Brown Sugar - Raisin Bread

It is a well documented blog fact that I don't like raisins.  CA on the other hand loves raisins in breakfast breads (which is weird because he's not a big sweets for breakfast guy, he'd prefer a breakfast burrito or an omelet over some french toast or a muffin any day).  He's a huge fan of cinnamon raisin bagels which I've made for him before and he's also a fan of the raisin bread from the store.  (I'd tell you what the brand is but I don't know; I ignore its existence enitrely).

I thought I'd earn some wife points today and make him some raisin bread.  Luckily, my trusty Williams Sonoma Bread cookbook had a recipe AND I already had all the ingredients I needed in the house.

The dough comes together really easily.  You get the yeast going in a bowl of warm water with a bit of sugar and then pretty much throw everything in a bowl and mix it up.  Not hard which I appreciated today.  The dough hook of my stand mixer did all the work and then I just let it hang out for an hour or so to rise.

The dough has a mixture of golden and dark raisins in it.  Maybe people care about that, I don't.  They're both just as bad in my book.  What I did care about is that I was able to use up every single raisin the house.  I love it when that happens.

There are two things I really like about this bread.

#1 - it is filled with a mixture of cinnamon and brown sugar.  Do I need to explain why this is good?

#2 - the second rise of the dough takes place in the loaf pan.  I'm not good at moving dough from one place to another.  It typically gets all cockeyed and hideous which makes me grumpy.  This one rises right in the pan which gets put straight into the oven.  No Very little chance of me screwing it up.

If only I had just left out the raisins I think this bread would be just my kind of thing.  But that would defeat the purpose of making raisin bread for CA.

Plus, now there are no extraneous raisins sitting in my pantry which is cool.  I love it when I use up something in the pantry that's not a staple and I just have to buy again.  It's like finding space which it at a premium around here.

The verdict?

CA is a big fan.  He's been eating up a couple of toasted slices for breakfast each day.  The recipe makes two loaves so I sliced up both of them and put one of them in the freezer.  That way it will keep for a while and CA can just pop them into the toaster in the morning when he doesn't want to eat his usual cereal.

The bread isn't actually sweet - the cinnamon swirl is sweet but the bread itself is not.  The combo is really perfect for a breakfast when you're not looking for a total sugar bomb.

I actually don't hate this bread.  It tastes really good when you pick out all the raisins.

Brown Sugar - Raisin Bread
from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients
1 T active dry Yeast
3 T Sugar
1 1/4 cups warm Water (105°F - 115°F)
 1 cup warm Milk (105°F - 115°F)
3 T Butter, melted
1 T Salt
1 Egg, lightly beaten
6 - 6 1/4 cups Bread Flour
3/4 cup Golden Raisins
3/4 cup Dark Raisins
2/3 cup Light Brown Sugar, packed
4 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions
In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water.  Stir to dissolve and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Lightly grease two loaf pans.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely.

Enjoy!
Julie