David Lebovitz's Pain D'Épices

I'm really not joking when I say I'm counting down the days to release of Lebovitz's new book. And here's proof. The second recipe of his that I have made in one week, retrieved from other bloggers, from those lucky few who received a sneak preview and who I am so grateful to for sharing a glimpse of what lies inside with us common-folk. 

So it was that on a lonely night home alone, far too late in the day, I set about baking David's Pain d'Épices that the wonderful Lottie and Doof had published weeks before. My little flat was soon filled with the comforting smells of sugar and spice and all things nice. The golden honey mixture was too beautiful and smooth not to dip my finger into (a few times). 

The beautiful rise on the little loaf put a sleepy smile on my face.

Apparently it will last for a while, but I'm afraid we can't attest to that. This honey-spice bread is all too easy to eat for breakfast, with coffee, with tea, after dinner. We did all of them. It didn't last long.

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Christmas Breakfast

We always have our Christmas meal in the evening, which puts a lot of stress on breakfast being substantial enough to see us through most of the day. Obviously with many mince pies, lots of chocolate, and a few nibbles of smoked salmon and glasses of bubbles to help us along the way. Rather than the usual problem of mum and I with our sweet teeth not fancying ham and eggs as soon as we've crawled out of bed, I was told that we were going to be having an Ottolenghi breakfast. Never one for simplicity, it was to be a decadent breakfast of gilled banana bread with tahini, honeycomb and sea salt. Thank you Waitrose Magazine. Ham and eggs no longer seemed such a treat. I could sense food envy vibes coming from the male side of the table. 

I spent almost all of Christmas Eve in the kitchen, baking away, happy as can be. Carols from King's in the background and a little Christmas tree in the corner, the festive feeling finally arrived. As soon as the nibbles for the evening were done, I was removed from my position in front of the oven as mum decided it was her turn in her kitchen (fair enough, I suppose). She got to work on the banana bread.

Sliced and grilled on Christmas morning, the perfect loaf was drizzled with earthy, silky tahini, sweet and flowery honeycomb (thank you Steve from the London Honey Co!) crushed on top, and a small sprinkling of sea salt providing a subtle contrast and snowflake-like decoration. The sun pouring in the windows, a perfect Americano on the side. This was the way to start Christmas day. Although I have to say the Ham and Eggs (or M n X as we call it in this house, thanks to the Two Ronnies), didn't look half bad either.

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