Gâteau de Saint-Genix

Gâteau de Saint-Genix is a round brioche made in the Savoie region of France and studded with pralines roses. Pink pieces can be seen not only on the surface of the risen dough but also inside the dough when it is cut. The soft dough, made with butter and eggs, gains the sweetness and crunch of sugar-coated almonds.

In a 2013 collection of methods published by a French bakers’ organization, flour, eggs, sugar, sourdough starter or baker’s yeast and other ingredients are kneaded together, and the butter is worked in over several additions. The dough is rested overnight and kneaded again the next morning, after which most of the pralines are worked into the dough. The rest are scattered over the surface before baking. The same collection specifies using at least 300 grams of pralines per 1 kilogram of flour. In this sweet, the pieces are not only a surface decoration but are also distributed generously throughout the dough. The collection also records, as a traditional method, placing the rising dough in a wooden mold called a copet and removing it from the mold before baking.

Pralines roses are a sweet made of almonds coated in pink sugar. In Tarte à la praline, which also uses pralines roses, the crushed pieces are cooked with cream and poured into a tart. In Saint-Genix they are added to a yeast-leavened dough, so sweet pieces are dotted throughout the soft bread.

The Labully family, who ran an inn in Saint-Genix-sur-Guiers, are tied to the history of this sweet. Regional sources record that Françoise and Pierre’s gâteau was at first decorated with pralines on top of the brioche, and that their son François later put them inside as well. On the other hand, an article in a trade publication for artisans credits the innovation to his father, Pierre. From the family’s recipe, it spread to become the Saint-Genix made by bakers throughout the region.

Glossary