Whats Your FUture Hold?? Try some Fortune Telling Bread

An Irish tradition that I recently was made aware of is the making of Barbrack for Halloween. Barbrack is a yeasted bread with sultanas and raisins. Barmbrack is a speckled loaf of bread that is made in flattened rounds.

Served toasted at an afternoon tea as part of an Irish Halloween tradition. The cake has several objects including fruit inside of it. The objects are in the special bread to work as a prediction tool. It is a fortune telling game of sorts. If you find:::

the coin: you will enjoy good fortune or become rich!
the ring: wow, you will be wed within the year: romance is in the air!
the stick: you will be in disputes with your partner
the rag: sorry, you are going to be poor!
the pea: you are not going to get married next year… maybe next-one?

Halloween is historically based on a celtic festival known as "Samhain" which in respect means "Summer's End". In the 1600s the Scottish colonists brought to the plantations the festival of All Hallows' Eve. It was said that on All Hallows' Eve the souls of the dead  walked the earth that night and supernatural encounters were said to be very popular To help protect oneself holy water was sprinkled on outhouses, sheds, and farm animals and mirrors in the house were covered with sheets so that the poor souls could not re-enter the living world.

Halloween Barmbrack a sweet speckled fruit bread was served. Each family member was served a slice of the bread. It was a way to test destiny. Make your own , just for fun, :

3 1/2 cups plain flour (450g)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
2 teaspoons (1 sachet) dried yeast (7g)
4 tablespoons butter (75g)
1/3 cup castor sugar (75g)
1 cup milk (250ml)
1 beaten egg
1 cup raisins (150g)
3/4 cup currants (100g)
1/4 cup chopped dried fruit peel (50g)
Some melted butter for greasing

Warm the milk, add the butter and let it melt in the warm milk Mix the yeast with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Add half the warmed milk mixture. Add the beaten egg.

Sift the cinnamon with the flour into a bowl. Make a well in the center and pour the yeast and liquid mixture into it. Sprinkle a little flour over the liquid and leave it in a warm place for 20 minutes until the yeast froths up. Add in the remainder of the liquid and mix the whole lot into a dough. Turn it out onto a floured board, sprinkle with the sugar, raisins, currants and chopped peel and knead them into the dough.

Put the dough into a butter-greased large bowl, cover with clingwrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in size. Knead it back again and then shape into your greased bread tin. Brush the top with melted butter and cover until doubled in bulk again. 

Bake for 40 minutes in a preheated hot oven at 400°F (200°C /Gas mark 6) until a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.

To give it a nice glaze, stir 1 tablespoon sugar into 2 fl oz boiling water (50ml) and brush this over the top of the loaf when it comes out of the oven and is still hot. Leave to cool before cutting.

recipe source here

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