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Cramique (kramiek)

Name: Cramique (kramiek)
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 155 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 430 g white bread flour; 220 g milk, at room temperature; 85 g unsalted butter; 1 piece egg (about 55 g), loosely beaten; 45 g fine granulated sugar; 5 g salt; 25 g fresh yeast; 250 g raisins; egg or milk, for glazing

Belgium's raisin brioche loaf, sold in bakeries in Flanders, Wallonia and Brussels and eaten sliced with butter, jam or chocolate spread at breakfast. This is the recipe that Belgium presented in the EU pavilion at Expo Milano 2015.

Editorial illustration of the documented recipe; not a photograph of a kitchen-tested result.

Servings: 8
Preparation: 30 min
Cooking: 40 min
Resting: 1 h 25
Total: 2 h 35
Difficulty: Moderate

Equipment

Bowl and a mixer with a dough hook (or knead by hand)
Loaf tin or a silicone mat
Wire rack

Servings8

Method

Dissolve the yeast in the milk, then add the beaten egg and the sugar.
Put the flour, salt and butter in a bowl. Add the liquids, mix well and leave 10 minutes.
Timer · 10 min10:00
Knead well, 10 minutes by hand or about 6 minutes with a dough hook.
Timer · 10 min10:00
Cover with oiled cling film and leave in bulk for 30 minutes at about 31 °C, until almost doubled.
Timer · 30 min30:00
Towards the end of this rise, add the raisins and work them in gently so they are evenly spread.
Why Added earlier or kneaded hard, the raisins break up and turn to mush, especially if soaked.
Flatten, fold and shape the dough: a ball for a free-standing loaf, or a log for a greased tin.
Cover and leave about 45 minutes in a warm place (30 °C), until almost doubled.
Timer · 45 min45:00
Brush with egg or milk. Bake about 40 minutes in the middle of the oven at 190 °C (conventional heat), until the top is dark brown and the loaf sounds hollow and drops easily out of the tin.
Timer · 40 min40:00
Cool on a wire rack.

Substitutions

Raisins → Craquelin is the same kind of brioche with pearl sugar in place of raisins.

Common mistakes

Adding the raisins at the start of kneading: they tear and colour the dough.
Too cool a rising place: at room temperature the rises take much longer than the times given.

Storage & reheating

Keeps 2–3 days wrapped; slightly stale cramique is good toasted or in bread pudding.

Allergens

Gluten · Milk · Egg

Check labels: stock, bacon and sauces can contain further allergens.

Dietary

vegetarian

A loaf for the mass

Cramique (French) or kramiek (Dutch) is a brioche loaf with raisins found in all three of Belgium's regions. It is usually eaten at breakfast or as a snack, sliced and spread with butter, jam or chocolate. According to the EU's presentation, the Dutch word once meant a small loaf handed out among the priests saying a Catholic mass, and comes from Middle Dutch credemicke: credo and probably micke, bread.

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Warm rises, late raisins

The dough is lightly enriched (85 g butter, one egg, 45 g sugar to 430 g flour) and raised with plenty of fresh yeast in warm conditions, about 31 °C in bulk and 30 °C after shaping, so each rise takes well under an hour. The raisins go in only at the end of the first rise and are folded in gently.

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