The Gastronomic Forum Barcelona has once again been the chosen setting for the celebration of the VII Best Artisan Panettone in the State 2022 Contest, organized by the Barcelona Guild Pastry School. Almost one hundred aspirants participated in the competition, and the two winners on this occasion were a baker and a pastry chef who have their workshops in Barcelona. They are Daniel Jordà, who won the award for best classic panettone (with fruits), and Eric Ortuño, who won in the newly created category for best chocolate panettone.
A Fine Arts graduate and third-generation baker, Daniel Jordà is the owner of Panes Creativos, a bakery in Nou Barris that defines itself as a laboratory of ideas where all kinds of special breads are created, many of them destined to supply the best restaurants in the city. For his part, Eric Ortuño is a pastry chef and founding partner of the school and pastry shop L'Atelier Barcelona, with a store on Viladomat street, in the Eixample. He began his career in 1986 with chef Jean François Arnaud as his mentor. From 1993 to 1997 he was second pastry chef to Yves Thuries, one of France's most renowned pastry chefs. Already in Barcelona, he was pastry chef and head of studies at the Hofmann hospitality school from 2000 to 2018.
Among the members of the contest jury are prominent professionals from the sector such as Iban Yarza, Ramon Bosser, Pepe Isla, Ramon Morató, Begoña San Pedro and Xavier Barriga. Of Italian origin, panettone has experienced a real boom in the last ten years in the Spanish market, becoming a regular protagonist of Christmas after-dinner meals.
As usually happens, this popularization has largely vulgarized the product, now available in all supermarkets. The award from the Barcelona Guild Pastry School aims, precisely, to distinguish the panettones sold in large supermarkets from the premium products made by bakers and pastry chefs, the result of very reduced productions, ingredients of the highest quality and made with natural sourdough. It is a sweet of extremely high technical complexity and requires many hours of production; consequently, very few pastry chefs choose to make it directly, although the trend is on the rise, as can be accredited by the high participation registered in the contest.
In past editions, Dolç par Yan Duytsche (Sant Cugat) and Cal Jan (Torredembarra and Tarragona) (2021), Xocosave (2020), Cloudstreet (2019), Ochiai (2018), Oriol Balaguer (2017) and Dolç Par Yann Duytshche (2016) have been awarded.
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