Thursday, January 23, 2020

Pain d'Epice (French gingerbread)

"Pain d’épices has long been eaten in throughout history, although in the past it was known as honey bread – the Greek “melitounta” or “melilates”, the Roman “panis mellitus” and so forth. “Lebkuchen”, or German gingerbread, is first mentioned at the end of the 13th century." ("Pain d'Epices") Pain d'Epice is French gingerbread. It has its roots tied with 10th century China and 13th century Germany. "Texts from the 13th century cite Mi-Kong as part of the war rations of the horsemen of Genghis Khan who spread it among the Arabs...It was during the Middle Ages, during the crusades, that Westerners got to know it in the Holy Land and brought back the recipe and the spices. A first mention of "Lebkuchen", gingerbread in German, is made in Ulm in 1296 then it spreads in the monasteries of the Holy Roman Empire: Munich where a "Lebzelter" (grocer bread) pays a tax in 1370, in Nuremberg it is mentioned in 1395, Aachen, Basel, Augsburg... A text from 1453 reports that gingerbread was on the tables of the Cistercian monks of Marienthal (Alsace) during the Christmas celebrations." ("The Origin of Gingerbread")


"In the XVIIth century, the gingerbread of Reims where officiate about twenty masters "bread of grocers" is the most famous of the kingdom, the bailiff of the archbishop grants them corporate statutes in 1571, officially recognized 1596 by Henri IV. During the Renaissance, the "Lebküchler" (grocers' bread) were so numerous in Alsace that they had their own corporations whose emblem represented a pretzel bear." ("The Origin of Gingerbread") "Ever since the time of Louis XIII...the Academie Francaise completed its definition of spice-bread with one brief and proud example: pain d'epice de Rheims." (Touissant-Samat) "Pain d'épices was served at the wedding of Catherine of Medici and Henry II in 1533." (Soulas-Baron) "The first recipe for pain d'épices was invented in Reims, a city in the Alsace-Champagne-Ardenne-Lorraine region around the year 1420, when a bakery made it with rye flour, dark buckwheat honey, and spices. The bakery was allegedly inspired by the recipe of a pastry cook from the Burgundy province, and the dessert became popular after Charles VII and his mistress Agnes Sorel took a liking to it. In 1694, the Academie Francaise published its Le Dictionnaire, which confirmed that the only three main ingredients were rye flour, spices, and honey, and named the residents of Reims mangeurs de pain d'epice." ("Authentic Pain d'Epices Recipe")

Since pain d'epice is the French version of Lebkuchen, I highly recommend looking at this page: German Lebkuchen Recipe. Not only is this page informational regarding the recipe and its history, but it also provides additional information on how to create the spice mix (Lebkuchengewürz) with cinnamon, cardamom, coriander, cloves, anise, ginger, mace, and nutmeg. Another recipe can be found here, in the Ultimate Bread book.



 Works Cited

"Authentic Pain d'Epices Recipe." https://www.tasteatlas.com/pain-depices/recipe. 23 January 2020.


"Pain d'Epices." 26 December 2013. https://andyskitchenblog.wordpress.com/2013/12/26/pain-depices/. 23 January 2020.

Soulas-Baron, Catherine. "Pain d'epices: A Wonder of French Patisserie." 28 January 2016. https://www.lesavoirvivre.hk/single-post/2016/1/28/Pain-d%C3%A9pices-A-Wonder-of-French-Patisserie. 23 January 2020.


23 January 2020.
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