Bara Brith Recipe
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A traditional Welsh bara brith recipe flavored with black tea, dried fruit, brown sugar, and mixed spice. This simple fruit bread makes a wonderful addition to any tea-time spread. And like all bara brith, it’s best served sliced, slathered in a thick layer of salted butter and accompanied by a cup of strong, hot black tea.
What Inspired This Bara Brith Recipe?
Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread. (The name means “speckled bread” in Welsh (bara = bread + brith = speckled), with the dried fruit and bits of citrus peel dotted throughout the bread serving as the “speckles.”) I first tasted bara brith after moving to the UK in 2019, and soon learned how to make it, along with other classic British bakes. Despite its reputation as a French pastry school, my studies at Le Cordon Bleu London included a module on British baking, and I also studied at Bread Ahead Bakery, learning traditional bakes like Welsh cakes and (English) muffins.
Bara brith dates back centuries, but the modern version rose to prominence in the 1800s, when tea became affordable and readily accessible throughout the UK. (Think of bara brith as a fruit-based loaf cake. For a US comparison, I’d place it in the “sweet bread” or “quick bread” category, along with banana bread, gingerbread, or pumpkin bread.) Although early bara brith recipes often contained yeast, modern versions employ self-rising flour or baking powder as a raising agent instead. The batter includes dried fruits like raisins, currants, and sultanas, along with bits of dried citrus peel, soaked overnight in black tea, then combined with egg, flour, brown sugar, and mixed spice, a ground spice for a sweet, sliceable teatime treat.
Notable Ingredients
- Tea Bags – Black tea, or English Breakfast, works best. Use a quality British brand, like Yorkshire, Twinings, or PG Tips. (Skip Lipton or similar American brands, which aren’t strong enough to impart the tea flavor into the dried fruit.) Save the rest of the box into blueberry or lavender iced tea, or add the bags to a chai tea simmer pot.
- Dried Mixed Fruit -In the UK, supermarkets sell a bagged dried fruit mix containing a blend of raisins, sultanas, currants, and candied mixed citrus peel. In the US, you can purchase the Waitrose version on Amazon. Or, substitute an equal quantity of raisins, sultanas (golden raisins), currants, and homemade mixed peel, in any combination you’d like.
- Dark Brown Sugar – I prefer the more pronounced caramel notes of dark brown sugar, but this recipe will also work with another dark, moist sugar, such as light brown sugar or muscovado sugar, instead.
- Self-Rising Flour – Self-rising flour (self-raising flour) is a pre-mixed blend of flour, baking powder, and salt, commonly used for making baked goods without the need for additional leavening agents. You’ll often find it in British bakes, like lemon drizzle cake and British style scones. It’s a must for this recipe, since it makes the bread rise.
- Mixed Spice – Mixed spice is a ground spice blend used in many British recipes, like Christmas puddings and mince pies. You can purchase mixed spice on Amazon, or you can replace it with: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and a pinch of ground cloves. You can also make your own homemade mixed spice blend to keep in the cabinet.
Soaking the Fruit
Soaking rehydrates and imparts black tea flavor into the fruit, which in turn flavors the bread. To soak, add the tea bags (see my notes on brands and brews, above) to a medium bowl. Cover the bags with boiling water. Allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes, then use a slotted spoon to remove the bags. Whisk in the dark brown sugar, then stir in the dried mixed fruit:
Dried fruit soaking in black tea
After cooling, cover the bowl tightly with clingfilm/plastic wrap and refrigerate it overnight. By the next morning, your dried fruit should look full and plump, with most of the liquid absorbed:
Tools and Tips
- Plan ahead. Before you can prepare the batter, you’ll need to soak the dried fruit in tea overnight. Start the soaking process at least 24 hours (or up to 48 hours) before you plan to bake.
- Cool completely. After baking, I recommend cooling in the tin for at least two to three hours—until completely cool, or just barely warm to the touch. Cooling prevents the bread from breaking or crumbling as you lift it from the tin.
- Line with parchment. Lining the tin with parchment (and allowing an overhang on both of the longer sides) creates “handles” which make it much easier to lift the bara brith from the loaf tin after baking.
- Test with a cake tester. It’s important not to underbake the loaf, or it will be dense in the middle. Test periodically, starting around the 50-minute mark, with a cake tester like this one, until it comes out clean. If you don’t have a cake tester, test the loaf with a toothpick (cocktail stick) or a wooden skewer instead.
- Use an electric kettle. For boiling water to soak the dried fruit, an electric kettle works best. If you don’t already own an electric kettle, this recipe makes the perfect excuse to buy one. I actually have several!
- Slice with serrated. Use a serrated knife (knife with a saw-toothed edge) to slice the baked and cooled bara brith. If you attempt to slice with a chef’s knife, you’ll risk jagged, crumbly pieces rather than thick, even slices.
Bara Brith
- Total Time1 1/2 hours, plus soaking time
- Yield1 loaf 1x
A traditional Welsh brith bread recipe made with black tea, dried mixed fruit, brown sugar, and mixed spice.
Ingredients
3 black tea bags
300 milliliters boiling water (1 1/4 cups)
400 grams dried mixed fruit (3 cups)
100 grams dark brown sugar (1/2 cup, packed)
256 grams self-rising flour (2 cups)
2 1/2 teaspoons mixed spice (store-bought or homemade)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Nonstick spray, for greasing loaf tin
Instructions
Add the tea bags to a medium bowl. Cover with the boiling water, and allow the tea to steep for 5 minutes.
Remove the tea bags.
Whisk in the dark brown sugar.
Stir in the dried mixed fruit.
Allow to cool. Cover bowl with clingfilm/plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat oven to 350° F (176° C). Line a 5×9-inch loaf tin with parchment, and spray generously with nonstick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk self rising flour, mixed spice, and fine sea salt.
With a wooden spoon or flexible rubber spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the fruit and tea mixture, followed by the egg. Batter will be thick.
Use a rubber spatula to spread batter into prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour, or until nicely risen and deeply golden brown, and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Transfer to a wire rack and allow loaf to cool completely in pan, about 3 hours. Once cool, use the parchment to lift the loaf from the tin. Use a serrated knife to cut into thick slices. Serve with butter.
Wrap leftover bara brith in aluminum foil. Store at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Make-Ahead and Storage Suggestions
To store: Place leftover bread in an airtight container, or wrap in aluminum foil. Store at room temperature for up to five days.
To freeze. Wrap baked and cooled bara brith in a layer of clingfilm/plastic wrap followed by a layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature.
Other British Recipes You Might Enjoy
Lemon Posset
Eton Mess
Oreo Rocky Road
Clotted Cream Fudge
Bourbon Biscuits
Jammie Dodgers
Homemade Mixed Spice
Chocolate Bark with British Biscuits
Homemade Mixed Peel
And if you do make these, or any of my recipes, don’t forget to tag me @bastecutfold or use the hashtag #bastecutfold on Instagram. I always love to see what you’re making!
