Hallowe'en Barm Brack Recipe

Barm brack is a Hallowe’en staple. Barm is another word for a type of yeast and brack comes from the Irish word “breac” which means speckled. Most recipes nowadays use dried fruit to provide the speckles but this recipe from NLI MS 9929 uses caraway seeds. Why not give this a go today?

Transcription:

Barm Brack Recipe (c. 1800-1875)

1. Three quarts of flour, rub into it three ounces of butter six ounces of sugar,
2. Some caraway seeds, make a hole in this put into it two eggs beat up to a froth, a Gill of barm, barm(?) in as much new milk as will wet(?) it.
3. Work it up and let it rise and bake it on a griddle.

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