Food & Drink

Recipe: Barmbrack made easy

Barm Brack is a yeasted bread with added sultanas and raisins.

It is usually sold in flattened rounds and served toasted with butter. The dough is sweeter than sandwich bread, but not as rich as cake, and the sultanas and raisins add flavour and texture to the final product. 



INGREDIENTS


225g strong white flour, plus extra for dusting


2 tbsp mixed spice


¼ tsp salt


25g butter, plus extra for spreading


1 x 7g sachet fast-action yeast


50g caster sugar


150ml milk


1 egg, beaten


200g mixed dried fruit, either ready-mixed or your own mixture of sultanas, raisins and currants


25g chopped mixed candied peel, shop-bought or homemade



METHOD


1 Take some butter and apply it to the sides and the bottom of a 23 x 13cm (9 x 5in) loaf tin. Sift the flour, mixed spice and salt into a large bowl and add the butter, yeast and sugar. Beat together by hand or in an electric foodmixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.



2 Heat the milk until it is lukewarm, then add the flour mixture to the egg. Whisk thoroughly until the dough comes together, then knead using an electric food mixer that has a dough hook attachment, or tip the dough out onto a well-floured work surface and knead by hand (don't worry, this is supposed to be a wet dough). You'll then need to knead for 8 minutes by hand or for 5 minutes in the mixer. Add the dried fruit and mixed peel and knead for another 2 minutes to mix them in.



3 Place the dough into the prepared loaf tin, cover with a light tea towel or napkin and leave to rise in a warm place (by a radiator, for instance, or a sunny window) for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Recipe and image courtesy of holidaycottages.co.uk