RFCJ RECIPE ARCHIVE
Posted by : Karen Selwyn Cake, Honey, Alsatian: Pain d'Epice - pareve
The Alsatian name for honey cake is pain d'epice or spice bread. The recipe which follows includes rye flour in addition to wheat flour. This is a clue to the recipe's ancient origins. Wheat flour was expensive and scarce so bakers used to add some cheaper rye flour. The addition of rye flour produced a lower-gluten batter and bakers needed to find supplementary leavening agents. Wood ash was commonly used. The disagreeable taste of wood ash caused bakers to add more honey and spices to the batter. While the wood ash may have disappeared, honey and spice lingers on in a traditional honey cake recipe. In this recipe, so does the rye flour. Heatter warns bakers: Do not be tempted to skip the step where the batter sits before baking. The texture of the cake will be less rubbery if you follow this step. Karen Selwyn * * * * * * * Alsatian Honey Cake (Pain d'Epice) 1 tablespoon anise seeds, bruised 1/4 cup candied orange peel, diced 1/4 cup preserved ginger, diced 2 3/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour (stir to aerate before measuring) 3/4 cup unsifted rye flour 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/8 teaspoon salt 1 cup honey 1 cup granulated sugar 3 teaspoons baking soda 1 cup coffee 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1/3 cup light raisins Sift both flours together with the cinnamon and salt. Set aside. Place the honey, sugar, baking soda, and coffee in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat to mix. On low speed, add the sifted dry ingredients along with the pepper. Beat only until smoother. By hand, add the anise seeds, orange peel, ginger, and raisins. Cover and refrigerate the batter at least overnight, but up to one week. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Make certain the rack in the oven is one-third of the way up from the bottom. Grease two 5-cup loaf pans (8" X 4" X 2 1/2"). Sprinkle the pans with fine dry bread crumbs, shaking out the excess. Spoon the batter into the pans, and smooth the tops. Bake for 60-65 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the middle comes out clean and dry. Cool the loaves in the pans for 15 minutes. Remove the loaves from the pans and stand upright to cool. Wrap in plastic wrap and let stand a couple of days -- either refrigerated or at room temperature. Source: Maida Heatter's adaptation of Mimi Sheraton's recipe NEW BOOK OF GREAT DESSERTS
