Honey and spice bread

With the cold weather that accompanies us at this time of year, I can't think of a better plan at any time than to turn on the oven and prepare some delicious food that we can then enjoy with the family (it's not worth eating everything without sharing, eh? We know each other, hehe). And one of my latest discoveries has been the recipe for this delicious honey and spice bread .

This is a recipe of French origin and is a hybrid between a bread and a sponge cake , since, although its texture is similar to bread, rather dense, moist and very juicy, the preparation method is closer to the way we usually prepare sponge cakes, since we will use baking powder.

As you can imagine from its name, this bread is loaded with spices, such as cinnamon, nutmeg, anise and ginger , so, from the moment it is baked, this bread becomes a real delight for the senses, with the wonderful smell it gives off that will spread throughout the house.

Despite the amount of honey used in its preparation, it is not an excessively sweet bread, which makes it fantastic to accompany both sweet and savoury foods. I love it with butter and orange marmalade, but I encourage you to try toasting a couple of slices of gingerbread and serving it with foie gras… A real delight!

And of course, although you can prepare it in any mold, such as a bundt mold, I love to prepare it in my Emile Henry mold , not only because I love the mold, but also because it unmolds phenomenally, the cooking is homogeneous and the slices that we are going to obtain when cutting the cake, being square, are perfect if we want to use them for spreading.

Emile Henry rectangular wavy mould , Pallarès stainless steel table knife , Revol caractère porcelain plates , Emile Henry ramekins and ArtisanSt. 150ml ceramic sauce boat.

Ingredients

• 150 g rye flour
• 150 g of wheat flour
• 250 g of honey
• 60 g butter
• 350 ml of milk
• 1 egg M
• Zest of an orange
• 2 teaspoons baking powder (Royal type)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon anise seeds
• ½ teaspoon ground ginger
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon white pepper
• 1 tablespoon pearl sugar for decoration

KitchenAid Artisan 5KSM175 food processor , Emile Henry corrugated rectangular mold , Pallarès stainless steel table knife , 150ml ArtisanSt ceramic sauce boat. , Emile Henry ramekins , Bérard olive wood honey spoon and Bérard olive wood flour spoon

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 180º.
2. Using a mortar, grind the anise seeds and set aside.
3. In the Kitchen Aid bowl, mix the two types of flour, previously sifted, the baking powder, the bicarbonate, the salt and the spices (including the ground anise).
4. Next, we grate the orange peel with a Microplane grater and add it to the bowl.
5. We put the Kitchen Aid paddle accessory in, add the honey and mix at low speed.
6. Once we have a homogeneous mixture, we gradually add the milk, while continuing to beat at low speed.
7. Once the ingredients are well mixed, add the egg, lightly beaten, and continue mixing until it is incorporated into the dough.
8. Next, add the butter (which should be at room temperature) and continue beating until it is integrated.
9. Once the dough is uniform, we stop beating.
10. Next, we grease the mold with the help of a brush and pour in the batter.
11. Sprinkle pearl sugar on top and place in the oven.
12. Bake at 180º for 50 minutes.
13. After this time, and once we have checked with the help of a skewer or cake thermometer that it is well cooked, we remove the honey and spice bread from the oven.
14. Once we can handle the mold without burning ourselves, we remove it from the mold and let the honey bread cool on a rack.

Emile Henry rectangular wavy mould , ArtisanSt. 150ml ceramic sauce boat and Emile Henry ramekins

There is nothing more comforting than baking this honey bread on a cold afternoon and having the aroma of spices fill the house... Although the smell is so fantastic that you run the risk of not even letting the bread cool down at home before finishing it. You have been warned, hehe!