Barmbrack, Irish tea brack or in Gaelic, bairín breac (meaning speckled loaf) is a traditional sweetened bread commonly made around the Halloween season in Ireland. Many of the older traditional recipes use yeast, and are lighter in colour and texture than the bracks most people come across today. For this recipe I referenced many different sources, including my mother’s copy of All In The Cooking, first published in 1946 and famous Irish flour makers Odlums well established directions.

I’ve been working on this recipe for some time. I wanted to get the crackers as light as possible and worked on different baking times and temperatures. I also wanted the goat’s cheese mouse to be nice and airy. This is a great one for entertaining, as everything can be made in advance and assembled later.