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The online cookbook for entertaining and gourmet recipes. |
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Gingerbread
A.K.A Pain d'epice (French), Lebkuchen (German)
Ginger bread is a honey or molasses sweetened, ginger and spice flavored flat bread, cake or cookie. There are many varieties of ginger bread and every region in Europe has it's own recipes and tradition for the gingerbread; crisp or soft, cookies or loafs, thick or thin, sweet or spicy and even boiled and molded. This variation is practiced very often in Lyon, Ulm, Nuerenberg, Prague and other cities, and uses a poached dough, that can be them molded in any shape or size before being baked.
Gingerbread takes it's name from an old French term – “gingebras” and this term was derived from the Latin word for spice, Zingebar. The origin of gingerbreads can be traced back to the 11th century England, where the term gingerbread simply meant “preserved ginger”. It wasn't until 3 centuries later where gingerbread was the name used to describe a thick, heavy, ginger flavored cake. It was also discovered that ginger acts as a preservative which triggered the creation of a host of new recipes for cookies, cakes and breads using ginger and other spices as flavoring and preservatives. Until today Gingerbreads are found throughout Europe at virtually every fair. Gingerbread at that time was not necessarily associated with Christmas, but rather eaten throughout the year as in many cities in Europe it still is available all the time. It is to be assumed that the easy way of shaping ginger bread and colorful decoration led to the increased usage and availability through the Christmas season.
Lebkuchen
In the English language the German “Lebkuchen” is mostly also translated into gingerbread. Although the gingerbread and the Lebkuchen are somewhat similar they are not entirely the same thing. The German Lebkuchen was actually invented in Belgium and then brought to Aachen and Germany through trade and the recipe over time evolved to the specialty it is today. Originally called the Pepper cake (Pfefferkuchen) it was produced in monasteries throughout Germany but especially in cities where trade flourished and the spices were somewhat better accessible. Ulm, Nuerenberg and Basel (Switzerland) all have very distinct and tradition embedded productions of Lebkuchen.
The fairy tale of Hansel and Gretel, popularized through the Brothers Grimm in the 19th century, where the house made of “bread, candies and sweets” plays a vital role brought about the construction of gingerbread (or lebkuchen) houses throughout the world. As a matter of fact the term Gingerbread is also used in architecture to describe certain Victorian style houses.
Ginger bread spice
Gingerbread spice is often called for in recipes and it consists of powdered spices, mainly cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, cardamom, coriander, all spice and dried ginger as the main ingredients, There are different nuances a baker might use from dried citrus skin to regional spices to creative additives all is possible. The German Lebkuchen, although translated as gingerbread, seldom uses powdered ginger is seldom used in the spice mixture.
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