Bara Brith
Wales' tea-soaked fruit loaf: moist, lightly spiced and best sliced thickly with salted butter.
- Prep
- 15 min
- Cook
- 1 hr 15 min
- Total
- 1 hr 30 min
- Makes
- one 2lb loaf
- Difficulty
- Easy
"Bara brith" means "speckled bread" in Welsh, after the dried fruit that studs every slice. Older versions were yeasted breads; the version most Welsh families bake today is the quicker tea bread, where the fruit soaks overnight in strong tea before being mixed with flour, sugar, egg and spice.
It keeps well and actually improves after a day, wrapped. Serve it sliced and buttered with a cup of tea.
Ingredients
- 300gmixed dried fruit
- 250mlstrong hot black tea
- 100glight muscovado or soft brown sugar
- 1medium egg, beaten
- 225gself-raising flour
- 1tspmixed spice
- salted butter, to serve
Equipment
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- 2lb (900g) loaf tinHow to chooseShop on Amazon UK(affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
- Large mixing bowlHow to chooseShop on Amazon UK(affiliate link, opens in a new tab)
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Method
- 1
Put the dried fruit and sugar in a bowl, pour over the hot tea, stir, cover and leave to soak overnight (or for at least 6 hours) so the fruit plumps up.
Photo: AntanO · CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped) - 2
Heat the oven to 170°C / 150°C fan / gas 3 and line a 2lb (900 g) loaf tin. Stir the beaten egg into the soaked fruit, then fold in the flour and mixed spice until no dry flour remains. Spoon into the tin and level the top.
Photo: May be Предположительно Nleamy · Public domain - 3
Bake for 1 hour–1 hour 15 minutes, until risen and a skewer pushed into the centre comes out clean. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then on a rack. Wrap and keep for a day before slicing, if you can wait, and serve with butter.
Photo: Alan Hughes · CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
Tips
Glaze: brush the warm loaf with a little honey for a shiny top.
Keeping: wrapped in baking paper and foil, it keeps for about a week.
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If it goes wrong
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Loaf sank in the middle | Underbaked | Bake until a skewer comes out clean; cover with foil if the top browns too fast |
| Dry and crumbly | Fruit not soaked long enough | Soak overnight so the fruit is plump and the tea is absorbed |
