Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

It was calling my name... I had to make it. I saw this Cinnamon-Raisin Bread recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook book and I was sold on creating this recipe. In all of my bread making experience too, I had never attempted a bread recipe with yeast that requires baking in a conventional oven. This is not to say I haven't used yeast at all. My mom gave me her bread maker last year. I was totally stoked about it too. I got back to my apartment and tried making french bread with yeast 4 times. Each time, the bread did not rise sufficiently. Frustration and impatience with the machine overcame me and in turn, I have not tried to use the machine in months. Honesty, I think my failure with the bread maker has more to do with the inconsistent electricity to old apartment that was built in the 1920s. (I may be a little bias though : ) ) Long story short, my success with yeast breads is nonexistent. Despite this, I was quite excited about this bread and expanding my repertoire. : )



This recipe makes 2 loaves

Ingredients
For the dough
1 envelope (1/4 ounce) active dry yeast
2 cups warm milk (about 110 F)
2 pounds 2 ounces flour (about 6 1/2 cups), plus more for dusting
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs, plus 1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 cup raisins
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Vegetable oil, for bowl and plastic wrap

For the filling
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Directions
1) Make the dough: In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the east over the warm milk; whisk to combine. Add the flour, butter, sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speeds until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Raise the speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is uniformly smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

2) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Pat out dough into a 9-inch round, about 1 1/4 inch thick. Sprinkle with raisins and cinnamon, and knead until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap; let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

3) Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold in the following manner: Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down, and the right and left sides over, tapping the dough after each fold to release excess flour, and pressing down to seal. Return the dough to the bowl, seam side down, and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4) Make the filling: Combine sugar and cinnamon with 2 tablespoons water in a small bowl. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll out one half to a 12-by10- inch rectangle; brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with half the filling. Repeat with the remaining dough and filling.

5) Generously butter two 9-by 5-inch loaf pans; set aside. With a short end of the rectangle towards you, fold in both long sides of the dough, about 1 inch. Then roll the dough towards you, gently pressing as you go to form a tight log. Gently roll the log back and forth to seal the seam. Place the loaf in a prepared pan, seam side down. Repeat with remaining rectangle. Cover pans loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place until dough rises just above the rim of the pan, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 425 F.

6) Brush the tops of the loaves with beaten egg and transfer pans to a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. (If the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminum foil.) Turn out bread onto wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The bread can be kept, wrapped in plastic, at room temperature up to 4 days.

My first comment about this recipe is that it took a lot longer than I anticipated. I need to read more carefully ahead of time. The recipe took about 4 hours to make. Mind you, I was not continuously a slave to the kitchen during this time. I spent a lot of time during the recipe waiting for the bread to rise. Actually there was a little over 2 hours of waiting for bread to rise.

Next, after placing the bread in the oven there is a little comment in the directions about "tenting" the bread with aluminum foil. I would highly advise this. The bread is suppose to take 45 minutes. At 20 minutes, I checked on the bread to flip it in the oven and there was a large amount of smoke emanating from the tops of the loaves. The loaves turned a little brown on top. I immediately took out the loaves thinking there was no way that I could have overcooked the loaves. They were only in the oven 20 minutes!! I promptly tented my loaves with foil and then watched the bread like a hawk.

Overall, I give this bread 5 out of 5 stars. I definitely plan on making the bread again. Wow! Sugar dripped from the inner circle of the bread as I consumed it for breakfast. It is a perfect breakfast and a great treat. Thanks Martha for another awesome recipe!