Dijon pain d’épices with wheat flour, honey and anise
Dijon has its own long pain d’épices tradition, and the key distinction here is the flour. This loaf is built on wheat flour rather than the rye-forward mixture used for the separate Alsatian pain d’épices. Honey remains central, but the crumb is a smooth, moist wheat-based loaf rather than a dark rye spice bread.
Historic Dijon specialists sell pain d’épices with ingredient profiles that include wheat flour, honey, leavening, spice and, in some products, egg yolk. Exact commercial methods and ratios are proprietary, so this household recipe does not claim to reproduce a manufacturer's secret process. It uses a transparent mixture of wheat flour, honey, sugar, egg yolks, anise, cinnamon and lemon zest in a standard 23 × 10 cm loaf tin.
The honey and sugar are warmed with water only until fluid, then mixed into the dry ingredients with the yolks. After a 30-minute rest, the loaf bakes at 160 °C until the centre is fully set but still moist. Give it a full 90 minutes to cool before slicing: warm honey loaves compress easily and can appear underdone if cut too soon. As with any honey-based food, it is not suitable for infants under 12 months.
