Old Fashioned Perfect Gingerbread

 Old Fashioned Perfect Gingerbread

Ingredients  Old Fashioned Perfect Gingerbread

Number of cake

-

1

+

200 g of T45 flour

50 g of other flour (I use buckwheat, traditionally it is chestnut and rye)

250 g of honey

1 lemon zest

1 orange zest

1.5 tablespoon of baking soda

1 liter of water

50 g brown sugar (rapadura powder preferably for taste)

1 tablespoon of cinnamon

1 tablespoon of ground ginger

1 tablespoon of nutmeg

2 cloves, chopped

1/2 teaspoon of anise

1 star anise 4 split cardamom seeds)

1 teaspoon of chocolate powder

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 handful of toasted almonds (optional)

Preparation  Old Fashioned Perfect Gingerbread

Total time : 1 h

Preparation: 1 hour

In 1dl of water, bring all the flavors and spices with the sugar (except citrus fruits and almonds) to a gentle boil, whisking lightly so that the water infuses the spices evenly.

After 5min of boiling, remove from heat and forget for 1/4 hour.

During this resting time, mix the flours. Heat the honey to liquefy it then pour it into the flour.

Gradually form a homogeneous dough using a spatula. Remove the star anise and cardamom from the spice mixture and after rest pour it into this paste then mix.

Finally add the zest and 1 tablespoon of baking soda.

Forget the dough for 2 days under a clean cloth.

After this long rest, preheat the oven to 150 ° C. At this point, the dough has hardened under the action of the honey, but fear not. Turn the dough slightly using a spatula and add 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda and almonds. Butter a cake mold and place the dough in it.

Bake for 1 hour at 150 ° C (rotating heat) and finish cooking for 1/4 hour with the oven off. Note: it is possible to start cooking 10min at 180 ° C then lower for a darker crust. However, do not open the oven.