Sunday, July 25, 2010

Cinnamon raisin bread + sandwich

I love my new kitchen. I love it so much I stayed in all weekend using its brand new appliances. I did a bunch of cooking and baking, I'll have to split it all up into different blog posts.

I've been wanting to bake my own bread for some time and always thought it would be tricky (yeast, rise, etc... all seemed too complicated for me). I decided to go for it yesterday. It was so easy, I ended up making 2 loaves of cinnamon raisin bread (one for my parents). There's nothing like a fresh loaf of homemade bread!!! I never want store-bought bread ever again. I love that it's so versatile, you can pretty much add in whatever you want (herbs, fruits, spices, cheeses, etc.). These are definitely the first loaves of many more to come.


I made a sandwich for lunch today with this bread. I put 2 slices in an oiled skillet, then flipped over after a few minutes to brown the other side. I added half a slice of swiss cheese to each piece of bread, 2 slices of turkey, and topped with thin slices of granny smith apples. I sandwiched the two parts together onto a plate and promptly devoured.





Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Yields one 9x5" loaf
3/4 cup warm water
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
3/4 cup warm milk
4 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour

2-3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
dark brown sugar and cinnamon (as much as you want)
raisins
Place the warm water and honey in large bowl. Sprinkle in yeast, stir until dissolved and let stand until creamy.
Add the warm milk, salt, and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour; blend well.
Stir in whole wheat flour and mix well.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 6 to 8 minutes.
Place in a lightly oiled bowl and turn the dough to grease the top.
Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Punch the dough down and turn onto a lightly floured surface.
Roll out dough until about 1/2-1" thickness and spread melted butter or margarine, then top with as much brown sugar, cinnamon, and raisins as you wish.
Roll up the dough and tuck in the ends. Form into a loaf and place into the prepared pan.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Bake at 375 degrees for 35 minutes or until top is golden brown and the bottom of the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Remove loaf from the pan and cool on a wire rack.

6 comments:

Jessica N. said...

That looks so delicious! I first ventured into bread-making this summer and it's addicting- so much easier than I expected and SO rewarding. :)

Nirmala said...

This looks so great. I'm going to try it! I don't bake bread often and haven't had the best of luck but will give it a go and report back.

Nirmala said...

I have a question for you, if you don't mind. Sorry I could not e-mail you - - didn't see contact info. Would you mind specifying how much sugar, cinnamon, raisins you used so I can get a sense of how much I should? Thanks!

lifesabatch said...

Hi Nirmala! Can't wait for you to try this. I can't really say how much I used (I kept adding more until I got a good consistency and taste)... I would start with the melted butter/margarine and add about a heaping teaspoon of both cinnamon and sugar until the mixture becomes quite viscous (like maple syrup consistency). Just taste it - if you like it, then go with it... no magic numbers here. If it's too thick, just add more melted butter. Can never have too much butter, sugar and cinnamon! :)

lifesabatch said...

Oh, as for raisins, I used three 1-oz boxes of Sunmaid golden raisins. Let me know how things go!

jane said...

omg it looks so good! i want to make it! do you think i could just use regular flour instead of whole wheat flour? (i'm not too worried bout the healthy aspect of it)