Crémy multiplies | The Press

Just over 10 years after opening its first Crémy pastry shop on Mont-Royal Avenue, Rémy Couture is opening a second boutique. As Halloween approaches, The Press met the owner in his new premises, in Boucherville, around a box of donuts specially decorated for the occasion.

Veronique Larocque
The Press

“Kids need to see this. This is the first sentence we said to ourselves when entering the new kingdom of the “King of the donut”. A giant donut painted on the wall, bright pink icing that seems to be flowing from the counter, a lucky wheel like in the carnivals, a throne, cardboard crowns, but above all, a display stand filled with donuts and appetizing cakes: there is no There’s no doubt, our young sugar bugs would love the decor of this new Crémy Pâtisserie.

If the front of the shop has something to make the little ones dream, the kitchen makes the eyes of a big child shine. Rémy Couture is very proud to explain to The Press operation of its new industrial equipment.

It is with the excitement of a little boy on Christmas morning that he describes the automated process of baking donuts. For a little less than an hour, the dough progresses on a conveyor in a large oven.

After having risen well, the donuts fall into the fryer, where the cooking ends. “Before, everything was cooked by hand, it was sport,” says the pastry chef, mimicking the choreography that the employees had to do in front of the two fryers in the shop on avenue du Mont-Royal.

“Afterwards, we pick up the donuts. We just ice them the old-fashioned way, with homemade icings and crumbles,” he says.

Rémy Couture wanted to keep an artisanal side to its products. “We didn’t want to adapt the recipe to the equipment, but rather to adapt the equipment to the recipe. So the recipe hasn’t changed. It’s always the three musketeers: to carry it (black beer), always butter (we pay a fortune for our butter) and organic Milanese flour. »

Always more donuts

If Rémy Couture has reviewed its cooking methods, it is mainly because the enthusiasm for its donuts has increased sharply in recent years. “The pandemic blew up Crémy. […] It became crazy steep, ”enthuses the one who won the American culinary competitions Donut Showdownin 2014, and Sugar Showdownin 2016, on the airwaves of Food Network.

Despite some renovations to the premises on avenue du Mont-Royal and the addition of night shifts, production no longer met demand. From now on, all the donuts are prepared in Boucherville. These are then delivered fresh to the Montreal boutique.

The new equipment, acquired in particular thanks to investments by the Grandio group, of which La Cage – Brasserie sportive is a part and with which Crémy is associated, also makes it possible to limit the need for labour, a commodity that is too rare these days. , laments the pastry chef. “It’s been three weeks that every day, I have two probationary employees a day. In the end, we hired three, ”he illustrates.

A local guy

After Le Plateau-Mont-Royal, why did you choose to settle in Boucherville in the former premises of the restaurant L’Avenue?

“I’m a little guy from Longueuil. […] I lived 10 minutes from here. For me, it’s a neighborhood that I knew, in which I believe. »

His neighborhood welcomed him well. “These are people who already came to Crémy. I see it in my traffic. […] Everyone who comes in here says, “Finally! We will no longer need to go to Montreal”. »

How would Rémy Couture describe his store to those who don’t know it yet? “I don’t want to be pretentious in saying that it’s an experiment, but we are the lair of the donut. This is the kingdom here. »

And what are his recommendations? “The lemon truck wheel and the fleur de sel caramel donut are the musts,” he replies.

Every day, Crémy produces 1,000 to 2,000 donuts. In a few years, Rémy Couture would like this figure to rise to 15,000 on certain days. “The ultimate goal is to open several small points of sale. In the future, you will see several Crémy poppers: Laval, South Shore, North Shore, Montreal, in the surrounding area,” predicts the pastry chef.

Recipe: Halloween Donuts

The Press challenged Rémy Couture to prepare some Halloween-themed pastries. From his donut recipe, found in the book Do you want dessert? Here it is!here are simple inspirations to reproduce.

• Preparation: 45 minutes
• Cooking: 15 minutes
• Yield: 12 to 18 donuts

Ingredients

• donut dough
• 1 1/4 cup milk
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup of butter
• 3/4 tsp. tablespoon dry bread yeast
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 12 cups new vegetable oil (for cooking)

Icing

• 2 cups icing sugar
• 1/4 cup of water
• Coloring (red, blue, black, orange), to taste
• Vermicelli (orange and black), to taste

Preparation

For the donuts

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, pour the milk and egg. Add, in order, sugar, butter, baking powder, flour, then salt.
2. With the mixer hook, knead the dough on low speed for 10 minutes.
3. Remove the hook. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
4. Pour the oil into a fryer and set the temperature to 370 ^ohf.
5. Roll out the dough to 2.5 cm thick and cut out circles using a cookie cutter.
6. Cook the donuts in the deep fryer for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Remove the donuts from the oil and drain them on a plate covered with paper towel. Let them cool completely before decorating.

Icing

1. In a large bowl, combine sugar and water until desired texture is achieved.
2. Divide into different bowls according to the number of colors desired. Add a few drops of food coloring to each container, then mix.
3. Fold each frosting into a pastry bag. Decorate the donuts.