Pain Dpices Spiced French Gingerbread Loaf With Honey Recipes

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.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 180C/360°F.
• Warm the milk and then add the honey, sugar and butter stirring well.
• Put the flour, baking powder, ground ginger and quatre -épices in a mixing bowl, make a well in the middle, break the egg into it, and add the milk mixture. Mix well (or just throw the whole lot into a food processor). Add the crystallised ginger and mix well once again.
• Pour into a well buttered 23-cm loaf tin and bake for 25 minutes. Lower the heat to 150C/300F and cook for a further 15 minutes. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
• Store wrapped in clingfilm to keep it moist.

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 !).