Bara Brith

My great grandmother was from a Welsh coal-mining family. They moved to Jim Thorpe, PA in search of a better life, and her descendants migrated west until they reached California. My mother had the recipe for this tea bread on a scrap of paper in her grandmother's handwriting, and she would often bake it for us kids.

Ingredients

1 pound dried fruit

1 pint cold, strong black tea

12 ounces brown sugar

4 cups unbleached flour

5 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon each allspice, cinnamon and ground cloves

1 extra large egg

Method

Soak the fruit in the tea overnight in a large bowl. Next day mix the sugar and spices into it. Add the egg and mix well. Sift the flour, baking powder and salt, and incorporate gently with a wooden spoon.

Pour the mixture into a large, well greased bread or cake tin. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F for 1 1/2 hours. Turn out and allow to cool. 

Serve spread thickly with salted butter or slices of cheese. It is traditional to serve Bara Brith with Caerphilly cheese, a saltier, crumblier version of Cheddar, which you can sometimes pick up at stores such as Dean & Deluca and Whole Foods.

Welsh Cakes

Welsh cakes, not to be confused with the black 'Welsh cake' that migrants took from Wales to Patagonia, have not travelled far from their homeland. But if you have a griddle there's no reason at all not to try your hand at these teatime treats, a great favorite with the kids, and they will keep fresh for at least a week.

Ingredients

3 cups all purpose flour

2 sticks butter

1 1/2 cups natural cane sugar

pinch salt

2 very large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking powder

1 cup currants (or currants and raisins mixed)

lemon and/or orange zest

Method

Mix dry ingredients and cut in butter. Stir in dried fruit and zest. Bind with egg, avoid over handling. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. Roll out 1/4" thick and cut in rounds.

Preheat a griddle on a medium heat. Have a jar of half sunflower oil, half melted butter ready. Grease the griddle lightly and place as many rounds as will fit on the surface. After a couple of minutes turn and cook another minute.

When the first batch is cooked place on a cooling rack. Keep them covered with a cloth. Proceed until you have used all the dough.

To serve sprinkle the Welsh cakes with a little powdered sugar.