Bara Brith

Bara Brith is a Welsh tea time fruit cake bread, aka 'speckled bread'. Normally this bread uses baking powder as its raising agent but I am opting for yeast as I feel it will give the bread a good rise.

Bread is delicious with a dollop of butter and marmalade jam. Toasted of course!

I made a mistake of  not kneading the bread well when I added the dried fruits, fearing that I might mush the fruits. If you notice the fruits were not well distributed. So, please knead the dough for a good five minutes, gently though. Nevertheless it was a good bread.

450 g bread flour
225 ml lukewarm milk
150 g  dried fruit (sultanas, raisins, mixed peel,glazed cherries)
75 g brown sugar
75 g  butter
1 egg, beaten
2 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp mixed spice
Honey for the glaze.


Add the yeast and the tsp of sugar to the warm milk. Mix and leave to stand for 10 minutes.
Sift the flour into a bowl. Rub the butter into the flour until the texture is like fine sand.
Add in the sugar, salt and mixed spice. Mix well.

Make a well in the centre and add the milk and the beaten egg. Mix well to a smooth, probably sticky dough.
Liberally sprinkle a surface with flour. Turn out the dough and knead until you have incorporated enough flour to lose the stickiness, then knead for a further 7-8 minutes.
Place the dough in a lightly-greased bowl, cover and allow the dough to double
in size. 
                                 

When the dough has risen turn it out onto a floured surface, knock it back and pour on the dried fruit. Fold over and knead the dough for 5 minutes.

Make the dough into a ball and place on a lightly-greased baking tray. Cover and leave to rise for about 30 minutes in a nice warm place.

Bake in the oven at 180°C/350°F fan oven, 200°C/400°F for 30-35 minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack and brush with warm honey while the bread is still hot. Leave to cool before slicing.

Enjoy...jue

taken from the bread kitchen