Apparently "barm brack" is Irish for "yeast bread". It's a rich, fruity bread full of butter, eggs, sugar, raisins, and candied fruit. It reminds me a bit of hot cross buns in loaf form.

I had a bit of trouble judging when these were done. I'm usually pretty good with that sort of thing, but I think the quantity of inclusions threw me off a bit. It was still tasty, the crust was just a bit thicker than it should've been because I didn't realize that I'd pulled it out of the oven too soon until after it had already cooled significantly. Other than that though, this recipe worked out very well. (And the Kidlet absolutely loved it!)

Barm Brack

Slightly adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads

Ingredients

• 500g hard (strong/high grade/bread) or all-purpose flour
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 Tbsp. instant yeast
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter
• 3/4 c. water
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 c. golden raisins
• 1/2 c. mixed peel or mixed candied fruit
• 1 tsp. sugar dissolved in 1 Tbsp. water

Directions

1. Combine 180g flour with sugar, salt, lemon zest, and yeast.
2. Combine butter, water, and milk and heat to ~50°C (~120°F).
3. Add the hot butter mixture to the flour mixture and beat with a wooden spoon or the flat beater of a stand mixer for ~2 minutes.
4. Add the eggs and another 100g of flour and beat for another 2 minutes.
5. If using a stand mixer, switch to the dough hook at this point and continue adding flour ~1/4 c. (~30g) at a time until dough comes together into a shaggy mass.
6. Turn out onto counter and knead by hand for 10-15 minutes (or continue working with dough hook in stand mixer for 2-4 minutes).
7. Add a little more flour or water as needed during kneading in order to get a nice, smooth, relatively soft dough.
8. Round the dough and place in a covered bowl to rise for 45-60 minutes.
9. Knock back and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
10. Work in the raisins and the candied fruit.
11. Divide dough into two equal portions and round each one.
12. Cover and rest for 5-10 minutes.
13. Meanwhile, grease two loaf 20x10cm (8x4") loaf pans.
14. Flatten each round, letter fold, roll up, and place each loaf seam-side-down in one of the prepared loaf pans.
15. Cover and allow to rise for another 45-60 minutes.
16. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
17. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~40 minutes.
18. Remove loaves from pans and return to oven without the pans for 10 minutes.
19. Brush loaves with sugar glaze and return to oven for another 2 minutes.
20. Turn oven off and allow loaves to sit in hot oven for another 5-10 minutes.
21. Transfer to wire rack to cool.