Bara Brith

After last year's distinct lack of activity I am trying to take advantage of the fact I work part time to get baking fitted in.  Kudos to you if you are someone who can juggle a full-time job with your baking.  I envy you.  I just can't do it.  Not yet anyway.  Working on it.  The point is I'm aiming to get something baked (and ideally up on the blog) each week.  This week I was in a bread mood.  Actually, I've been in a bit of a bread mood for a while now but this week was extra bread-y since I made two different loaves.  Sadly, you're not getting the one of them quite yet because after doing a really good job the first time, the subsequent attempts have been a bit...flat.  The dough won't hold it's shape so rises sideways rather than up.  I think I may be over-proving.

But the other bread turned out well!  Having been obsessing over Bake Off the last couple of weeks (applications for the next series were due last Sunday) I have found myself reading lots of articles about the show and past contestants.  In amongst those I stumbled across one on Beca, who made it to the semi-finals in Series 4.  This article was specifically about her yeasted tea-loaf she made during the Sweet Dough week (and received high praise from both Paul and Mary): a Welsh bara brith.  Literally meaning 'speckled bread' it is a sweet loaf filled with mixed fruit.  And being a tea-loaf, it's obviously got a healthy amount of tea in there too.  

Aside from the fact I wanted to try something new and different, what really motivated me to make bara brith this week was the bag of mixed fruit sitting in the cupboard, as I still have loads to use up from making mince pies and panetonne over Christmas.  Even after baking this I have leftovers so mixed fruit may crop up again in the next few posts.

I did end up making a slight tweak to the recipe: I used instant yeast, not fresh.  According to my newest bread book (which I will gush about properly when I post a recipe from it) there's not much difference between them.  Instant yeast is more convenient (and what I had in my cupboard).  I just halved the amount required.

I sent this along to the lovely ladies at Markinch with my mother-in-law on Monday.  They are always so nice about my baking and appreciate what I send.  They've been enjoying this over the week and plan to make toast with any leftovers that may have gone a little stale.
 

Recipe - adapted from Beca Lyne-Pirkis via Wales Online
Makes 1 x 2lb loaf 


Tea-Loaf:

• 450g/1lb strong white flour
• 7g/0.25oz salt
• 10g/0.35oz instant yeast
• 75g/2.5oz butter 
• 50g/1.75g brown sugar
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 350g/12oz mixed dried fruit
• 1 egg
•  225ml/8fl.oz strong warm tea (I used two Twinnings Breakfast Tea teabags steeped for 5 minutes in 225ml boiling water, then let it cool slightly)

Sugar Syrup Glaze:

• 50g/1.75oz caster sugar
• 50ml/1.75fl.oz water 

1. Put the flour into a large bowl.  Add the salt on one side and the yeast on the other and rub into the flour to combine.
2. Rub in the butter using your fingers until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
3. Mix in the sugar, mixed spice and dried fruits until evenly distributed.
4. Add the egg and tea and bring everything together to form a dough.
5. Knead the dough until it is smooth (I stretch the dough away from me then fold it back on itself before giving it a quarter turn and repeating for about 10 minutes).
6. Place back in your bowl and cover with an oil piece of clingfilm.  Leave to rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size (about 1 hour).
7. Grease a 900g/lb loaf tin.
8. Knock back the dough, shape and fit into the loaf tin.  Cover with the oiled clingfilm and prove for another 30 minutes.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
9. Once proved, remove the clingfilm from the dough and back in the oven for 20 minutes.
10. Cover the bara brith with foil and leave to bake for another 25-30 minutes.
11. Remove from the tin and allow to cool on a wire rack.
12. Make the sugar syrup by bringing the water and caster sugar to a boil in a small saucepan.
13. Cook the mixture until it takes on a syrupy consistency.
14. Remove and use a pastry loaf to cover the loaf in the glaze.
15. Allow to set and cool before serving.

Sausage and Spinach Quiche

We have been needing a new fridge/freezer for a while now.  The one we had was in the flat when we moved in 2.5 years ago and it was not in the best shape.  Water always collected in the bottom of the fridge and sometimes it would freeze there.  Not so great for the vegetables.  Water would always be on the back wall too and if anything was too far back on the shelves it would get wet.  Kinda gross, no?  Then there was the freezer.  It frosted up so badly and didn't seem to be properly sealed.  Things were either too frozen or not frozen enough.  We would have replaced it ages ago if we'd been able to afford it.  Now, with a combination of wedding gifts and a decent salary we have finally been able to do it!  You have no idea how excited we were.  The Hubby and I can get a bit like that whenever we get anything big and new for our home.  We'll be so giddy when we can actually afford to put a deposit down on a house.

