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Bara brith is a traditional
Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...
tea bread A teacake in England is generally a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered. In the U.S. teacakes can be cookies or small cakes. In Sweden, they are soft, round, flat wheat breads made with mi ...
flavoured with
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
, dried fruits and spices. A decrease in its popularity led to supermarket
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...
removing it from their shelves in 2006, and a year later a survey showed that 36% of teenagers in Wales had never tried it. It has been subsequently championed by celebrity chefs such as
Bryn Williams Bryn Dwyfor Williams (born 6 June 1977) is a chef originally from Denbigh, Wales. He is the head chef and sole proprietor of Odette's Restaurant, Primrose Hill, London. He shot to fame as merely a sous chef in 2006 by beating established and ...
. Several variations on bara brith have been made, including changing it into a chocolate and into
ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
.


History

Bara Brith derived its name from the
Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...
, meaning bread and translating as speckled. It is claimed to have been invented by a Welsh chef who added
dried fruit Dried fruit is fruit from which the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to th ...
and spices to a bread dough, creating the first version of the traditional Welsh
tea loaf A tea loaf is an English bread, made with dried fruit and traditionally served sliced and spread with butter. It is seen as a very traditional cake and the tea loaf is available in cafes and other establishments that serve traditional afternoon ...
. It has subsequently been used as a colloquialism—to "over spice the Bara Brith" means to do something to excess. In 2006, British supermarket chain
Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets, trading as Morrisons, is the fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Scotland, as well as one in Gibraltar. The company is headq ...
withdrew Bara Brith from sale at 19 of its Wales-based stores. Complaints were issued in the Press, but the company insisted that the bread was removed because of lack of sales. A survey conducted by British supermarket chain
Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company ...
in 2007, showed that 36% of teenagers in Wales surveyed had never tried Bara Brith. When responses across the UK were viewed, some 85% of teenagers had never tried the traditional Welsh bread.
Celebrity chef A celebrity chef is a kitchen chef who has become a celebrity. Today, chefs often become celebrities by presenting cookery advice and demonstrations, usually through the media of television and radio, or in printed publications. While television ...
Phil Vickery cooked Bara Brith in ,
Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...
, in 2011 for a segment on the ITV television series '' This Morning''. He used a traditional recipe which had been handed down to local chef Nerys Roberts through her family. Her bakery had previously supplied British supermarket chain
Safeway Safeway is an American supermarket chain founded by Marion Barton Skaggs in April 1915 in American Falls, Idaho. The chain provides grocery items, food and general merchandise and features a variety of specialty departments, such as bakery, del ...
with Bara Brith, before it was bought out by Morrisons. Beca Lyne-Pirkis baked a Bara Brith for one her entries during the fourth season of the BBC television series ''
The Great British Bake Off ''The Great British Bake Off'' (often abbreviated to ''Bake Off'' or ''GBBO'') is a British television baking competition, produced by Love Productions, in which a group of amateur bakers compete against each other in a series of rounds, atte ...
'' in 2013. Although she based it on her grandmother's recipe, she found it difficult to complete within the three hours allocated for that round. But, it won praise from judges
Paul Hollywood Paul John Hollywood (born 1 March 1966) is an English celebrity chef and television presenter, widely known as a judge on ''The Great British Bake Off'' since 2010. Hollywood began his career at his father's bakery as a teenager and went on to ...
and
Mary Berry Dame Mary Rosa Alleyne Hunnings (; born 24 March 1935), known professionally as Mary Berry, is an English food writer, chef, baker and television presenter. After being encouraged in domestic science classes at school, she studied catering at ...
.


Recipe

The bread is made by mixing flour (either
white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White ...
or self-raising), yeast (if not using self-raising flour), butter, mixed dried fruit (such as
raisin A raisin is a dried grape. Raisins are produced in many regions of the world and may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking, and brewing. In the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia, the word ''raisin'' is reserved for the ...
s, currants and sultanas), mixed spices and an egg. Some recipes favour soaking the dried fruit in tea overnight before the baking. This mixture is then proved to allow
fermentation Fermentation is a metabolic process that produces chemical changes in organic substrates through the action of enzymes. In biochemistry, it is narrowly defined as the extraction of energy from carbohydrates in the absence of oxygen. In food p ...
to take place. After an initial period, the air is knocked out of the mixture and it is allowed to prove once more. This period of preparation can take up to two hours, including the resting time for the bread mixture. It is then baked in an oven. Bara Brith is traditionally served at
tea time Tea (in reference to food, rather than the drink) has long been used as an umbrella term for several different meals. English writer Isabella Beeton, whose books on home economics were widely read in the 19th century, describes meals of var ...
, alongside
tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of ''Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of southwestern China and north ...
. It is normally served in slices with butter spread on one side.


Variations

In
Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest ...
, Bara Brith is also known as ("black cake"). One of the most traditional foods coming out of the Chubut valleys, it was brought by the Welsh settlers who started arriving in the country in 1865. Other variations exist within Wales. Lyne-Pirkis' version of the Bara Brith on ''The Great British Bake Off'' substituted a tea oil to replace the overnight soaking process for the fruit. In E. Smith Twiddy's ''The Little Welsh Cookbook'', a cup of cold tea is included in the mixture, and
marmalade Marmalade is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of citrus fruits boiled with sugar and water. The well-known version is made from bitter orange. It is also made from lemons, limes, grapefruits, mandarins, sweet oranges, bergamot ...
is used as a glaze. Celebrity chef
Bryn Williams Bryn Dwyfor Williams (born 6 June 1977) is a chef originally from Denbigh, Wales. He is the head chef and sole proprietor of Odette's Restaurant, Primrose Hill, London. He shot to fame as merely a sous chef in 2006 by beating established and ...
uses
lard Lard is a semi-solid white fat product obtained by rendering the fatty tissue of a pig.Lard
entry in the ...
in his recipe, and a combination of raisins and candied peel as the mixed fruit. The flavours of a Bara Brith have also been made into other types of food. Pemberton's Victorian Chocolates in
Llanboidy Llanboidy is a village and community in the principal area and historic county of Carmarthenshire, West Wales. The community includes the village of Llanglydwen. Location According to the 2001 United Kingdom Census, the community had a popula ...
,
Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire ( cy, Sir Gaerfyrddin; or informally ') is a county in the south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. The county is known as ...
, developed a Bara Brith-inspired chocolate in 2009, using a tea-flavoured cream-filled chocolate complemented with dried fruit and possessing a cake-like texture. When
Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...
visited
Ammanford Ammanford ( cy, Rhydaman) is a town and community in Carmarthenshire, Wales, with a population of 5,411 at the 2011 census. It is a former coal mining town. The built-up area had a population of 7,945 with the wider urban area even bigger. Acc ...
, Carmarthenshire, in 2011, he tried Bara Brith
ice-cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
. It had been created by a local ice-cream parlour who knew of the Prince's fondness for the bread.


See also

*
Barmbrack Barmbrack ( ga, bairín breac), also often shortened to brack, is a yeast bread with added sultanas and raisins. The bread is associated with Halloween in Ireland, where an item (often a ring) is placed inside the bread, with the person who rece ...


References


External links

{{British bread Argentine cuisine British breads Sweet breads Welsh cuisine Yeast cakes British tea culture British cakes