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| Type | Cake orquick bread |
|---|---|
| Place of origin | France |
| Region or state | Reims andAlsace |
| Associatedcuisine | French cuisine |
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Pain d'épices (French:[pɛ̃depis]) orpain d'épice (French for 'spice bread') is a Frenchcake orquick bread. Its ingredients, according toLe Dictionnaire de l'Académie française (1694), were "rye flour,honey andspices".[1] InAlsace, a considerable tradition incorporates a pinch ofcinnamon.
According to Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat, the commercial production ofpain d'épices was a specialty ofDijon andReims, based on a recipe of a pastry cook from ancient grec and made popular whenCharles VII and his mistressAgnes Sorel expressed their liking for it.[1] The honey used was the darkbuckwheat honey ofBrittany. In 1571, the Corporation of Spice Bread Makers of Reims were chartered separately from the party cooks; in 1596, the Parisian makers ofpain d'épices were given their own charter. The Reimspain d'épices industry was decimated byWorld War I.[2] Thepain d'épices ofDijon outpaced its older competitors in the Napoleonic era, and the bread is now considered one of the specialties of that city.[citation needed]
Pain d'épices was originally asourdough bread without addedleavening; it was left in a wooden trough to rest in a cool place for months, during which the honeyed rye flour experienced fermentation. When ready the dough was cooked in loafmoulds. The modern product usually rises withbaking soda, or withbaking powder, developed in the nineteenth century.[citation needed]
Because traditionalpain d'épices is sweetened entirely with honey, honey merchants in France often stock loaves of it for sale.La Collective des Biscuits et Gâteaux de France reserves the namepain d'épices pur miel (French for 'pure honey spice bread') forpain d'épices sweetened only with honey.[3][4]
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L'appellation 'pain d'épices pur miel' est réservée au pain d'épices dans la composition duquel n'entre aucune autre matière sucrante que le miel.
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