Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dark rye flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds, whole
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon finely-grated orange zest
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 whole star anise
Preparing the Batter
Preheat your oven to 305F and place the rack in the center. Grease a 9-inch loaf pan with a bit of butter and sprinkle with a little flour.
In a small saucepan at medium heat, combine the milk, honey, and whole star anise. Heat until it’s hot enough for the honey to completely dissolve (you should see tiny bubbles on the edges). Remove from heat and let the star anise infuse the liquid for several minutes until it cools.
Using fresh ground spices is what will give your loaf a more complex flavor!
In a large bowl, combine the rye flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, and all the ground spices (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and black pepper). Add the anise seeds, salt, baking soda, and orange zest and mix together until evenly mixed.
Remove the star anise from the milk mixture, then slowly pour the warm liquid into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix using a spatula or wooden spoon until the batter just starts to come together.
Do not mix too much; mix only until you can no longer see dry flour.
Baking the Bread
Once you have mixed the ingredients together, pour the batter into the loaf pan and spread it evenly across the top.
The baking time should be around 1 hour; test for doneness by inserting either a knife or a cake tester into the center of the loaf and checking to see that it comes out clean.
Allow the bread to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes, then remove the bread and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
If you want to enhance the flavor of the spices, wrap the loaf in foil and let it sit for 24 hours before cutting into it!
Classic French Spiced Bread (Pain d’Épices)
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups dark rye flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon anise seeds whole
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon finely-grated orange zest
- 1 cup 2% milk
- 2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 whole star anise
Instructions
- Heat oven to 305F and grease a 9-inch loaf pan with butter, dust with flour.
- Warm milk, honey, and star anise in saucepan over medium heat until honey dissolves and bubbles form at edges. Remove from heat and let steep.
- Whisk together rye flour, all-purpose flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, anise seeds, black pepper, salt, baking soda, and orange zest in large bowl.
- Remove star anise from milk mixture and slowly pour warm liquid into dry ingredients. Mix with wooden spoon just until combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake 1 hour or until knife inserted in center comes out clean.
- Cool in pan on wire rack 30 minutes, then remove from pan to cool completely.
