Honey Spice Bread

By corlear

Pain d’epices
When I first arrived in Burgundy in the tiny village of Valfermet, my landlady, Madame Tilquin, prepared spice bread to welcome me. The main ingredients are honey and aniseed although there are many different variations. Some recipes call for honey alone, with no sugar, others specify the addition of orange and lemon peel. This recipe was given to me by Anne Willan and has the delicious fragrance of the pain d'pices of my childhood. I have added ground ginger but you can vary the spices. Buy whole aniseed and grind it in a pestle and mortar.

Ingredients

• 1/2 pt milk
• 1 lb honey
• 7 oz sugar
• l3 oz rye flour
• 7 oz plain flour
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp aniseed, ground
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• l tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 2 tbsp chopped candled orange peel (optional)
• butter, for greasing

Details

Servings 2

Preparation

Step 1

The day before baking, heat the milk, honey and sugar in a saucepan, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Bring almost to the boil, then remove from the heat and leave to cool.

Stir the rye and plain flours together in a bowl and make a well in the centre. Add three-quartcrs of the honey mixture and the egg yolks to the well. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon to gradualsy draw in the flour,
then beat to make a thick, smooth mixture.

In a small bowl, mix together the spices, the bicarbonate of soda and candied peel, if using. Stir in the remaining honey mixture and add to the flour mixture, stirring until well combined. Cover with cling film and chill overnight.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and bring back to room temperature Preheat the oven to 160°F/325°C/gas mark 3.

Grease two 23x13x10cm / 9x5x4 in loaf tins and line with greaseproof paper. Spoon the mixture into the tins. Bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer inserted in the side of the bread comes out clean (It should not have shrunk from the sides and should be slightly soft in the centre). Leave until warm on a wire rack, then turn out to cool and peel off the greaseproof paper.

The bread will keep for a month in a cake tin. Serve sliced and buttered.