Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

As Caleb and I were at home Wednesday and Thursday this week while the cars were being worked on I decided to use the time to do a lot of baking. Wednesday we baked cookies for our MOPS cookie exchange and yesterday we made Homemade Cinnamon-Raisin Bread. I got the recipe from The Mom's Big Book of Baking by Lauren Chattman from my library and I adapted it so that I made the dough in the mixer instead of in the food processor.

Here's the recipe: (I doubled the recipe so we would have a loaf and I could take one to a Christmas party) This is for one 9 inch loaf

Bread:
1 1/3 cups whole milk
1 envelope rapid rise yeast (or 2.5 teaspoons)
3 1/2 cups all purpose flour, more if necessary
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Nonstick cooking spray

Filling:
1 1/2 cup raisins
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted, and cooled

1. Make the dough: Heat the milk over low heat in a small saucepan until just warm to the touch. Pour it into the mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes to give the yeast a chance to dissolve.

2. Once the yeast is dissolved add the sugar and salt and then the flour by cupfuls. Mix in the mixer (I used dough hooks) and keep adding the flour until a soft dough is formed.

3. Knead on a floured surface until a soft ball is formed.

4. Coat the inside of a large mixing bowl with cooking spray. Shape the dough into a rough ball and place in the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough stand in a warm, draft-free spot until the dough has doubled in size, 1-1.5 hours.


5. Make the Filling: Place the raisins in a small saucepan and cover them with water. Bring the liquid to a boil, remove pan from the heat, and let it stand for 5 minutes. Drain the raisins and pat them dry on a paper towel. Set aside. Combine 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon in a small bowl.


6. Coat the inside of a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently press it into a rectangle measuring about 1 inch thick and 9 inches long. Brush the dough with the 1 tablespoon cooled melted butter. Sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar. Sprinkle with the raisins.


Tightly roll the rectangle into a 9-inch long cylinder and place it in the prepared pan, seam side down. Press the dough into the pan so that it touches the sides and reaches into the corners. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until doubled in size.


7. Preheat oven 350 degrees.

8.Remove plastic wrap from loaf pan and place pan into oven. Bake until golden brown and firm, 40-50 minutes. Remove pan from oven and turn out onto wire cooling wrack and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.


Can be wrapped in plastic wrap and aluminum foil to be frozen for up to 2 weeks.