Halloween Barm Brack
The last recipe reminded me of this one! It's a traditional Irish Halloween treat. Halloween in Ireland used to be a time for ghost stories and fortune telling and the Catholic holidays of All Saints' Day (November 1st, the Hallows whose Eve Halloween is) and All Souls' Day (November 2nd), at least as much as dressing up and collecting treats. This brack has various items hidden inside, which are supposed to tell your fortune for the year ahead. A coin for wealth, a rag or a dried pea or bean for poverty, a thimble for a spinster, a ring for a wedding and a stick for strife.
For me, it's a cake full of memories. We use two silver coins we struck at open day at the ANU art school years ago, my secondary school graduation ring and a silver Claddagh ring my parents gave me the year I started secondary, a thimble of my mother's and a thimble that belonged to N&D's great-grandmother.
The past two years, we've had no power because of unseasonably early snow here in Connecticut. So this year was the first time in a long while I've made a barm brack. The recipe is based on one of Darina Allen's, from Irish Traditional Cooking. (She talks about Halloween in Ireland and gives a different recipe here)
Brack:
Sachet of dried yeast
75g sugar (about 3 tbsp)
300ml milk
1 egg
450g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
450g dried fruit (I usually go 150g each of raisins or currants, sultanas and candied peel)
25g butter
Glaze:
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp milk
A ring, a small coin, a thimble, a dried bean and a stick (I cut a toothpick in half, and cut off the point.) Boil the metal items in water for 5-10 mins to sterilise them. Wrap everything in waxed paper.
Warm the milk gently (a minute in the microwave.) Mix 1 tbsp sugar, 100 ml milk and the yeast together, and leave in a warm spot for 10 mins or so to turn foamy. (This is the barm, which was originally the yeasty foam that formed on top of fermenting beer or cider.)
Meanwhile, sift the flour and spices together. Rub in the butter, and stir in the remaining sugar.
Beat the egg, and add it and the remaining milk to the yeast mixture. Pour onto the flour, and knead until smooth, adding extra flour as needed. Form into a flat disk. Put the dried fruit in a line down the centre of the disk, fold both sides over, and knead again to distribute the fruit. Cover and leave to double in size (about two hours in a warm kitchen.)
Knock back the dough, and divide into two pieces. Form each into an oval, and place in a loaf tin. Add the ring etc. to one of them. (I mark the locations of the ring and coin with a toothpick, for easy distribution to kids.) Leave to rise for 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 180C/350F, and bake side by side on the middle shelf for an hour. Rotate at the 45 min mark for even browning.
When cooked, dissolve the extra sugar in the water. Brush over the loaves to glaze them, and return to the oven for a couple of minutes. Cool on a rack.
Being a yeast bread, this lasts reasonably well. It's excellent toasted and buttered.
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For me, it's a cake full of memories. We use two silver coins we struck at open day at the ANU art school years ago, my secondary school graduation ring and a silver Claddagh ring my parents gave me the year I started secondary, a thimble of my mother's and a thimble that belonged to N&D's great-grandmother.
The past two years, we've had no power because of unseasonably early snow here in Connecticut. So this year was the first time in a long while I've made a barm brack. The recipe is based on one of Darina Allen's, from Irish Traditional Cooking. (She talks about Halloween in Ireland and gives a different recipe here)
Brack:
Sachet of dried yeast
75g sugar (about 3 tbsp)
300ml milk
1 egg
450g plain flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 tsp ground cloves
450g dried fruit (I usually go 150g each of raisins or currants, sultanas and candied peel)
25g butter
Glaze:
1 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp milk
A ring, a small coin, a thimble, a dried bean and a stick (I cut a toothpick in half, and cut off the point.) Boil the metal items in water for 5-10 mins to sterilise them. Wrap everything in waxed paper.
Warm the milk gently (a minute in the microwave.) Mix 1 tbsp sugar, 100 ml milk and the yeast together, and leave in a warm spot for 10 mins or so to turn foamy. (This is the barm, which was originally the yeasty foam that formed on top of fermenting beer or cider.)
Meanwhile, sift the flour and spices together. Rub in the butter, and stir in the remaining sugar.
Beat the egg, and add it and the remaining milk to the yeast mixture. Pour onto the flour, and knead until smooth, adding extra flour as needed. Form into a flat disk. Put the dried fruit in a line down the centre of the disk, fold both sides over, and knead again to distribute the fruit. Cover and leave to double in size (about two hours in a warm kitchen.)
Knock back the dough, and divide into two pieces. Form each into an oval, and place in a loaf tin. Add the ring etc. to one of them. (I mark the locations of the ring and coin with a toothpick, for easy distribution to kids.) Leave to rise for 30 mins.
Heat the oven to 180C/350F, and bake side by side on the middle shelf for an hour. Rotate at the 45 min mark for even browning.
When cooked, dissolve the extra sugar in the water. Brush over the loaves to glaze them, and return to the oven for a couple of minutes. Cool on a rack.
Being a yeast bread, this lasts reasonably well. It's excellent toasted and buttered.
This entry was originally posted at http://gurrier.dreamwidth.org/86861.html. Please comment there using OpenID.