Pasteleria Torreblanca

Panettone, turrón and a mother dough kept for decades

The mother dough is the thing to understand first. Pastelería Torreblanca in Petrer works its long-kept masa madre into a panettone programme that has been named the best made outside Italy, and the same slow-fermentation habit runs through the rest of the house. This is the production home of Torreblanca Cero, the high-pastry brand of Paco Torreblanca and his family, and it reads as an obrador and specialist atelier rather than a café: artisanal holiday confectionery, made in limited runs, under a name built on competition pastry and technical work. Paco Torreblanca was named best pastry chef in Spain in 1988 and best in Europe in 1990, and Jacob Torreblanca now directs the Escuela Torreblanca alongside the production floor.

The Christmas range, from stollen to guirlache

Production runs on the calendar rather than on café hours. The Christmas range groups panettone, stollen, turrón and polvorones together, and the panettone line alone shows the scale of it: chocolate, gianduja, orange, white chocolate with raspberry, and milk chocolate with marron glacé, with batches that sell through. Stollen Torreblanca borrows the German Christmas bread, candied fruit and nuts included, while the Bollinger x Torreblanca roscón takes the panettone mother dough into a Spanish crown cake matched to Bollinger La Grande Année 2014.

The turrón side is pure Alicante: turrón a la piedra, turrón de Alicante, turrón de yema tostada and turrón de guirlache con ajonjolí. Beside them sits the chocolate work, bombones, trufas and chocolatinas. The pattern is limited, demand-led production rather than a counter kept full all year.

What to carry out, and when

Come to Petrer for the workshop rather than for a table. The site is the Torreblanca obrador, where the panettone, turrón and chocolate are made, and the headquarters of the pastry school, so a visit is about collecting rather than settling in. Drinks appear through collaborations rather than as a beverage list, including the Bollinger partnership and work with Cervezas Alhambra.

If one thing has to carry the trip, make it the panettone: the masa madre is the house signature and the flavours change with the year. Turrón is the regional counterweight and the more portable gift, with the guirlache and the yema tostada pulling in opposite directions, one brittle and sesame-flecked, the other soft and caramelised. Since November 2024 the family has also run Torreblanca Online, opened after the Alicante boutique closed, which sends the same panettone, turrón and polvorones beyond Petrer.