Barm Brack

Pantglas2

I’ve made the tea-soaked fruit loaf and called it Bara Brith but my grandmother made a proper yeasted one once a week along with her normal bread production.

1lb 2oz bread flour
1oz butter
9oz dried fruit
1tsp mixed spice
1tsp yeast
1tsp salt
1.5tsp treacle
14 fl oz water

Mix, prove and bake as per normal bread.

My husband's workers love tea bread toast- we're too far from civilization to go out for meals. I use a similar recipe, more spice, water is replaced with tea, treacle is replaced with 1/2 c sugar.

Allergies: No milk or eggs, can be adapted with almond flour

I used to make amn Australian boiled fruit cake which was very similar but did contain an egg or two.

Mine was very moist and moreish - dh had 2 fat slices while it was still warm.
I’d add rather more mixed spice next time though - TBH I could hardly taste it.
But for such a simple recipe, 10/10.

I've always known it as barm brack. Haven't made one for ages. Might try out one of the recipes above.

PS, the old Mary Berry recipe, in case anyone would like it:

3/4 pint cold tea (I used hot, made with 2 teabags)
7 oz soft brown sugar
12 oz mixed dried fruit
10 oz SR flour
1 egg
(I added a tsp of mixed spice but would make it 2 next time)

Put tea, sugar and fruit in a bowl, cover and leave to soak overnight.
Grease an 8 inch round cake tin, or a 2 on loaf tin. (Mine just fitted into the loaf tin*)
Add flour (and spice) to the soaked fruit and liquid, mix all together thoroughly, beat the egg and add to make a smooth mixture.
Pour into the tin and bake for about 1 hr 45 mins, 180, 160 fan.
Cool on a wire tray.

( *I did the Jamie Oliver thing of wetting the lining paper and scrunching it up, before fitting it into the tin. No need to wash the tin afterwards!)

Thanks for the recipe Whiff. I didn’t have any mixed fruit so I used sultanas which was fine. It looked like a bit too much mixture for my 1lb loaf tin so I made 4 muffins as well . They cooked beautifully (I had to adjust the timing of course) and we had them for breakfast. I have butter on mine but DH says it doesn’t need it.

Occasionally I peel and chop apples, oven bake at 80-100 for a couple of hours, to dry. Replace most of the dried fruit with apples.

We've many fruit trees, good use for excess.

Barm in the name suggests yeast is used in the recipe, or at least some of the barm taken from another process such as brewing ale.

Barm cakes – flattish soft bread rolls – are a lovely memory from my Lancashire days. Not that we had them often. They were a treat.

Waiting for a couple of bananas to ripen enough so I can make banana and walnut teabread 😋

Norah

Occasionally I peel and chop apples, oven bake at 80-100 for a couple of hours, to dry. Replace most of the dried fruit with apples.

We've many fruit trees, good use for excess.

I've cored and cut apples into rings and dried them; they keep well in a glass jar.
Even better, DD has a food dehydrator. It's probably more economical than using the oven too.

I've had enough of banana cake in all its variations!

Apple cake is lovely.

Currently apple caked up, allira, and haven’t done a banana bread for yonks. Actually my apple cake recipe works just as well with bananas or with both apples and bananas 🙂

Never heard of it , but it sounds lovely

Baggs, my nan made barm cakes every week. They were fabulous.

Barm Brack is an Irish tea soaked fruit loaf. Always (when I was young) made for, or around Hallowe'en, and was always delicious. My mother made one each year, no yeast. Usually a little something was put in the mix, eg sixpence piece - probably 5p these days!! We had a huge amount of fun around Hallowe'en each year.
I do not remember a Barm Brack made at other times of the year, mostly due to the cost of fruit used in the Brack, and needed to make sure there was enough for Christmas cakes.

charley68

Barm Brack is an Irish tea soaked fruit loaf. Always (when I was young) made for, or around Hallowe'en, and was always delicious. My mother made one each year, no yeast. Usually a little something was put in the mix, eg sixpence piece - probably 5p these days!! We had a huge amount of fun around Hallowe'en each year.
I do not remember a Barm Brack made at other times of the year, mostly due to the cost of fruit used in the Brack, and needed to make sure there was enough for Christmas cakes.

Mum put little something(s) in the mix as well, threads to pull out.

Mum semi-dried chopped/peeled apples, as do I, due to cost of dried fruit.