Cramique
Photo: Ibu · CC BY-SA 4.0

History

The word goes back to 1257, when cremmiche was used at an abbey in Nivelles as a measure for flour or bread. Cramique itself appears in Brussels in 1831. It is Belgian by origin and standard across the Nord and Luxembourg, sold by every serious bakery in Lille and eaten at breakfast or as a four o'clock snack. Toasted, it also turns up beside foie gras. Lille bakeries make it both plain with raisins and in a sugar-pearl version called cramique au sucre.

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Common allergens: Gluten, Milk, Eggs

Make it at home

Yield Makes 1 loafHands-on 30 minTotal 4 hrDifficulty Intermediate

Ingredients

  • 500g strong white flour
  • 10g fine salt
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 12g fresh yeast
  • 200ml warm whole milk
  • 3 eggs
  • 150g butter, softened and cubed
  • 200g raisins, soaked in warm water and drained
  • 1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Method

  1. Dissolve the yeast in the milk and leave 10 minutes until foaming.
  2. Mix the flour, sugar and salt, then work in the milk and eggs to a sticky dough. Knead 10 minutes.
  3. Add the butter a cube at a time, kneading until the dough is smooth and elastic.
  4. Prove for 90 minutes, then knock back and work the drained raisins through evenly.
  5. Shape into a loaf, drop into a buttered 900g tin and prove for another hour until risen to the rim.
  6. Glaze with beaten egg and bake at 180C for 35 to 40 minutes until deep brown and hollow-sounding.
  7. Cool completely in the tin before slicing.

Tip from the editors. Soak the raisins first. Dry ones pull water out of the crumb and leave the loaf dense.

Where to eat cramique

Cramique in Lille

Aux Merveilleux de Fred (Gare Lille Flandres) ★ 4.2

€€ BakeryMeringue and whipped cream pastryLille CentreWalk-in only

The Place des Buisses branch of Aux Merveilleux de Fred sits beside Lille Flandres station, open from 06:00 and stocked with merveilleux and cramique.

Worth the queueCramique

TipOpen from 06:00 on weekdays, which makes it the only serious pastry option before a first train.

Directions

Boulangerie Brier ★ 4.3

€€ BakeryRegional pastryVieux LilleWalk-in only

Boulangerie Brier on Rue Esquermoise in Lille bakes the regional canon, cramique au sucre, palet de dame and a vanilla-filled gaufre of its own.

Worth the queueGaufre fourrée à la vanille

TipThis is the cheaper place to try a gaufre fourrée before you queue at the famous one up the street.

Directions

Banana Drama ★ 4.2

€€ €15-25BrunchBrunch every dayLille Centre

Banana Drama on Rue de l'Hôpital Militaire in Lille serves brunch every day of the week, including a cramique turned into a plate of pain perdu.

OrderCramique façon pain perdu, the northern brioche version.

TipIts pastries come from Sweet Flamingo, the tea room on Rue Nicolas Leblanc.

Directions

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