* Exported from MasterCook *
BARA BRITH (SPECKLED BREAD)
Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads Ethnic
Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ---------- --------------------------------
6 oz Dried fruit
8 oz Dark brown sugar
1/2 pt Strong hot tea
10 oz Self-raising flour
1 Egg
This is Wales' traditional rich fruit bread. South Wales makes it with
baking powder; Northerners prefer yeast as the raising agent. Either way
it's delicious.
Soak the dried fruit and sugar overnight in the tea. You can use either
fresh tea, or the cold dregs from the teapot (this gives a good strong
colour). Next day, sieve the flour and fold it it into the fruit. Mix in
the lightly beaten egg. Line a small loaf-tin with buttered paper then tip
in the mixture, smoothing it well into the corners.
Bake in a gentle oven at 300 F (150 C, gas mark 2) for 1 1/2 hours. Cool
and store for at least 2 days in a tin so that it matures moist and rich.
Traditionalists say you should never butter the Bara Brith, but Dorothy
says do, as it's lovely that way.
Source: Elisabeth Luard in "Country Living" (British), April 1989.
---------- Recipe via Meal-Master (tm) v8.01
Title: Bara Brith (Currant Bread) - Welsh
Categories: Breads
Yield: 16 servings
1/4 lb Dried fruit
2 ts Salt
4 oz Candied peel
6 oz Lard
1 pt Warm water
1 oz Fresh yeast
1/2 ts Mixed spice
1/2 lb Demerara sugar
2 lb Plain flour
2 ea Eggs
Soak the fruit and candied peel in the water with the spice. Leave to steep
in a warm place and use the warm spicy, strained water to mix the dough.
Sift the flour and salt and rub in the lard; cream the yeast with the sugar
and a little of the spiced water; mix this into the flour, together with
the eggs and use enough of the water to give a firm, yet elastic dough.
Knead well, leave to rise and knock back; blend in the drained fruit and
knead again.
Shape the dough into loaves and set into greased 1 lb tins in a warm place
to prove. Bake at 450F (Gas Mark 8) for 15 minutes, then reduce the
temperature to 375F (Gas Mark 5) for 45 minutes.
Originally, in some recipies, the fruit content would have been fresh
currants or blackberries. Bara Brith is often served as part of the
traditional Welsh tea. It can also be purchased at many of the small
bakeries found throughout Wales.
British Cookery (BTA/BFPC)