Do you also adore pain d’épices? Then I recommend Christophe Michalak’s pain d’épices.
Back from a short trip to Bordeaux, I fell in love with Christophe Michalak’s Pain d’Épices, a sweet, orange-scented loaf cake with a thousand fragrances, which in France is served in the morning at breakfast with bitter orange marmalade.
While browsing a book of French recipes, I came across Michalak’s version; I can say that the result pleasantly surprised me.
If you don’t know Christophe Michalak, he is a great French pastry chef, world pastry champion in 2005, and was also pastry chef for Ducasse.
If you want to taste his sweets and you’re in Paris, I recommend the Coffee Shop Michalak on the ground floor of Printemps de l’Homme. You will be spoiled for choice among crunchy viennoiseries or warm brioches, or “gâteaux de voyage”, the classic baked goods you can take with you without problems with creams and ganaches. A bit like our pantry cakes. These French cakes, however, are always in a narrow, elongated loaf shape, ideal for slicing.
I also include the famous pain d’épices in this category, even though the French use it almost exclusively for breakfast.
Pain d’épices has a beautiful history with its wonderful flavor. Tradition holds that it dates back to the 10th century when there were exchanges with China. At that time a sweet bread with honey and spices was made all year round. Later in Europe it was transformed into a treat for the Christmas period.
We know that Greeks and Romans also prepared a honey bread, but this spiced bread is said to have resembled more the Mid Kong, an herb bread used by Genghis Khan’s soldiers. It was the Christian knights during the Crusades who brought it to the Holy Land and from there to the kitchens of French Cistercian monks.
Nice story, right? Maybe it’s because I’m passionate about food history and culture, but knowing how far this spiced bread traveled to reach us is fabulous. It’s said that the region where it is found year-round is Alsace. To prepare it, in France they always use a spice mix called pain d’épices (coriander, fennel, cinnamon, cocoa, white pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cardamom, allspice). This spice mix is also used for “gingerbread” and gives all Christmas sweets that typical spiced flavor.
Here, anyway, is the recipe from Christophe Michalak’s book and below you will find some of my variations (including a vegan one) for every taste.
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Budget-friendly
- Preparation time: 15 Minutes
- Cooking time: 50 Minutes
- Portions: 8 slices
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: French
- Seasonality: All seasons
Ingredients for Christophe Michalak’s Pain d’épices
For a 21 x 10 cm pan (approx. 8 1/4 x 4 in) – I stick to the original recipe and in parentheses indicate what I used as an alternative. For the spices, if you don’t have star anise, use 7 g instead of 3 g of the pan d’épices spice mix.
- 2/3 cup water
- 2.1 oz granulated sugar (I used light cane sugar)
- 5.3 oz honey (I used orange blossom honey)
- 6.75 tbsp butter
- 1.25 tsp spice mix (blend)
- 1 tsp star anise (powder)
- 2 tbsp candied peel (finely chopped citrus peel)
- pinch salt
- 1.25 cup all-purpose flour (I used tipo 2 flour)
- 1.25 tsp baking powder
- pinch baking soda
Tools
- 1 Loaf pan
Steps
Pour the water, sugar, salt and orange honey into a saucepan and bring to a gentle boil.
Add the spices, star anise and the citrus peel. Add the melted butter.
Switch off the heat, cover the saucepan and let it infuse for about half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 356°F.
Line a loaf pan with parchment paper that has been wet and wrung out.
Mix the flour, baking soda and baking powder.
Strain the water and spices through a fine sieve and progressively add the liquid to the flour, mixing well.
Pour into the pan and bake for about 50 minutes, checking doneness with a skewer which should come out completely dry at the end of baking.
Let cool.Place the water, sugar, salt and honey in the bowl, bring to the boil for 5 minutes at 100°C, speed 2.
Add the spice mix, the star anise and the citrus peels.
Add the butter and melt it: 2 minutes at 100°C, speed 2… let rest 20 minutes in the switched-off bowl.
Add the flour, baking powder and baking soda: 30 seconds at speed 5.
Pour into the loaf pan and bake at 356°F for about 50 minutes, checking doneness with a skewer which should come out completely dry at the end of baking.
Let cool.
P.S. it can be made vegan if you replace the honey with agave and the butter with soy butter.
Tips
Pain d’épices is so delicious that it disappears quickly. Remember to store it well wrapped in the refrigerator because, being soft and moist with butter, it doesn’t keep well at room temperature.
You can easily freeze it in slices and reheat them for 5 minutes in an air fryer to bring them back to perfection.
You can give it to friends at Christmas well packaged, already baked in cardboard loaf molds — it will be much appreciated.
Check out these ideas
FAQ (Questions and Answers)
I don’t have the spice mix, what can I substitute in the pain d’épices?
No problem, substitute with a pinch of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and a little star anise. (Then you can keep the mix for speculoos cookies or gingerbread)
What can I use instead of butter?
I can leave you my vegan recipe, it is prepared with buttermilk, but if you want you can use soy butter. I don’t recommend oil because in my opinion the recipe changes too much, but if you want you can make it with grapeseed oil, for example. (Olive oil in this case is too flavorful)
What can I use instead of honey?
You can replace honey with rice malt, maple syrup, agave or rice syrup.
How long does pain d’épices keep?
Pain d’épices keeps for about a week if well wrapped in the refrigerator, or you can freeze it.
