This was a treat to have with coffee in the afternoons or when I got to work in the morning. Smear with butter - so good.
This is a copy of the book page, complete with recipe, and I plan to make this again soon.
I also found a good recipe on King Arthur's website with suggestions for using different dried fruits.
Simply brew some tea and let dried fruits soak in the tea overnight. Next morning add the flour, sugar and egg then bake in a loaf pan.
There will be more tea breads posted in the future with different combos of fruit. One person suggested substituting 2 tablespoons of tea with rum or whiskey. So many possibilities.
Much thanks to Lucy for sharing her recipe and sending me in search of other combos.
Sharing with Joy's Book Blog for her British Isles Friday event. and Beth Fish's Weekend Cooking Series.
Never heard of this either. You know where I went immediately when I read "soak in tea"? Wouldn't it be good to through in some bourbon? :) I want to make this recipe!
ReplyDeleteTea brack is new to me, too, but sounds so good!
ReplyDeleteFruit breads are so good — here It’s the word “brack” that makes it seem exoticallly british! Otherwise not all that surprising? I’m interested in the image on the reproduced page: no bits of fruit are shown in the picture. Curious.
ReplyDeletebest... mae at maefood.blogspot.com
Totally new to me too ... but I've heard of the whiskey / rum version. I think I NEED to try to this. Especially because I have some cream cheese leftover and I think it might be good on this bread.
ReplyDeleteI never heard of it either but it looks kind of like mandelbrodt.... looks delicious.
ReplyDeleteI hurried over to read what tea brack was and had guessed, and was right, that it is known as barm brack to me! My mother would make it.
ReplyDeleteThe Halloween Brack traditionally contained various objects baked into the bread and was used as a sort of fortune-telling game. In the barmbrack were: a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin (originally a silver sixpence) and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, was supposed to carry a meaning to the person concerned: the pea, the person would not marry that year; the stick, would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be wed within the year. Other articles added to the brack include a medallion, usually of the Virgin Mary to symbolize going into the priesthood or to the Nuns, although this tradition is not widely continued in the present day.
In Ireland it is sometimes called Bairín Breac, and the term is also used as two words in its more common version. This may be from the Irish word bairín - a loaf - and breac - speckled (due to the raisins in it), hence it literally means a speckled loaf (a similar etymology to the Welsh bara brith).
I was in Ireland at a traditional dinner where it was served and I got the
wedding ring, and I got married (the first time) soon after.
You've piqued my curiosity. Anything "tea" is something I want to try. :)
ReplyDeleteSounds very British. Cheers
ReplyDeleteI've never heard of tea brack but I have heard of barm brack though only through book mentions. It looks really good and I like the idea of more tea bread recipes in the future!
ReplyDelete