What Makes a Bakery Created by a 5-Star Hotel Executive Pastry Chef Different?

Lotte Signiel Seoul-ssi.. Could You Please Open in Front of My House?

On the 18th, DrinKit went on a Journey to French Butter! Of course, it wasn’t a direct visit to France, but participation in a French butter promotional campaign held at the Lotte Signiel Seoul Hotel. During the event, there was a time to make bread using French butter, but unfortunately, due to COVID-19 prevention guidelines, the bread made at the time could not be tasted on-site and had to be taken home. Only the aroma was properly experienced, not the tasting...

And the person who made this bread was none other than Chef Maxim Maniez, the Executive Pastry Chef of Lotte Signiel Seoul Hotel. Bread crafted by the hands of a chef responsible for a 5-star hotel! How did it taste?

Click here if you want to see how this bread was made!

The radiant Signiel package proudly exudes that it was made by the Executive Pastry Chef of Signiel Seoul. What is this excitement even before opening it~♪

Bread with a beautiful color made using French butter

As soon as the box was opened, the rich aroma of butter filled the air. Inside were two types of pastries including Gugelhupf and croissants, along with canel?. Their golden-brown color whetted the appetite.

First, the star of the day, Gugelhupf, boasted a soft texture with no dryness at all. It melted smoothly in the mouth without needing to be chewed. The softness of bakery products depends on the quality of butter used. The editor only understood this after tasting this bread.

The flavor was dominated more by the citrus syrup brushed on the surface than by the butter aroma. The tangy lemon taste lingered subtly from start to finish, making “refreshing” a more appropriate description than “rich.”

The muslin cream inside emphasized the sweetness of vanilla beans. It had a thick and dense texture, and was mild enough to be eaten alone without feeling greasy, so even those who don’t like buttercream could enjoy it for a long time without getting tired.

The texture of the pastry, soft as melting snow

The pastries, in both aroma and taste, seemed to say “I was made with butter!” with a deep buttery flavor, and soft, thin layers wrapped around the inside in multiple folds.

In the case of croissants, when dough is made with margarine or a margarine+butter blend instead of 100% butter, the shape tends to be curved rather than straight. The croissant eaten that day had a distinct straight line. The result clearly showed that a large amount of high-quality butter is needed to make a perfect croissant.

Typical canel?s first bring to mind a sticky sweetness. However, this canel? had almost no sweetness, and its texture was between dense and soft. When placed in the mouth, it neither clumped strongly nor crumbled weakly, making the chewing texture very appealing.

Overall Evaluation

All four breads have different flavors, but one common point is the absence of artificial sweetness. They are not overly sweet, allowing the natural flavors of the bakery to stand out. As you savor the aroma in your mouth, you can also feel the deep scent of butter. The pastry’s layers were so soft and delicate that it was satisfying enough to be remembered again.

Photo by Choi Ji-hyun

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.