**Introducing Pain d'Épice: Aromatic French Spice Bread with a Twist**
Embark on a delightful culinary journey to discover the irresistible Pain d'Épice, a traditional French spice bread that tantalizes taste buds with its aromatic blend of warm spices and a hint of sweetness. This beloved treat, often associated with the festive season, is a symphony of flavors and textures, featuring a moist and dense crumb that perfectly complements the crisp exterior. As you delve into the diverse recipes presented in this article, you'll encounter variations that cater to every palate. From the classic Pain d'Épice recipe, which embodies the essence of this iconic bread, to innovative takes that incorporate unique ingredients like chocolate, nuts, and dried fruits, each recipe promises a distinctive taste experience. Whether you're a seasoned baker or just starting your culinary adventures, these carefully curated recipes will guide you through the process of creating this delectable bread with ease. So, prepare to indulge in the timeless allure of Pain d'Épice, a true masterpiece of French baking.
PAIN D'ÉPICES (BOUCHON BAKERY FRENCH GINGERBREAD LOAF)
French gingerbread is known as pain d'épices or spice bread. This version is moister, darker and denser than American gingerbread, which is lighter and more airy. This simple but delicious dairy free recipe hails from Bouchon Bakery.
Provided by Victoria
Categories Bread Breakfast Dessert
Time 1h15m
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray two 8 ½-by-4 ½-by-2 ¾-inch loaf pans with nonstick spray. Line the bottom of each pan with parchment paper, then spray the parchment.
- Place the flour in a medium bowl and whisk in the baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Place the brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed to break up any lumps. Add the molasses and mix for about 1 minute or until smooth. With the mixer running, add the oil in a slow, steady stream and continue to mix for about 1 ½ minutes, until completely combined.
- Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs and mix for 1 minute or until the mixture is smooth. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the dry mixture in 2 additions, mixing on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds after each. With the mixer running, add the water 60 grams (¼ cup) at a time, incorporating each addition before adding the next. Scrape down the bowl again. Fold in the lemon zest. The batter will be quite runny.
- Divide the batter between the two pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 10 minutes. Turn the cakes out onto the rack, remove the pans and cool completely.
- The cakes can be wrapped in plastic wrap and frozen for up to 1 week. Defrost in the refrigerator and rewarm if desired. This gingerbread is best made a day ahead to allow the flavors to develop and deepen.
Nutrition Facts : Calories 233 kcal, ServingSize 1 slice, Carbohydrate 31 g, Protein 2 g, Fat 11 g, SaturatedFat 1 g, Sodium 63 mg, Fiber 1 g, Sugar 18 g, UnsaturatedFat 9 g
PAIN D'EPICE (FRENCH SPICE BREAD)
From a book I borrowed from the library about world breads, with a few amendments from myself and my husband who actually made the loaf the first time. It's quite hard to cut being extremely dense, but very very tasty and more like a cake than bread (other than the density)
Provided by bexfiles
Categories Breads
Time 1h50m
Yield 1 loaf, 12 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 14
Steps:
- Warm and melt the honey by standing the jar in a pan of hot water, measure it into the rye flour in a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. Leave, covered for 1 hour for the flour to absorb all the liquid.
- Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas 4. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the glaze, and mix with vigour to ensure everything is spread evenly through the dough - this will be very sticky! Knead the dough on a clean work surface for between 5-10 minutes You can dip hands into a bowl of water at intervals to help with the kneading if necessary.
- Press the dough mixture intpo a well greased 2lb loaf tin. Make sure it's pushed right into the corners.
- Bake the loaf on the middle shelf for about 35 mins until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. When you have removed it from the oven, brush with glaze and return to oven for a couple of minutes to set the glaze.
- Let the bread stand in the tin for a few minutes, then invert onto a wire rack. This keeps very well and because it's made using rye it can be better for being left a couple of days before eating. (We never let it wait long though !).
PAIN D'EPICES RECIPE - FRENCH SPICE BREAD
Steps:
- Start by preheating your oven to 150˚C (300˚F), then line a loaf pan with baking paper or grease with butter.
- Pop your rye flour into a large mixing bowl along with the ground ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder. Pour in the honey, give it a quick stir with a spoon, then blend using a handheld beater or stand mixer with paddle attachment on low speed.
- Gradually stir in the following ingredients, one at a time: milk, sugar, egg, softened butter and salt.
- Once the mixture is well combined, pour it out into a loaf pan. Don't forget to smooth out the top with the back of a spoon.
- Bake for 45 mins or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean, then bask in the aromatic deliciousness of a slice of your freshly cooked pain d'epices!
Nutrition Facts : Calories 2302 kcal, Carbohydrate 347 g, Protein 26 g, Fat 101 g, SaturatedFat 61 g, Cholesterol 414 mg, Sodium 2053 mg, Fiber 20 g, Sugar 227 g, ServingSize 1 serving
FRENCH SPICED BREAD
Kamel Saci, head baker at New York's Il Buco Alimentari, flavors his pain d'épices, a classic French spiced bread, with a vibrant spice mixture of star anise, ginger, and cinnamon from spice blender La Boîte. It's great for a sweet toast in the morning, or it can be sliced thinly and served with pâté for a pretty party appetizer.
Provided by Kamel Saci
Categories Dessert Cake Bread Christmas Kid-Friendly Bake Almond Dried Fruit Cinnamon Party Ginger Vegetarian Pescatarian Peanut Free Soy Free Kosher Small Plates
Yield 2 loaves
Number Of Ingredients 17
Steps:
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease loaf pans with melted butter.
