Konditorei Peintner: a visit to the gingerbread factory

A few years ago, a friend and I were overcome by a craving for gingerbread. Without further ado, we bought two pieces in the Peintner-Filale in the Hörtnagl-Passage in the middle of the old town. Wonderfully soft on the inside, perfectly coated with melt-in-the-mouth chocolate and spread with a fruity layer. For us, it was a chance hit, for others it has always been a tried and tested source of Christmas temptation.

On the occasion of the limited gingerbread series for the 50th anniversary of the Christmas market in the Old Town under the Golden Roof, my colleague Ashley and I were allowed to take a look inside the bakery where these divine pieces are made. As in every patisserie, there are seasonal bestsellers; the banana cake and Sacher torte are always popular perennial favorites in the patisserie, as is the ice cream in summer, which was supplemented by frozen yogurt in 2023. From mid-October, they are available again: the wonderful gingerbread. There are a total of ten varieties - it's hard to choose. While the grandfather in the family business raves about the organic oranges, his grandchildren Laura and Lucas swear by fruit and nougat.

Incidentally, Peintner gingerbread is also in great demand in a store in Tokyo, Japan. Japanese people have been queuing up there for several years to get their hands on one of the goodies.

The Peintner family has been producing pastries for over 50 years. There are now 15-17 employees in the bakery, which is located directly next to the main branch in Pradl.

Every day, the employees start work here at 6 a.m. to ensure that all cakes and pastries are delivered fresh and on time. Gingerbread production starts in September. Only one person starts earlier: The grandfather of the family starts making the pre-dough for the gingerbread in the summer months.

The mixture of wheat and rye flour, eggs and sugar must be well rested before it meets the other ingredients in the large dough kneading machine for up to 200 kilograms of dough. This includes ground nuts, honey and leavening agents. A sticky affair that needs to be handled with skill. Over the next few hours, 6 x 360 pieces of gingerbread will be made from the entire mixture - a total of 2,160 pieces!

As soon as the dough has been kneaded, it is portioned and flattened by hand with a little flour. It then goes into the rolling machine and is then cut to 10 x 10 centimetres using the cutting roller.

The finished pieces of dough are placed on a tray with space for exactly 20 pieces. Lucas then places the trays in the large oven at 210 degrees for 10-15 minutes. First the dough rises, then it takes on color. One of the secrets to juicy gingerbread is not to bake it too dark, Lucas reveals. The dough should always be nice and soft and not just soften with apple slices, as you might be used to at home. Honey is also an important ingredient for soft gingerbread, as it helps to bind the moisture.

After baking, the gingerbread is allowed to cool in the open air. Only when it is cool does it move on to the next stage, where it is spread with fruit spreads or nougat, for example.

For the Innsbruck Limited Edition, they have come up with a special filling: Mulled wine. But don't worry, the alcohol has long since vanished into thin air; only minimal traces remain in the fruity spread, which is shaped with pectin.

Now the fruity spread dries briefly before being sent through the darkening machine. The machine was bought by grandfather Viktor Peintner before 1986. "Other people bought a BMW, and I bought my own steaming machine ... The other companies no longer exist, " grandpa likes to tell his grandchildren.

And indeed: Grandpa's machine from the 80s still runs like clockwork without any emissions - even though the front part has had to be replaced over the years. The two men now send the gingerbread through this part, and the machine does the rest: coating it evenly with chocolate, blowing away the excess with air and slowly cooling the coating.

It's ready, the next batch of limited edition Innsbruck mountain Christmas gingerbread with mulled wine and dark chocolate. You can buy them in the Peintner branches (one practically in the center at Maria-Theresien-Straße 7) and at the Christmas market. There you can get them beautifully packaged so that you can also take them home as a gift.

Pastry shop Peintner

The gingerbread is available here from mid-October to March:

• Pradl: Amraser Straße - corner of Kranewitterstraße 4
• Old Town: Maria-Theresien-Straße 7
• Hörtnagl-Passage: Burggraben 4-6 & Maria-Theresien-Straße
• in the online store at www.konditorei-peintner.at
• If you like, you can also follow the business on Instagram(here and here) or on Facebook!