Kombucha Bara Brith

It was really hard not to start eating immediately. That’s how much I love you guys. Just sayin’.

Bara brith, a Welsh tea bread, is one of my favorite desserts to make. Chock full of dried fruits (its name translates to “speckled bread”), this is normally made with tea instead of kombucha. But if you have kombucha, why not add it instead? Anyway, no one knows for sure when bara brith got its start, but we know it was sometime before 1865. That’s when some Welsh settlers made it to Argentina and introduced it there. This is, at its heart, a luxury loaf. The amount of dried fruit is staggering. Normally I use around a pound or so, which roughly equates to about 7 pounds of fresh fruit. There are counterparts to bara brith in most Celtic nations, and they tend to also be found, by one name or another, wherever large numbers of Celts immigrate.

This recipe is done a little differently than one might typically, in that the measurements are largely in the form of “mugs” rather than cups or weights. When I first started making this several years ago, the mug method was introduced to me. This is what I use when I don’t feel like getting the scale out, though I’ve changed some of the ratios. The mug in question (photo below) is around 10 ounces, if I had to guess. You can use any size mug, though, and scale up or down depending on how many and which size loaves you’d like to make - this is why I love the “mug method” so. I’m making pastry for other people today (and me!), so I’ll be making half of these in small bread pans. Easier to share lots of things when you’re not foisting massive loaves of this and that on people, after all. This is for 2 regular loaves or 6 small or some combination thereof. You will want a second loaf, and it can be frozen if somehow you don’t need to open the second one within 2-3 days. Eat this with butter. I like to use nice salted ones.

This was a gift from my sister-in-law, and is still my favorite cup (I regretfully admit that its mate broke). Can you tell I used to be an English professor? Who else would carry around such a pedantic mug?

About the fruit: what you’d normally see in this bread is a combination of currants, sultana raisins (yellow), and regular raisins, plus some candied citrus peel. I used regular and golden raisins, sour cherries, and blueberries. That’s what I had. It’s totally adaptable to what you’ve got, but I recommend not using figs. The figs get weird in there, texturally. So change it up based on what you’ve got or what you want to get. You can buy peels, and especially during the holidays, but it really will taste better if you make your own. Here is a recipe for making one type of candied peel, though you can easily shorten the length of time it makes by doing 3 boils of your peels in fresh water before you’re onto the candying. Unless you’re using Meyer lemons or those little clementines that are so popular now - those peels are too thin to sustain a leaching, so just skip all that and go straight to the candying bit. As per most fruit loaves, this will taste better if you let it sit a couple of days before cutting into it. I wish you luck with that, as the only way that has worked for me is when I’ve hidden the loaves I’ve made.

Lastly, although it’s become more common to spice these, I am not using the traditional “mixed spice” blend (similar to pumpkin pie spice). I’ve gone straight mace, cardamom, and vanilla here.

Here is what you’ll need:

4 mugs mixed fruit and candied citrus peels (I used 1 mug of yellow raisins, 1 of regular, 1/2 mug of dried sour cherries, 1/2 mug of dried blueberries, and 1 mug of chopped peel)

2 mugs kombucha

1-1/2 mugs brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon mace

1 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or powder (I used powder because I’m trying to use it up)

2 eggs

4 mugs self-rising flour (if we are being fair, I used 3 mugs self-rising and one of all-purpose, because I ran out of self-rising. I didn’t bother to make it up in baking powder because kombucha)

Now, let’s prepare the batter!

Put your fruit, kombucha, brown sugar, salt, and spices in a large bowl. Stir them up, then cover and leave overnight (6-10 hours). You’ll see below that this isn’t the tastiest looking thing you’ve ever seen, but don’t fret! Some of the yummiest stuff looked disgusting in the beginning of its journey. Let’s not judge the process, now.

Just remember: if doesn’t have to look delicious yet. You will forget about all your hesitancy once you bite into this glorious loaf!

Once your fruits are all plump and beautiful and you’re no longer convinced they’re living in a muddy puddle, go on ahead and stir those eggs in. Some people beat them first, but you don’t have to. I know I sure didn’t. Once the egg is in, add your flour and stir to combine!

Didn’t think it’d come together so well, did you?

Bake time!!!

Woah I’m excited! Alright - get your loaf pan or pans and grab some oil. Veg is fine, but you do what you want - just try to pick something that’s got a neutral flavor. Oil oil oil your pan(s) and put batter in it/them. I generally like to fill them about 3/4 of the way full, so there’s a delightful crest at the top when it’s all done. You can fill them more or less, however, as you see fit.

In your preheated 300F (150C or gas mark 2) oven, put your loaf in. I recommend using a tray, because sometimes they go crazy in there, and especially with kombucha, and you can lose some. It’s no fun cleaning that out of the oven, trust me. Also, if you don’t clean it up and decide instead to just run the oven at the highest setting until it’s all burnt away, your neighbors and family might be mad. Just sayin’. So let’s avoid all the drama and put the bara brith on a tray in case something happens.

Bake time is usually 1-1/2 hours (90 minutes; 45-ish for mini loaves). At that time, you’ll want to poke it with a stick or whatever it is you like to test your cakes with. Cake testers work perfectly well here, too. If your tester comes out clean, it’s done and ready to cool. If not, keep at it. It could take as long as 2 hours if you made a giant life. PLEASE DO NOT succumb to the temptation to turn the oven up. It just doesn’t work like that, even if we all wish it did. I generally let mine rest in the tin for 10-15, but you can take it out immediately to cool on the rack if you prefer.