- Toast almonds on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once or twice, until golden brown and fragrant, 6-8 minutes. Coarsely chop zest, apricots, plums, and toasted almonds. Transfer to a small bowl.
- Bring honey, milk, salt, cinnamon, and star anise to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking powder, spice mix, and baking soda in a large bowl.
- Strain honey mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Add eggs and whisk until incorporated. Using a spatula, quickly fold in zest mixture.
- Divide dough between prepared pans, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake bread until tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the centers comes out clean, 35-40 minutes.
- Let bread cool 10 minutes in pan, then carefully remove from pan and transfer to a wire rack.
- Do Ahead
- Bread can be made 5 days ahead. Tightly wrap and store at room temperature, or freeze up to 1 month.
HONEY SPICE BREAD
If you go to a French honey stand or shop, or one of the many honey fairs that occur during the summer in Provence, pain d'épices - spice bread - will always be one of the items for sale along with the honey, as honey is a key an ingredient in these breads. This recipe is based on one by French Pastry School founder Jacquy Pfeiffer. His recipe, which does not contain any butter or oil, results in a very moist bread. You will need a small loaf pan, no bigger than 4 x 8 inches, or you can make mini-muffins.
Provided by Martha Rose Shulman
Time 1h
Yield About 40 mini-cakes or 1 small loaf, serving 12.
Number Of Ingredients 14
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a small (8 x 4-inch or smaller) bread pan and dust lightly with flour. Line with parchment if desired. Alternatively, use buttered and floured mini-muffin molds or silicone mini muffin molds.
- Place the honey and sugar in a small saucepan, insert a thermometer and heat to 158 degrees while stirring with a rubber spatula.
- Sift together the whole wheat flour, rye flour, baking powder, spices and salt and transfer them to the bowl of your mixer.
- In a small bowl whisk together the milk and whole eggs. Turn the mixer on low and slowly add the milk and egg mixture. Stop the mixer and, using a rubber spatula or a plastic bowl scraper, scrape up any flour sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Add the warm honey mixture and mix on medium speed until incorporated. Scrape into the bread pan or spoon about 1 to 2 teaspoons into each mini-mold, filling them 3/4 full.
- Bake mini-cakes for 15 to 20 minutes, loaves for 40 to 45 minutes, until deep brown and a tester comes out clean. Remove from the heat, unmold and cool on a rack. If making a loaf, for best results, once cool wrap tightly in plastic and allow the cake to rest for a day.
Nutrition Facts : @context http, Calories 29, UnsaturatedFat 0 grams, Carbohydrate 7 grams, Fat 0 grams, Fiber 0 grams, Protein 1 gram, SaturatedFat 0 grams, Sodium 25 milligrams, Sugar 4 grams, TransFat 0 grams
PAIN D'EPICES - BURGUNDIAN SPICE BREAD
18th century recipe for exotic, eastern spicy bread. Mulot au Petitjean is an old fashioned shop in Dijon that specialises in Spice bread. The Mulot family have been producing this bread on the same site since 1838 and is the only spice bread producer left. Recipe courtesy of Anne Willian tweeked. TAKE NOTE: that the spice bread should be slightly under baked so it is soft in the middle and has not started to shrink from the sides of the pan. Let the breads cool and then turn them out.
Provided by Rita1652
Categories Quick Breads
Time 2h30m
Yield 16 serving(s)
Number Of Ingredients 12
Steps:
- Preheat the oven to 250F / 120°C.
- Heat the milk, sugar and honey in a saucepan, stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring it just to the boil, and then set aside until tepid.
- Sift the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center. Add three quarters of the cooled honey mixture and stir with a wooden spoon, gradually drawing in the flour to make a smooth batter.
- In a small bowl, mix the candied peel, spices and salt. Stir in the remaining honey mixture and add it to the batter, stir until smooth. Cover and refrigerate the batter for 8-12 hours.
- Butter the loaf pans (2 medium loaf pans - 20x8x8 cm), you can also line them with grease-proof paper and butter the paper.
- To complete the batter, mix the egg yolks and baking soda with the water in a small bowl. Stir this mixture into the batter.
- Spoon the batter into the pans, filling them half full - the batter rises quite a bit during baking - a cover them loosely with foil.
- Bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil. Continue baking for approx 1 ½ to 1 ¾ hours more, or until a skewer inserted near the center comes out clean.
Tips:
- Mise en place: Before you start baking, measure and prepare all of your ingredients. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you don't forget anything.
- Use fresh spices: Freshly ground spices will give your bread the best flavor. If you don't have a spice grinder, you can use a mortar and pestle to grind them yourself.
- Don't overmix the dough: Overmixing the dough will make your bread tough. Mix it just until the ingredients are combined.
- Let the dough rise in a warm place: The dough should double in size during the first rise. To help it rise quickly, place it in a warm place, such as a sunny window or near a warm oven.
- Bake the bread until it is golden brown: The bread is done baking when it is golden brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap it.
Conclusion:
Pain d'épices is a delicious and festive bread that is perfect for any occasion. It is easy to make and can be enjoyed by people of all ages. With its warm spices and sweet flavor, pain d'épices is a surefire hit. So next time you are looking for a special bread to bake, give pain d'épices a try. You won't be disappointed.
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