AuthorSteve Nubie
Welsh bread, also known as Bara Brith is a traditional English tea bread. Bara Brith is Welsh for speckled bread. The speckles come from the raisins that run throughout the loaf in every slice. Other dried fruits like currants were sometimes used and in this instance were using dried cranberries or “craisins” as they’re commonly called.
Welsh bread is a yeast bread and it’s easy to make from start to finish in your bread machine. However, there is a preliminary step you have to do in the bread pan. Before you add any other ingredients, you need to combine the milk and a teaspoon of vinegar and let it sit in the bread pan for 15 minutes. This will curdle the milk slightly to define one of the flavor notes that define Bara Brith.
Other spices are added like cinnamon and nutmeg in addition to sweeteners like brown sugar and molasses. A traditional Welsh grace note was to glaze the top of the bread with warm honey after baking, but that’s up to you.
The bread is often served toasted with butter and of course at tea time. It’s also really good with a cup of coffee.
Add the warm milk and the vinegar to the bread pan and let rest for 15 minutes while the milk curdles.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bread pan in the order indicated in the recipe but reserve the dried fruit.
Select the basic white bread setting for a 1-pound loaf and a medium crust.
If the bread appears a bit sticky during the kneading cycle, add a tablespoon of flour at a time to get a firm dough ball. If it’s too dry, add a tablespoon of milk at a time to loosen it up.
When the machine beeps towards the end of the kneading cycle, add the raisins or craisins or other dried fruit. If your bread machine has a fruit and nut dispenser, dust the dried fruit with flour before adding it to the hopper.
When done, remove the loaf from the bread pan and let rest for 10 minutes. If you like you can glaze it with warmed honey. Slice and serve.
Ingredients
Directions
Add the warm milk and the vinegar to the bread pan and let rest for 15 minutes while the milk curdles.
Add the rest of the ingredients to the bread pan in the order indicated in the recipe but reserve the dried fruit.
Select the basic white bread setting for a 1-pound loaf and a medium crust.
If the bread appears a bit sticky during the kneading cycle, add a tablespoon of flour at a time to get a firm dough ball. If it’s too dry, add a tablespoon of milk at a time to loosen it up.
When the machine beeps towards the end of the kneading cycle, add the raisins or craisins or other dried fruit. If your bread machine has a fruit and nut dispenser, dust the dried fruit with flour before adding it to the hopper.
When done, remove the loaf from the bread pan and let rest for 10 minutes. If you like you can glaze it with warmed honey. Slice and serve.
When you say 2 1/3 cups of bread flour is that actually 2/3 of a cup of flour? It doesn’t seem enough flour to make a ‘loaf.’
Hi Pete,
We mean 2 cups + 2/3 🙂