Christophe Louie, the prince of panettone

Tasting a Christophe Louie panettone for the first time is an experience in itself. Confusing at first. We realize that most of the panettone tasted before do not come close to matching it. Highly addictive afterwards. How can you resist its light, but at the same time melting texture, which is mixed with delicate notes of candied orange? We happily bite into this buttery cloud. And the first part finished, we only think of one thing: start again!

The crumb that wishes you well

To understand the beginnings of Christophe Louie’s passion for panettone, we have to go back to 2017. At the time, the Parisian had been a pastry chef for twelve years at La Grande Épicerie de Paris, after stints in large houses including Le Meurice and The Jules Verne. But while his profession becomes more and more mechanized, he feels the desire “for a return to more traditional gestures”. Christophe then signed up for a course with Rolando Morandin, Italian figure of panettone (which also means “big bread”).

He discovers his ancestral know-how and the care he gives to century-old sourdough. Christophe Louie then continued with four months of training at the international bakery school in the south of France. He then falls in love with the magic of bread. “What interests me is the material. With leaven, we are in the living. You have to feed it at the right time, with the right flours, respect its rhythm… If you miss fermentation, you won’t have any bread the next day, or it will be completely flat. The whole process requires a real investment, it’s exciting to see if the dough has tripled on time, and that we made the right move at the right time! »

The good taste of the real

You may not know it, but most of the panettone found in France (sold between €7 and €15) are industrial. So how to recognize them? “The crumb is dry, the taste is basic and formatted, and, as they are made six months in advance, they contain preservatives and emulsifiers,” explains Christophe Louie. His, with a nicely honeycombed crumb, are sold for around €38 per kilo, contain nothing other than the essentials, and keep for around three weeks. That said, we challenge you to be able to keep it that long without devouring it to the last crumb!