Bara Brith
Traditional Welsh tea bread, made with dried fruit soaked in tea.
PRINT RECIPE
Servings: 10 slices
INGREDIENTS
- 400 g Dried Mixed Fruit (raisins, sultanas, currents, peel)
- 300 ml Hot Tea (English Breakfast, Earl Grey...)
- 100 g Soft Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp Mixed Spice
- 250 g Self-raising Flour (see Self-raising Flour note below)
- 1 Free-range Egg (beaten; at room temperature; see Egg Size note below)
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a large bowl, place your dried mixed fruit, hot tea and sugar. Once the tea cools, cover and leave the fruit to soak up the tea and sugar overnight.
- The next day, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan-assisted ovens, Gas Mark 4 or 350°F). Line a 2lb loaf tin with
greaseproof paper and set aside. - Sift the flour and
mixed spice into the bowl of soaked mixed fruit. Add the egg and mix everything together until well combined. - Pour the mixture into your pre-lined loaf tin, spreading it to the corners. Bake in your preheated oven for about 1 hour, until the top is dry and a skewer inserted comes out clean.
- Once cool, remove from the tin but keep the
greaseproof paper lining on. Bara Brith is best enjoyed after a couple of days, kept in an airtight container, then sliced with a spread of butter/margarine.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
All my recipes are developed using a digital scale and the metric system (grams and millilitres). Cup measurements are available as a conversion but these, unfortunately, won't always be as accurate. For best results, I always recommend baking with a digital scale.
RECIPE NOTES:
Self-raising Flour: Don't have self-raising flour? For this recipe, simply whisk together 250g (1¾ cups plus 1 tablespoon) plain flour and 3¼ teaspoons baking powder instead. If you bake regularly, you can also make a larger batch to keep in your baking cupboard. For full instructions, cup conversions and answers to common questions, see my Self-raising Flour Ingredient Guide.
Egg Size: When it comes to eggs, I always buy mixed-weight free-range eggs. Generally, egg size doesn’t make a huge difference in most baking, unless you are using sizes that lean towards the extremes. If you're unsure which eggs to use, I recommend medium eggs in the UK, which are roughly equivalent to large eggs in the US. That's what this recipe has been tested with.
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