Anyway, the point of that little bit of exposition is that we had to clear out the old fridge/freezer the day before the new one came so it could be taken away.  To avoid having too much food to pack into a cool bag to go into the Hubby's Grandma's chest freezer, I thought I would use some of the things we had to make something.  And that something was a quiche.

What's this?  I hardly ever go savoury.  We all know I have a ridiculous sweet tooth (the number of fillings I have can testify to it).  And pastry?  I have a dislike of pastry.  Not when it comes to quiche though.  I'm actually rather fond of quiche, pastry and all, so I thought now was as good a time as any to try making one.  It would make for a nice lunch if it turned out well.  

My choice of filling was obviously influenced by what was in my freezer.  However, I decided regular old pork sausage was a little dull so opted to make them into Italian sausage.  This was something I had done a few weeks previously when making meatballs (and trying out my slow cooker for the first time).  The recipe I had been using then called for Italian sausage but I was unable to get a hold of it.  Luckily, in the vast pool of knowledge that is the internet, I stumbled across a DIY recipe for it over on Back to her Roots.  So easy to do and very delicious.  So I knew I wanted that in my quiche.  Also I love frozen spinach.  I am very picky about my veggies, disliking pretty much all of them.  Yet I know I need to eat them because they are good for me so I try to 'hide' them in my food like you would with a small child.  Chopped frozen spinach is great for this.  I can see it obviously, but there is no noticeable taste.  I mix it in to quite a few of my dinners to get some greens in me.  There are shallots in this quiche too, for a little extra veggie goodness.  I am very fond of shallots, especially as they are a good size and I can use just a couple to add some extra yummy flavour to a meal when a whole onion would be far too much.  Another note I will add is that there is no cream in this quiche.  Mainly because I forgot to buy any and didn't feel like going out to get some.  So it's just milk.  It worked perfectly well as a substitute.  

This quiche is delicious.  I was so pleased with how it turned out, given it was my first try and I was making bits of it up, and how yummy I found it to be.  I thoroughly enjoyed having it for my lunch.  Unfortunately it was too much for me to finish by myself (the Hubby is vegetarian) and some of it went to waste.  Next time I'll be sure to freeze some portions.  That was just a bit hard to do when we were waiting on a new freezer to be delivered this time!

Recipe - inspired by James Martin via BBC Food

Pastry:

• 170g/60z plain flour
• 75g/2.75oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• Cold water

Filling:

• 300g/10.5oz pork sausage (about 6 sausages)
• 1 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp Knorr All Purpose Savoury seasoning (optional)
• 1 clove garlic
• 85g/3oz chopped shallots
• 115g/4oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
• 100g/3.5oz cheddar cheese
• 3 large eggs
• 200ml/7fl.oz milk
• Salt and pepper for seasoning
• Parmesan for sprinkling

1. Start by making the pastry.  Sift the flour into a bowl.
2. Add the butter in pieces to the flour and rub in with your fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Add enough cold water to the crumbs to bring them together into a firm dough.  Wrap the dough in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
4. Grease an 23cm/9inch loose-bottomed tart tin with butter.
5. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and use it to line the prepared tin.  Do not trim off the edges and place in the fridge to chill again (about 20 minutes).  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas Mark 5.
6. To make the filling, start by removing the sausage meat from its lining and putting it into a large bowl. 
7. Add the fennel seeds, basil, oregano, garlic powder, rosemary, pepper and savoury seasoning (if using) and mix well to combine.
8. Cook the meat in a frying pan with a little oil over a medium heat until it has just started to brown.
9. Add the shallots and spinach and cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Remove from heat.
10. Line the pastry base with greaseproof paper and fill with ceramic baking beads.  Bake the pastry case blind for 20 minutes.
11. Remove the beads and paper and bake for a further 5 minutes.
12. Grate the cheese and sprinkle over the base of the pastry.
13. Cover the cheese with the sausage filling, making sure to spread it evenly.
14. In a jug, combine the milk and eggs, season with a little salt and pepper and mix.
15. Pour into the pastry case until it is full. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
16. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until set.  Once removed from the oven, leave in the tin to allow it to cool and set further.
17. Once cool, remove from tin and serve.  Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.  Can also be frozen.