The Pan d'épices (pan de especias) es un pan muy típico de Francia en estas fechas y que se hace con miel y algunas especias incluyendo el jengibre y a veces el anís (pero como a mi no me gusta demasiado, yo no le pongo). Los dos más famosos son el de Dijon y el de Gertwiller en Alsacia, donde tienen incluso un museo. En Francia, están regulados tanto su elaboración como sus ingredientes por el "Syndicat National de la Biscuiterie Française", de modo que solo puede llamarse pan d'epices, a aquél que se elabora siguiendo la fórmula aprobada para el mismo.

Es curioso porque precisamente la versión "oficial" prefiere la harina de trigo blanco sobre la integral y admite sustituir la miel por glucosa o sirope o una mezcla de ambas, que es precisamente lo que yo usé, así que sin haberlo tenido previsto y en realidad sin saberlo, resulta que finalmente hice un auténtico pan d'èpices.

To begin with as I explain below, I used only white wheat flour (not the integral flours), and although it was not my intention and was a matter of not having it at home, the result was gorgeous (but I give you the quantity of each flour you can add in case you want to use it). If you want to use only white flour, you have to add the two amounts of flour 220 80 = 300 g of white wheat flour which is what I used). The cake It was very tasty and very juicy inside. Spices give a particular Christmas touch, although I skipped anise because as I said before, it is not one of my favorite flavors.

I baked them in a beautiful cast of Nordic Ware I thought it was perfect for this recipe and I got 10 cottages all very nice. I hope you like them. The cake is great and is ideal both for breakfast and for tea. I've already had to make the recipe several times this year because everyone wants a version of the Pan d'épices using this mold!

Directions

1 Preheat oven to 170 ° f. grease well the you are going to use.

2. Melt butter with vanilla and honey into the microwave oven. I did it at intervals of 30 seconds and it took me 2 intervals. While the butter was not fully melted, the heat of the bowl was enough you finally melt everything. Put aside.

2. In a large bowl mix the flour, spices, baking powder and baking soda.

3 Take the bowl of butter and add milk, orange zest, eggs and sugar. Mix well. We can do it with by hand or if you prefer we can do it with an electric mixer. Beat until the mixture is uniform and smooth.

4. Add this mixture to the flour and mix well by hand or using an electric mixer.

5. Once the dough is uniform, fill our mold, taking care not to fill it beyond 2/3 parts. The time of baking depends on our mold. Mine were little ones so they only needed 18 minutes at 175 degrees, but if you have a large pan you will need at least 10 more minutes (about 30-40 minutes).

6 As my mould was Nordic Ware, I left the cakes 10 minutes outside the oven before unmolding them so they wouldn't break.

7 Let cool completely on a wire rack. To give a more Christmas feel, I dusted them with icing sugar and the result was that one of the photos.

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