Bara Brith
by NigellaIntroduction
I have a particular fondness for Bara Brith, the traditional Welsh fruit-speckled tea bread. My late sister Thomasina lived and worked in Wales, and my first taste of it came courtesy of her next door neighbour, Dai, over 30 years ago. It’s extraordinarily simple to make: you steep dried fruits and treacly sugar in hot tea overnight, then the next day you simply stir in an egg and some flour and pop it in the oven. As Dai did, I add a couple of teaspoons of mixed spice (though you can easily substitute dried ground ginger or cinnamon alone if you prefer) though I choose to add it to the steeping fruits rather than the flour. The only difficult thing about any of this is having to wait a day after baking before eating it. But this is a counsel of perfection: you can eat it as soon as it’s cooled, but to taste Bara Brith at its best, I would beg you to be patient.
You may have noticed there’s no butter (or any fat) in the recipe: this isn’t a mistake: the butter comes in later, when it is essential. Believe me, there is nothing better mid-afternoon than a thick slice of Bara Brith spread generously with butter, so generously that the Danes would recognise it approvingly as tandsmør — which is to say, butter spread thickly enough that you leave teeth marks in it after taking a bite!
And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding.
For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
I have a particular fondness for Bara Brith, the traditional Welsh fruit-speckled tea bread. My late sister Thomasina lived and worked in Wales, and my first taste of it came courtesy of her next door neighbour, Dai, over 30 years ago. It’s extraordinarily simple to make: you steep dried fruits and treacly sugar in hot tea overnight, then the next day you simply stir in an egg and some flour and pop it in the oven. As Dai did, I add a couple of teaspoons of mixed spice (though you can easily substitute dried ground ginger or cinnamon alone if you prefer) though I choose to add it to the steeping fruits rather than the flour. The only difficult thing about any of this is having to wait a day after baking before eating it. But this is a counsel of perfection: you can eat it as soon as it’s cooled, but to taste Bara Brith at its best, I would beg you to be patient.
You may have noticed there’s no butter (or any fat) in the recipe: this isn’t a mistake: the butter comes in later, when it is essential. Believe me, there is nothing better mid-afternoon than a thick slice of Bara Brith spread generously with butter, so generously that the Danes would recognise it approvingly as tandsmør — which is to say, butter spread thickly enough that you leave teeth marks in it after taking a bite!
And please read the Additional Information section at the end of the recipe before proceeding.
For US cup measures, use the toggle at the top of the ingredients list.
Ingredients
Makes: 10 generous slices
- 300 millilitres freshly boiled water
- 2 strong black tea bags
- 50 grams currants
- 400 grams mixed dried fruit (see Additional Information, below)
- 100 grams dark muscovado sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground mixed spice
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon unsalted butter (for greasing)
- 250 grams self-raising flour (see Additional Information, below)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon runny honey (for glazing the cake )
- salted butter to serve (optional)
- 1¼ cups freshly boiled water
- 2 strong black tea bags
- ⅓ cup Zante currants
- 3 cups mixed dried fruit (see Additional Information, below)
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons ground pumpkin pie spice
- 1 large egg (at room temperature)
- 1 teaspoon unsalted butter (for greasing)
- 2 cups self-rising flour (see Additional Information, below)
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 tablespoon honey (for glazing the cake )
- salted butter to serve (optional)
Method
- Make up some strong tea by pouring 300ml/1¼ cups boiling water over the two tea bags and allowing to steep for 5 mins.
- Put the currants, dried fruit and sugar into a bowl big enough to take all the other ingredients later, and pour over the hot tea, squeezing the tea bags out well to get all you can out of them. Add the mixed spice then stir gently and thoroughly to combine, and to help dissolve the sugar. Then leave overnight (or for at least 6 hours) to steep. If your eggs live in the fridge, take one out now so it will be at room temperature when you come to use it tomorrow.
- When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 180°C/160°C/350°F fan and line the bottom and butter the sides of a 900g/2lb loaf tin.
- Add the flour and salt to the steeped fruit in the bowl and stir to mix. When it’s all but mixed in, beat the egg in a cup or small jug, pour into your big bowl and mix again until all the pockets of flour have gone.
- Spoon and scrape into the buttered tin, smooth the surface, and bake for 40-50 minutes, by which time it will be beginning to come away from the sides and the top will be firm and dark gold, and a skewer or knife poked into the cake will come out clean.
- Immediately place the tin on a cooling rack, then brush the runny honey all over the top of the hot cake, and leave to cool in the tin. Only once it’s completely cold, remove the cake from the tin, wrap with baking paper then foil and store in an airtight tin or cake-keeper and leave it there, if you can, for two days before serving. When the cake is ready to eat, cut into generous slices, spread each one thickly with butter, and savour the moment.
- Make up some strong tea by pouring 300ml/1¼ cups boiling water over the two tea bags and allowing to steep for 5 mins.
- Put the Zante currants, dried fruit and sugar into a bowl big enough to take all the other ingredients later, and pour over the hot tea, squeezing the tea bags out well to get all you can out of them. Add the pumpkin pie spice then stir gently and thoroughly to combine, and to help dissolve the sugar. Then leave overnight (or for at least 6 hours) to steep. If your eggs live in the fridge, take one out now so it will be at room temperature when you come to use it tomorrow.
- When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 180°C/160°C/350°F fan and line the bottom and butter the sides of a 900g/2lb loaf tin.
- Add the flour and salt to the steeped fruit in the bowl and stir to mix. When it’s all but mixed in, beat the egg in a cup or small jug, pour into your big bowl and mix again until all the pockets of flour have gone.
- Spoon and scrape into the buttered tin, smooth the surface, and bake for 40-50 minutes, by which time it will be beginning to come away from the sides and the top will be firm and dark gold, and a skewer or knife poked into the cake will come out clean.
- Immediately place the tin on a cooling rack, then brush the honey all over the top of the hot cake, and leave to cool in the tin. Only once it’s completely cold, remove the cake from the tin, wrap with baking paper then foil and store in an airtight tin or cake-keeper and leave it there, if you can, for two days before serving. When the cake is ready to eat, cut into generous slices, spread each one thickly with butter, and savour the moment.
Additional Information
If you can't get packets of mixed dried fruit where you are, you can use a mixture of raisins, currants, and sultanas/golden raisins.
If you can't get self-raising flour, then use plain flour/all-purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
MAKE AHEAD / STORE:
Wrap in baking paper and then foil and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week. Can be frozen, tightly wrapped in a double layer of food wrap and a double layer of foil for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap and stand at room temperature for 3-4 hours, then store as above.
If you can't get packets of mixed dried fruit where you are, you can use a mixture of raisins, currants, and sultanas/golden raisins.
If you can't get self-raising flour, then use plain flour/all-purpose flour and add 2 teaspoons of baking powder.
MAKE AHEAD / STORE:
Wrap in baking paper and then foil and store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to a week. Can be frozen, tightly wrapped in a double layer of food wrap and a double layer of foil for up to 3 months. To thaw, unwrap and stand at room temperature for 3-4 hours, then store as above.
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