Wednesday Baking: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

On Wednesday I’ve two classes plus my first one starts at two in the afternoon - no wonder my favourite school day is Wednesday.
I love I don’t have to set on the alarm and I can spend the whole morning wandering around alone and in my pyjamas.

It’s beginning to become a bit of a habit to use this time to keep my blog a bit updated and, maybe you already guessed, bake something.
When I wake up on this Wednesday morning, the house is empty and it’s completely silent.- I make my morning cappuccino in peace, turn on the radio and start leafing through my cookbooks (a bit drooling…) and looking for something to make.

This morning, absorbed in one of my favourite and most used cookbooks - Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook - I spotted this recipe for Cinnamon Raisin Bread. I love cinnamon. It’s without a doubt my favourite spice, I put it always on my cappuccino and have the tendency to double or triple the amount that’s asked for in my recipes.

In short - this recipe sounded just perfect (especially with another cappuccino!) and I started my Wednesday morning baking session…

I have to say - I hope I don‘t sound too cocky… - everything I’ve made so far from cookbook recipes with a picture, looked very similar or sometimes even identical, as my outcome.
The only real surprises came from the experimental baking…
Well, up till now. This time my making didn’t even look slightly as the picture out the book…

Martha Stewart’s picture of this Cinnamon Raisin Bread was light, airy and well, very breadlike. Although it was a bit of a shock mine wasn’t, - I think my yeast didn’t do his job so well... - it was yet one of the best, extremes things I’ve ever tasted. I can't imagine Martha’s version had been any better or have more flavour than my version…

It was delicious, I loved it. It was compact, a bit cookie-ish and soft, and completely perfumed with cinnamon and sugar. Luscious golden-brown and with an amazing over-the-top sweet sticky cinnamon-syrup-swirl inside. It’s indescribable. The texture was perfect and if you had told me about this filling, I know I wouldn’t have believed that so much goodness would all been inside.

I didn’t wait and let cool completely before slicing, and a slightly warm, thick stream of cinnamon sugar came oozing out. Is it possible to get it more sinful or delicious than that?

The dough itself was wonderfully soft and warm, and a real pleasure to knead.

But keep in mind this isn’t a recipe you finish in an hour or so, it will definitely take you a while with all the rising and rolling, so pick a good moment and take your time (!)

A bit obvious; don’t eat this bread as a quick snack out the hand or for example when you’re dressed in white and you don’t have any napkins. Guaranteed trouble. Do devour it however, in thin slices and with a nice cup of tea (and plenty of napkins...)

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (makes 2 loaves)
- 1 envelope (¼ ounce/7g) active dry yeast
- 480 ml (2 cups) warm milk
- 950g (6 ½ cups) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 115g (1 stick/½ cup) butter, room temperature, cut into pieces, plus more for pans
- 100g (½ cup) sugar
- 2 eggs, plus 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 ½ tsp coarse salt - 200g (1 cup) raisins
- 1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
filling:
- 300g (1 ½ cups) dark brown castor sugar
- 2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

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

2. Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface. Pat out the dough into a big round. Sprinkle with raisins and cinnamon and knead and fold until they are just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

4. Make the filling. Combine sugar and cinnamon with 2 Tbsp water in a small bowl.

5. Generously butter two 9by5-inch loaf pans (if you don’t have two, one 7 inch round spring form) set aside. 6. Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half. Roll each half out to a large rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans - about 10 inch. Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle each with half of the filling.

7. With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough in. the roll the dough towards you, gently pressing forming a tight log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loafs in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest in a warm place, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 225°C (425°F)

8. Brush the tops of the loafs with beaten egg, and transfer pans to the oven. Bake, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. If the tops begin to brown too quickly, tent with aluminium foil.) turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. (if you can wait…) The bread can be kept, wrapped in plastic up to 4 days.

Orange-Apricot-Walnut bread

The ultimate best thing of having vacation is that I have all the time to nose through my cookbook collection, search peacefully for my perfect recipe, prepare all my stuff untroubled and start baking in complete harmony, of course still wearing my pyjamas, filling the house with lovely, sweet aromas.
And today, a new free day, I was in the mood to make this absolutely gorgeous orange-apricot-walnut bread.
This pandolce is another recipe from La Dolce Vita and is normally being eaten on Easter.

It is a deliciously, just perfect bread packed with flavor. The orange rind really gives it a unique taste. It’s soft, with a good crunchy crust and so beautiful with that topping. Because of the great amount of nuts and fruit, the bread is dry and compact, but at the same time moist and soft. Easy, healthy and very tasty!



Orange-Apricot-Walnut bread

- 115 g dried apricots
- rind of one unsprayed orange
- 55 g butter
- 10 g fresh yeast or 1 tsp instant yeast
- 200 g flower
- 75 g fine granulated sugar
- 55 shelled walnuts, chopped
- 2 eggs, beaten
topping – I doubled the amount; otherwise it was too dry - :
- 2 Tbsp honey
- 4 Tbsp orange juice
- 25 shelled walnuts
- 6 dried apricots

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease a 18 cm springform cake pan.

2. Cut up the apricots and grate the orange till you have all the rind.

3. Put the fruit with the butter in a saucepan and bake on low heat until all the butter is melted. Then remove the pan from heat.

4. Mix the yeast with 2 Tbsp warm water and combine this mixture with the flour, sugar and chopped walnuts. Whip in the eggs, the melted butter and the fruit until well blended. Pour this mixture in the cake pan and bake for 1 ¼ hour, until golden and dry.

5. Take the bread out of his form and let cool.

6. Make in the meantime the topping. Bring honey and orange juice to boil and leave 30 seconds, while stirring, simmering.

7. Put the walnuts and the apricots in the pan and warm them, on low heat, for about 1 minute. Place the nuts and apricots nicely on the bread. Let cool completely.