June 17, 2010 - 5:26am
Bara Brith, anyone?
Hello!
I was wondering if anyone has made a yeasted Bara Brith loaf and is willing to share the recipe, knowledge, just send me a loaf I can call my own. :)
I found a recipe in "The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making" by Christine Ingram & Jennie Shapter, but it calls for fresh yeast which I can't get. I *could* substitute dried yeast I suppose, but I'm really looking for a recipe that someone has tried and succeeded at- I have enough of my own failures. :D
I found a blog here, Bara Brith that uses Delia's Recipe, with some riffs that I thought I would try. I was just curious if anyone has made this delicious looking bread successfully. And will send me some. :D
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It's not a yeasted recipe (self raising flour) but I've always got on well with this one, mainly cos it's so easy.
Thank you so much for sharing that recipe!
While it's not a yeasted one, I do want to make a non yeasted version as I have heard that it comes out like a tea bread- and when is that bad? :)
But please, can you tell me how much "a mug" would be?
I use a mug that's about 250ml or (I think) an American cup or whatever I have around, the recipe says "a normal size coffee mug" which might be a little bigger but this works for me and as it's all in cups except for the egg the proportions will be pretty much the same whatever you use.
250 mls sound right for a coffee mug, but I guess if they're all in proportions then it really wouldn't matter?
I'm going to try and get some Demerara sugar or some Muscavado sugar today and use that in what ever recipe I use. I've read that it gives the loaf a little more taste. I'd prefer the Mescavado sugar, but it can be a bit hard to find.
Thank you avian for your help!
Hi CoveredInFlour, I posted a couple of bara brith recipes a while back. Do a search for either bara brith or barley flour and they should come up (they are part way down the barley flour thread). Yeasted bara brith is the traditional bara brith. The version made with self-raising flour is, however, more common these days. They are very different but both are delicious. Regards, Gary
Hi Gary!
I searched for Bara Brith before I posted, but they didn't come up. I'll go back and look "by hand".
From what I've read around the web, self rising flour version are done more in the south and yeasted breads are baked more in the North. I think my few bits of Welsh blood hail from the North, so I'm going with that. :D
Thank you for the help, I'll go search again now.
Edit** found it!! http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/12137/barley-flour#comment-69290
http://fromthebrit.com/recipes/2008/10/bara-brith/
This site has a recipe for the norhern Welsh recipe and a link to a yeasted recipe.Looks interesting
Wow, that take a couple of days to make- I find it amusing that the first step is "preheat your oven to 250F" but you're not baking until the next day! That's a long preheat, lol!
Thank you so much for find this one! I'm collecting all the recipes I can find, then I'm going to progressively make all of them. Not right away, but over the course of a year or something, I'll try each recipe and see which one I prefer.
THANK YOU!! :)
Hi there
I made this recipe very many yrs ago and it was good. Now I would ammend it, I guess (less yeast perhaps + overnite ritardation ecc..)
It comes from “English Bread and yeast cookery”, by Elizabeth David and it dates early 1950s. I have abridged the (wording of the) recipe but not changed it.
Strong plain bread flour, or 85% wheatmeal, 450 g: [fresh] yeast 15g; butter 85 gr; milk 150 g; soft brown sugar 60 g; currants 85 g; seedless raisins 85 g; candied peel 30 g; salt 1 tsp; mixed sweet or pudding spice 1/2 tsp;
tin size: a loaf tin of 1.5 lt capacità
warm flour and salt for a few minutes
warm milk. Pour a little over yeast
pour creamed yeast into warmed flour
mix to a fairly light dough with the milk and the butter
cover and leave to rise till doubled
now put the dry fruit, chopped candied peel, sugar and spice into a small bowl/plate and warm it in the oven
work the fruit mixture into the dough using yr hands.if the dough seems too stiff add just a little extra milk
put mixture into a warmed and well-buttered loaf tin. Pat into shape
cover and leave until dough has risen to the top.
Bake in the centre shelf of a medium-hot oven (400 to 425 F) for 20/30 minutes, covering the top with a piece of foil/greaseproof paper during the final 10 minutes
Leave the loaf to cool a little bifore attempting to turn it out
Notes
The relatively short baking time produe a loaf that is moist and not overbaked
Instead of candied peel a few dried apricots can be used/cut into slivers
The raisins are characteristic and should not be omitted/replaced
One usefull trick to know: soak the fruit in tea overnight
On the net I also found this
http://bakingforbritain.blogspot.com/2005/10/bara-brith-welsh-fruit-cake.html