tea bread

This fruit-enriched bread made with dried fruit, cinnamon and orange zest makes a wonderful afternoon tea loaf drizzled in icing sugar and slathered in butter.

Tea loaf

bread

salt

grams/1½oz caster sugar

grams/1½oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

grams/¼oz fast-action dried yeast

120 milliliters/4fl oz milk

grams/1¾oz sultanas

60 grams/2¼oz glacé cherries

cinnamon

oranges, zest only

icing sugar

butter,

Good Food reader, Win Morgan shares her recipe for this traditional Welsh tea bread loaf with mixed spice - serve sliced and spread with butter

Bara brith

mixed fruit

light muscovado sugar

orange

milliliters black tea

self-raising flour

tsp mixed spice

soft butter

Tip the fruit into a bowl with the sugar and orange zest. Pour over the tea, stir everything together and leave to soak overnight.

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease and line the base and short sides of a 900g/loaf tin with 1 strip of baking parchment. Tip the flour and spice into a bowl, and beat in the fruit and soaking liquid. Add the egg, followed by the butter. Beat until you have a well-combined, stiff batter, then tip into the prepared loaf tin. Bake for 1¼ hrs, covering with foil or parchment if the top starts to get too dark. Check with a skewer – if it doesn’t come out clean, give it another 5-10 mins in the oven.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 mins, then remove and leave to cool completely. Serve sliced and buttered, if you like.

Bara brith is a traditional Welsh tea bread flavored with tea, dried fruits and spices. Often served sliced with a spread of butter. Perfect as a tea time snack.

Mam’s Bara Brith

oz raisins

Brown Sugar

eggs

flour

baking powder

golden syrup

Soak fruit in the tea and sugar overnight,...

Soak fruit in the tea and sugar overnight, and cover the bowl with a tea towel.

The next day, preheat the oven to 275F...

The next day, preheat the oven to 275F or 140C.

In a mixing bowl, transfer the soaked fruits,...

In a mixing bowl, transfer the soaked fruits, and add the beaten eggs, flour, syrup (or honey), and mixed spice.

Transfer the mixture into 2 greased and lined...

Transfer the mixture into 2 greased and lined loaf pans.

Take a large spoon and using the back,...

Take a large spoon and using the back, gently push down the batter and spread so it is even in the baking pan.

Bake at 275 F or 140 C for...

Bake at 275 F or 140 C for 1hr 10 - 1 hr 20 minutes.

Cool the loaves on a wire rack, then...

Cool the loaves on a wire rack, then slice thinly and serve buttered

We named this after Melandra Castle, a Roman fort near Glossop in Derbyshire, where we had a brilliant picnic with some great local people. This fruit bread, studded with pineapple, cherries, currants and dates, is an ideal travelling companion, as it’s quite substantial. It also toasts really well.

Top 4 tea bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed tea bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Tea loaf

Bara brith

Mam’s Bara Brith

Melandra loaf

Top 4 tea bread recipes from across the web

The most viewed tea bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Tea loaf

Bara brith

Mam’s Bara Brith

Melandra loaf

The most viewed tea bread recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine