Who will find the bean and become the king or the queen? The galette des rois is traditionally celebrated on February 6. Some like it with frangipane, others prefer it with apple. No matter the flavor, the best berry galette is found in La Châtre. At the end of November, the Auroy Vilatte bakery won the prize for the best almond cake of the Indre. With the epiphany, customers are ready to queue in front of the bakery for a taste.
Customers love it
The bakery obviously sells the traditional frangipane pancake but also offers more original flavors, such as a raspberry, lemon or pistachio pancake. Right here, customers are loyal and want more. Some have even been coming for years to get the famous galette des rois.
“It is quite simply good and it is not greasy. We have the impression that it is home, like the ones our grandmothers used to make.”, assures Jacqueline, a regular. “I have been living in Berry for more than 20 years, I have been buying my galette here, they are the best”, abounds Christine, another client.
At the back, in the kitchen, Benjamin Vilatte, the baker, prepares the pancake dough. “There, I prepare a pear chocolate cake”, he says, stirring the dough. Each year, he sells more than 2,600 pancakes Kings.
– Justine Claux
The secret is hidden in the puff pastry
The secret of success: puff pastry. “We use a reverse puff pastry which allows us to have a particular taste, explains the baker. We also try to have a balance between the puff pastry and the almond, there should not be too much puff pastry compared to the almond cream and vice versa “.
But to make a good pancake, you also need good products. Here everything is Berry or almost. “What is essential with us is to use local products, the butter comes from Indre-et-Loire and the eggs from our region., insists Benjamin Vilatte. This is what makes the difference for our customers “.
This year, a little surprise awaits customers. A hundred winning beans are hidden inside the pancakes and allow you to win three chocolate éclairs.
The pancakes will cost more
With the rise in commodity prices, galettes des rois will cost a little more This year. The price of butter has practically doubled. The beans have also increased, even the packaging costs more than before.
“The whole cost of making the cake has increased, regrets Benjamin Villate. If all the products increase, necessarily, there is a repercussion on the selling price “.
The galettes des rois from the Auroy Vilatte bakery will cost 50 cents more than last year. “We didn’t have a choice, like all companies”, he concludes. For a pancake 6 people, it is now necessary to count 15.5 euros.
– Justine Claux