Puff pastry to perfection, garnished with frangipane, the Élysian galette – ritualized by Valéry Giscard d'Estaing in 1975 – has however… no bean.
"Because there is no king at the Élysée", made a point of specifying this Thursday morning the President of the Republic Emmanuel Macron, who received the world of the bakery in crisis under the gold of the presidency in this eve of Epiphany.
The galette was made during the previous night in the bakery Le Moulin de la Croix Nivert (15th century).
“I started at 7 p.m. and finished in the early morning,” says Jean-Yves Boullier, owner of this establishment which employs twelve people.
"From midnight, my head baker came to give me a hand," explains the craftsman born in L'Aigle (Orne) 49 years ago.
The galette then spent two hours in the oven.
“Then, you have to wait for it to cool down to film it with plastic.
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From 8 a.m. this morning, the work of extraordinary dimensions, 1.15 m in diameter, took to the road aboard Jean-Yves Boullier's utility vehicle, accompanied by his head baker and an apprentice pastry chef.
Direction the presidential palace.
A message to pass on to the Head of State
Worth 350 euros excluding tax, is the Élysée galette sweeter than that of Mr. Everybody?
" No way !
It's the same, prepared with homemade all-butter puff pastry and frangipane made here with pastry cream," replies Jean-Yves Boullier, who currently sells around sixty king cakes in his shop. day.
Asked before Christmas by the national confederation of French bakery-pastry, Jean-Yves Boullier is not a beginner in the making of the presidential galette des rois.
It was he who was already officiating in 2021 and 2022. “It is an honor to make the Élysée cake and also to represent French artisan bakers”, rejoices the artisan.
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Élysée galette ceremony: Macron asks energy suppliers to 'renegotiate' 'excessive contracts' in January
But while his sector is facing a considerable rise in food and energy prices, Jean-Yves Boullier, met the day before the ceremony, planned to send a message to the President of the Republic.
“I will tell him to think of us and try to do something to contain the inflation of raw materials and energy.
Otherwise, there won't be many bakers left at the end of the year.
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To the importunates who ask him if he voted for Emmanuel Macron in the presidential election, the craftsman naturally makes a response from Normand: “I did not specifically vote for him, but I have nothing against him.
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