Bara brith
In Welsh bara brith means “speckled bread” — from the raisins it is studded with. In the most popular home version dried fruit is soaked overnight in strong black tea with sugar, then mixed with flour, egg and spice in the morning and baked in a loaf tin. It contains no butter or oil, yet it is moist and heavy with fruit. It is sliced and spread with salted butter — the way it is served with afternoon tea. It tastes even better after a day or two.
Your own work in that: 10 min.
- Soaking the fruit in tea 720 min
- Mixing 10 min
- Baking 70 min
- Cooling 60 min
Step by step
0 / 8 doneSoak the fruit
Pour the hot tea over the fruit and sugar, stir, cover and leave overnight (about 12 hours, at least 8) at room temperature. The fruit absorbs almost all the tea and plumps up.
Ingredients: 400 g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants · 300 ml strong hot black tea · 100 g brown sugar
Overnight in tea — the fruit plumps up.Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 160°C. Line a 2 lb loaf tin (about 23 × 12 cm) with baking paper.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg · 250 g plain flour · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp mixed spice
Add the egg
Crack the egg into the bowl of fruit and stir.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg · 250 g plain flour · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp mixed spice
Fold in the flour
Sift in the flour with the baking powder and spice and stir with a spoon until no dry flour remains. The batter will be thick and full of fruit.
Ingredients: 1 pcs egg · 250 g plain flour · 2 tsp baking powder · 1 tsp mixed spice
Thick and full of fruit — that is right.Spoon into the tin
Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth it with a wet spoon.
Ingredients: 400 g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants · 300 ml strong hot black tea · 100 g brown sugar
Bake slowly
Bake 60–70 minutes, until the loaf is deep golden and a skewer in the centre comes out dry. If the top darkens too fast, cover it with foil after 40 minutes.
Ingredients: 400 g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants · 300 ml strong hot black tea · 100 g brown sugar
Cool
Cool in the tin 10 minutes, then on a rack until completely cold, about an hour. Ideally wrap it and leave a day — the flavour deepens and it slices more easily.
Ingredients: 400 g mixed raisins, sultanas and currants · 300 ml strong hot black tea · 100 g brown sugar
Serve with butter
Cut into 12 slices about 1.5–2 cm thick and spread with salted butter — the way it is eaten in Wales. Serve with tea.
Ingredients: 60 g salted butter, for spreading (optional)
Salted butter — the Welsh way.
Before you start
Yeasted version
The older, traditional bara brith is a yeasted bread with dried fruit and lard or butter. The tea version, raised with baking powder, is simpler and very popular in Welsh homes today.
With honey
Brush the warm loaf with a spoonful of honey or sugar syrup — the crust turns glossy and slightly sticky.
Storage
Wrapped in paper and foil, bara brith keeps up to a week at room temperature and grows moister over the first few days. It also freezes well.
