French Reims Pain D’épices Recipe

Reims Pain D’epices is a French spice flavored pastry often described as a cross between a dense cake and a soft bread.

Yield: 1 loaf

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Ingredients

• Water, very warm – 170 ml
• Rye flour – 250g
• Baking Soda – 1 tsp
• Salt – ½ tsp
• Pure honey – 300g
• Ground cinnamon – 1 ½ tsp
• Ground ginger – ½ tsp
• Ground anise – 1 tsp
• Ground cloves – ½ tsp
• Ground nutmeg – 1 tsp
• Zest of 1 orange

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Grease a loaf pan with butter and dust with flour.
3. Pour the honey into the warm water and stir until it dissolves.
4. Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices, and orange zest together
5. Slowly stir the water and honey into the dry ingredients until the mixture is smooth
6. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 50 minutes or until the breads crust is dark brown and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean.
7. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes before attempting to loosen it, then continue cooling.