Alsatian gingerbread: a dense, dark honey-and-rye loaf spiced with cinnamon, anise and clove, sliced thin at tea time or baked into the Christmas market's biscuits and figures.

Pain d'epices, honey spice bread, has deep roots in Alsace, with the nearby village of Gertwiller styling itself the capital of gingerbread. Built on honey and rye flour and warmed with anise, cinnamon and clove, it keeps for weeks and scents the air of the Christkindelsmarik. It appears as loaves, as glazed figures and as the spiced biscuits sold from December stalls. Pastry houses bake it year-round, but it belongs above all to the Strasbourg winter.

Where to eat Pain d'epices in Strasbourg

2 editor picks for Pain d'epices in Strasbourg, ranked by editorial score. All Strasbourg signature dishes · Pain d'epices across every city.

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Make it at home

Serves 11 hr 20 minEasy

Ingredients

  • 250g honey
  • 100ml milk
  • 200g rye flour and 100g plain flour
  • 1 teaspoon each ground anise, cinnamon and ginger
  • A pinch of ground clove
  • 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
  • 1 egg

Method

  1. Warm the honey with the milk until just liquid, then cool slightly.
  2. Mix the flours, spices and bicarbonate of soda in a bowl.
  3. Beat the egg into the honey milk, then stir into the dry ingredients to a thick batter.
  4. Pour into a lined loaf tin and bake at 160C for about 1 hour until a skewer comes out clean.
  5. Cool fully, then wrap and rest a day before slicing thin; the flavour deepens overnight.

Editor tip. Wrap and keep it a day or two before eating; fresh from the oven the spice tastes raw and sharp.

Common allergens: Gluten.