Over the blizzard break, I had some time on my hands, so I decided to make the latest recipe for my bread making club.  The “formula” was for Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread and was surprisingly easy and delish.   One of the nice things about the recipe is that it doesn’t call for a bunch of unusual or hard-to-find ingredients – I had everything I needed, already in my house, except for the buttermilk, which I faked.  Here’s the recipe:

Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

from Peter Reinhart’s “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”
makes two 1 1/2 lb loaves

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
4 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp instant yeast (I used 2.5 tsp active dry yeast)
1 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg, slightly beaten
2 Tbsp shortening, melted or at room temp
1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temp
3/4 cup water, at room temp
1 1/2 cups raisins, rinsed and drained (I patted them dry with a paper towel to remove excess moisture)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I skipped these)

Cinnamon Swirl Mixture (optional)
Sift or mix together:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp ground cinnamon

Steps

Note:  I didn’t have any buttermilk or whole milk, so I faked my buttermilk using the vinegar method.  If you buy buttermilk and are wondering what to do with the rest, freeze it in 1 cup increments – you can use it in pancakes and other recipes.

1. Stir dry ingredients together: flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cinnamon in bowl of electric mixer.  Add egg, shortening, buttermilk, and water.  Stir together (or mix on low) until the ingredients come together and form a ball.  Adjust with flour or water as necessary if dough is too sticky or dry.
2. Knead the bread – use the dough hook on the mixer (~6 to 8 min), or knead by hand (~10 min) on a floured surface.  Dough should be soft and pliable, tacky, but not sticky.  I found I had to add more flour — I had measured my flour by weight (16oz), but my other ingredient by dry measure, so that may have been my problem.   Sprinkle in the raisins and walnuts in the final 2 minutes.   I followed Reinhart’s advice and took my dough out of the mixer and kneaded by hand to get the raisins properly distributed.  Dough should pass the window pane test – mine did, but I think I’m getting more and more liberal with the definition of “passing”.   Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer dough, rolling it to coat it with oil.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap.
3. Let dough rest at room temperature for ~2 hours, or until dough doubles in size.
4. Divide dough into two equal pieces (I used my handy dandy food scale) and form them into loaves.
   Note – if you are doing the cinnamon swirl mixture, sprinkle it onto your bread before you roll it up. (I forgot!)
   Reinhart’s technique for making sandwiches loaves is hard to explain — I’ll do my best.  Basically, flatten the dough into an even-sided rectangle, ~5″ wide by 6 to 8″ long.  Roll the dough up on the SHORT side, pinching the crease as you rotate to strengthen surface tension.  The loaf will get longer as your work, closer to 8 to 9″.  Pinch the final seam closed and place in pan, seam side down.  I always have a hard time with shaping, so I looked online, and found this helpful example – not quite the same, but gives an idea of how it works.Place each loaf into a lightly oiled 8.5″ x 4.5″ pan, mist tops with spray oil and over loosely with plastic wrap.
5. Proof loaves at room temp for 60 to 90 minutes, or until dough crests above lips of pan and is nearly doubled in size.  For once, this only took about an hour for me (usually it seems I have to proof everything longer).
6. Preheat oven to 350 with oven rack on middle shelf.  Place loaves on a sheet pan making sure they don’t touch (I didn’t use a pan, I just put them on the rack).
7. Bake loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate pans 180 degrees and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes.  Finished breads should register 190F in the center and be golden brown on top and lightly golden on the sides and bottom.
8. Immediately remove bread from their pans and cool on a rack for at least 1 hour, before slicing or serving.

Even though I don’t consider myself a huge fan of raisin bread, it was quite delicious!  Since I forgot to add the cinnamon swirl, I did a trick Reinhart suggests:  when the bread comes out of the oven, brush the top with butter and then roll them in cinnamon sugar (I just sprinkled some on top).  We sliced it and had cinnamon toast – yum!

Tags: bread, what's cookin