Yummy Experiment #40: Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

Since autumn rolled around, I’ve been alternately baking Boule, Crusty White Sandwich Loaf and Soft American-Style White Bread. This summer, I baked pan de sal and that was that. There’s just something about the cool weather that makes me want to bake. Maybe the kitchen is warm and I’m feeling cold. I definitely enjoy the sweet scent of baking bread in our house, which is why I’ve been baking every week again. I haven’t blogged about it because I’ve been baking bread that I already know, so it’s no longer an experiment.

Just this past weekend, I was planning to make Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls as my experiment and Buttermilk Bread as our loaf for the week (I made Buttermilk Bread before last February). Even bought a microplane so I can grate fresh whole nutmeg, which is an ingredient in the rolls. BUT. . .I didn’t want to prep two sets of dough, so I checked my ol’ reliable book, The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. I found a recipe for cinnamon-raisin bread that uses the same dough as the buttermilk bread. One dough, two different loaves? It’s like hitting two birds with one stone!

I woke up early yesterday morning and prepared enough dough for two loaves. In the book, the bread is called “Judy’s Board of Directors’ Cinnamon-Raisin Bread”. To simplify your life and mine, I’m calling it cinnamon-raisin because the actual recipe name is too much of a mouthful. Oh, and here’s the disclaimer. . .

Acknowledgement: The full and original version of this recipe can be found in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking. Feel free to visit their website artisanbreadinfive.com. In addition, I took the photographs from this post. If you think it’s nice enough to use, please let me know.

To make the dough for both the Cinnamon-Raisin and Buttermilk breads, I used:

• 2 cups lukewarm water
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 1 tablespoon granulated yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 6 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• Unsalted butter, melted to grease the pan and brush the top of the loaf

In addition, you also need the following for the Cinnamon-Raisin Bread:

• 1 1/2 pounds Buttermilk Bread dough
• Unsalted butter to grease the pan
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup raisins – I used one tiny box of raisins.
• Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water) – I used 2 tablespoons of water.

I mixed the sugar and cinnamon before getting started. After shaping the dough into a ball, I used a rolling pin to stretch it out. The recipe said it should be “8×16 rectangle about 1/4 inch thick”, but I couldn’t make it into a rectangle, so I did what I could. I sprinkled the sugar/cinnamon mixture all over the dough.

Then I placed the raisins randomly here and there. I didn’t have the amount of raisins specified in the recipe, but a few raisins is better than nothing.

I rolled the dough and made an oval loaf. I placed the dough on my loaf pan. After the dough rested for 90 minutes, I realized that I should’ve used my slightly bigger loaf pan. See how squished it looks?

While the dough was resting, I preheated the oven to 375 F. Before baking, I brushed the top of the loaf with egg wash, then I baked the loaf for 40 minutes. Here’s how it looked like after I took it out of the oven.

Here’s the loaf cooling on the rack with the other loaf.

I took these pictures this morning. For a first-time effort to make this bread, I think I did pretty well!

It’s so pretty. What’s more, it tastes legit. Hubby and I ate two slices each after the bread came out of the oven. The recipe, of course, advised leaving the bread alone until it cools down. But it smelled so delicious, we couldn’t help it! I’m definitely making this again soon.

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