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Cramique
Cramique: Brussels and Walloon raisin brioche for Sunday breakfast
Cramique is the Sunday breakfast loaf of Brussels and Wallonia: a soft, golden brioche packed with raisins, bought from the bakery on Sunday morning and sliced thickly with salted butter. Its sister, craquelin, swaps the raisins for pearl sugar. A common mistake is adding the raisins at the start of kneading, which tears the gluten and turns the dough grey. Chef's tip: soak the raisins in warm tea for 20 minutes, then knead them in only at the end, gently.
- Total time
- 75 min
- Difficulty
- medium
- Serves
- 10
Ingredients
For the dough
- 1 ⅛ lb strong white flour
- 1 ¾ oz sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ cup warm milk
- 2 eggs
- 3 ½ oz soft butter
- 5 ½ oz raisinssoaked in warm tea 20 minutes, drained
- 1 eggbeaten
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Method
0/4 doneStep 1: Mix 1 ⅛ lb strong white flour, ¼ oz fast-action dried yeast, 1 ¾ oz sugar and 1 tsp salt. Add ¾ cup warm milk and 2 eggs and knead 8 minutes. Add 3 ½ oz soft butter in pieces and knead 5 minutes more until silky.
13 minStep 2: Knead in 5 ½ oz raisins gently. Common mistake: adding them early; grey dough. Rise 1 hour.
Step 3: Shape into a loaf and put in a buttered 1 kg tin. Rise 45 minutes.
45 minStep 4: Heat the oven to 375°F (fan 350°F). Brush with 1 egg and bake 30–35 minutes, until deep golden and hollow-sounding.
35 min
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 320 kcal
- Protein
- 7 g
- Carbs
- 48 g
- Fat
- 11 g
- Fibre
- 2 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does cramique take?
- About 75 minutes in total: 40 minutes to prepare and 35 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 10 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it vegetarian?
- Yes. It has no meat or fish.
- What can I use instead of fast-action dried yeast?
- Fresh yeast, three times the weight.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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