baker from Santander and another from Madrid. Both are highly prestigious.

La Crujiente

Santander's most iconic bakery for ten years, the work of Agustín Martínez and Jaime de Diego. Its success, based on its excellent bread made daily, handcrafted with patience, sourdough, natural yeast, and a stone oven, immediately won over a loyal and numerous clientele. After opening two more establishments in the capital (in Puerto Rico and General Dávila), they recently decided 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 featured 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, it has 56, 14 of which 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 it has a long shelf life while maintaining its organoleptic qualities.