Irish Barm Brack, or báirín breac, is a traditional, sweet, Irish Halloween bread that’s speckled with dried fruit and flavoured with Irish whiskey and strong tea. Hidden inside, as every good Irish person knows, are a clutch of small tokens that foretell one’s future: a ring for marriage, a coin for wealth, a soup-pea for poverty and a thimble for a life of spinsterhood or bachelorhood.
Not so long ago, it was the pride of every Irish homemaker to have a loaf, made from scratch, sitting on her kitchen counter at this time of year. Unfortunately, the world has changed, and with prices ranging from .89¢ to €2.99 for a loaf, hardly anyone makes it at home any more.
I hope this Quick Barm Brack might change a few minds. There’s no yeast in this recipe, so there’s no rising time. You can have a loaf mixed up and in your oven before you can recite a verse of Oiche Shamhna!
Quick Irish Barm Back
Serves 10-12 slices
Ingredients
50ml/2oz/1/4 cup Irish whiskey
250ml/8oz/1 cup cold Irish tea
150g/5oz/1 cup raisins
150g/5oz/1 cup sultanas
50g/1.8oz/1/3 cup mixed peel
225g/8oz/2 cups self-raising flour
125g/4oz/scant 1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1/2 teaspoon mixed spice (pumpkin spice works too)
Directions
1. Place the raisins, sultanas and mixed peel in a bowl. Pour over the whiskey and cold tea. Leave overnight to soak up the liquid.
2. Preheat the oven to 170˚C/325°F. Grease and line a 900g/2lb loaf tin or a 20cm/8″ round cake tin with parchment paper.
3. Combine the flour, sugar, egg, and mixed spice in a bowl. Stir well.
4. Strain the fruit from the liquid and add to the flour. Stir well. Slowly, a little at a time, add the fruit-liquid to the flour until the dough looks wet. You may not use up all the liquid.
5. Add in a ring, a coin, a soup-pea, and a thimble, wrapped in parchment paper, and stir through.
6. Transfer to the lined loaf tin. Use an off set spatula to smooth the top. Place in the oven on the middle shelf. Bake for 1 hour or until fully cooked.
7. Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before removing from the loaf tin. Cool on a wire rack.
8. Wrap in cling film (plastic wrap) and tin foil. Keep for 2 days before cutting. Serve sliced with heaps of butter and a good cup of tea.
- Additional Notes, Related Articles & Credit:
* To see my traditional Irish Barm Brack yeast recipe, please click: Traditional Irish Barm Black.
** For other Halloween-inspired recipes from our Irish home, please click: Colcannon, Apple Cake, and Halloween Marshmallow Pops, And to learn more about how the Irish invented Halloween, click here: Halloween and The Irish. And click Irish Halloween Folklore for a short history lesson from Irish Archeology about Halloween in Irish Folklore.
*** A recipe for Brioche Barmbrack may be found over at Gastrogays…and here’s Bibliocook’s recipe for Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding – yum!
**** Oíche Shamhna – A Witch in Armagh on Halloween Night – this video is really well done and is in Irish with English subtitles. I think the wee ones in your home might enjoy it!
In an Irish Home 