Barmbrack

Did you know that Halloween is not American? It was born in ancient times, in the green Ireland dominated by the Celts: Halloween, whose name derives from the contracted form of All Hallow's Eve, or Eve of all saints, corresponds, in fact, to the celebrations for Samhain, the Celtic New Year.

In Celtic culture, the new year began on November 1st, when the hot season inexorably gave way to the colder season: the transition from summer to winter and from the old to the new year was celebrated with a series of celebratory rites, the Samhain in fact, which in Gaelic means "end of summer".

It was a belief among the Celts that on the eve of the new year, October 31st, Samhain called the spirits of the dead to him, allowing them to wander undisturbed in the world of the living: it was traditional to light lanterns and leave food and milk outside the doors of the houses to allow the souls of the deceased who had visited their loved ones to refresh themselves, avoiding the risk that they would play tricks on the living.

One of the typical dishes to celebrate Halloween in Ireland is definitely the Barmbrack, a slightly sweet bread, able to reveal the future.

In fact, it was customary to hide in the dough some objects that would have predicted the future of those who had found them: a ring (you would get married within the year), a stick (forecast of future travels), a thimble (spinster for the whole life), a button (bachelor for life), a coin (life of wealth), a piece of cloth (destiny of poverty).

Let's fasten the apron and let's get started!

INGREDIENTS (for a plum cake mold about 30 x 11 cm):

200 g raisins

50 g Bushmills whiskey

About 300 mL of black tea (just enough to completely cover the raisins)

450 g Manitoba flour

a pinch of salt

60 g butter

70 g brown sugar

25 g fresh brewer's yeast

1 medium egg

260 g low-fat milk

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1 pinch of nutmeg

PROCEEDINGS:

Let's start melting the butter in the microwave (or in a pan, heating over low heat):

In a large bowl, whisk the whole egg with the brown sugar by hand with a whisk:

Add the melted butter, a pinch of salt, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix again:

Put the brewer's yeast into the milk and dissolve it by mixing with a teaspoon:

Pour the milk with the yeast into the sugary mixture and mix again by hand with a whisk:

Add the flour by sifting it with a colander:

Mix all the ingredients well with a spoon until a homogeneous mixture is obtained; cover it with cling film and let it rise for about an hour, until it has doubled its volume:

In the meantime, let's take care of the raisin: transfer it to a large container and cover it completely with the black tea corrected with the whiskey:

Leave the raisin to soak for 45 minutes, then drain them making them drain well and add them to the leavened mixture; knead by hand to distribute it uniformly inside the mixture:

Grease and flour a 30 x 11 cm plum cake mold (do not use a smaller one, otherwise your Barmbrack, which will rise a lot during cooking, will escape, scattering throughout the oven), or brush it with the now consolidated "Cake remover" (do you remember? 60 g plain flour + 60 g well mixed olive oil, HERE the recipe); transfer the dough into the greased mold, cover with a cloth and let it rest (and rise) for another 20 minutes:

Bake in a preheated STATIC OVEN at 175 ° C for about 50 minutes, checking the cooking with the toothpick test: if the toothpick comes out of the cake dry, cooking is complete!

As soon as this tasty sweet bread has cooled, we can remove it from the mold and taste it; are you ready to discover what the future is holding for you?

We can keep the Barmbrack at room temperature, tightly closed in a cake holder for 2 - 3 days.

If you want to download the card of this recipe, click on the link below:

Barmbrack_ENG.pdf

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