Cinnamon Raisin Bread: BBA Challenge

For Day 9 of the BBA Challenge, we made Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread. Oh boy! Is this bread good! And, it's relatively easy to prepare! The only problem with this bread is that my taste tester and I cannot decide which cinnamon bread we like better - this one or the no knead version. I think it's a tie! Both breads are great!

This cinnamon bread can be made in an evening. In fact, I started the dough after work, set it out for the first rise, made dinner, then walked on my favorite trail for an hour, came back and shaped the loaves and let them sit for the second rise, then baked them the same night. Granted, it was a little late when I finished and went to bed, but it was worth it. I had a delicious piece of cinnamon toast for breakfast the next morning! Yummy!!!

Peter Reinhart recommends a couple of substitutions to add additional flavor to this bread. I tried them and recommend them as well. It's worth the little bit of extra time & effort it takes to roll the dough out (instead of shaping in into a loaf), and then sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar before baking. Once it's done baking, you can brush the top of the loaf with butter and add additional cinnamon sugar on top. Mmmmm...


Let's get started baking.

If you're baking along with us, turn to page 147 in the Bread Baker's Apprentice to locate the recipe and list of ingredients.


Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

Mixing the dough:

Make sure you have all of your ingredients together. Stir together the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl. Add the egg, shortening, buttermilk, and water. Mix with a large spoon until all the ingredients come together and form a ball.




Kneading the Dough:

Transfer the dough to a counter sprinkled with flour. Begin kneading. The dough should be soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. If necessary, add a little flour to achieve this consistency.




Sprinkle in the raisins and walnuts during the final minutes of kneading. You want to distribute them evenly without crushing them too much.  Keep kneading in the raisins and walnuts until they are thoroughly incorporated into the dough.



1st Rise:

Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough. Roll it around to coat it with oil.



Cover the bowl with plastic and let the dough ferment for about 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.




Shaping the loaves:

Divide the dough into two equal pieces and form them into loaves.



At this point, you can shape the dough into loaves and bake them. Or, for additional flavor, roll the two pieces out into rectangles and add more cinnamon sugar before shaping them into loaves. That's what I decided to do.

Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top.



Starting to roll the first loaf.



Continue rolling...

 

There, now we have the first loaf.  Be sure to pinch the seems together.



Then place the loaf seam side down in a lightly greased 8 1/2 by 4 1/2-inch pan. Mist the top with cooking spray.



Shape the 2nd loaf using the same process and cover both loaves loosely with plastic wrap.







2nd Rise:

Proof the loaves at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the dough crests above the lips of the pans and is nearly doubled in size.





Baking the Loaves:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the loaf pans on a sheet pan. Make sure the pans don't touch each other. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate the pans 180 degrees for even baking and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the oven.

The finished loaves should be golden brown on top and lightly golden on the sides and bottom. The loaves will make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.




Cooling the Loaves:

Remove the loaves immediately from the pans and cool on a wire rack for a least an hour. It is best to wait 2 hours before slicing or serving. This is the hard part!




To give the bread even more flavor, brush the loaves with melted butter while they are still warm and sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top.

Now, all that's left to do is to eat a slice... The best part!



Thanks for joining us this week. Next time, we'll be making Corn Bread. Yes, you heard that right. Corn bread is not normally a yeast bread, but Peter Reinhart included corn bread in this book because he claims it's such a good recipe. Well, we'll just have to see about that! If it's anything like the rest of his breads, it will be fabulous! I'm ready to try something different. How about you?



Happy Baking!
Cathy

No Knead Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This week in the bread-baking blog, we're continuing our series on making breads using the Kneadlessly Simple method and we're participating in Bread Baking Day #22: Sweet Breads.

The bread we're making is Cinnamon Pinwheel Raisin Bread. It is made with the dough from Country Fair White Bread. The recipe is very easy and it tastes great! In fact, my taste tester said it was the best cinnamon bread he had ever tasted.

This will be our first time submitting an entry for the monthly BBD. We're excited about submitting this particular bread as our entry because not only is it a sweet bread, but it is made using the unique Kneadlessly Simple technique.

 

For more information on Bread Baking Day #22 and to enter your own Sweet Bread click here. View all of the delicious breads in the Bread Baking Day #22 Roundup. They all look wonderful!

7/11/09 Update: My taste tester and I were unable to decide which cinnamon bread we liked better. We tasted the no knead cinnamon bread and the BBA Challenge Cinnamon Bread and it's a tie! Both breads are great!


Let's get started...

If you would like to bake along with us, turn to page 66 in Kneadlessly Simple to locate the recipe and list of ingredients.


Cinnamon Pinwheel Raisin Bread
Makes: 1 large loaf (12 to 15 slices)

First Step: (Make the County Fair White Bread dough p.61)

Get all of the ingredients together. Stir the dry ingredients together in the bowl until well mixed. Stir in the water, scraping down the sides and mixing just until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.





If the mixture is too dry, add additional water, a little bit at a time. Or, if necessary, add a little extra flour until it forms a fairly soft dough. I added a little extra flour. Brush the top with butter.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.




First Rise:

Refrigerate the dough for 3 to 10 hours. I refrigerated it for 10 hours overnight.




Then let the dough rise at cool room temperature (about 70 degrees F.) for 15 to 20 hours. If convenient, stir the dough about halfway through the rise.

Here is the dough after 15 hours

This is the dough after stirring part way through



then letting it sit for another couple of hours




Preparing for the Second Rise:

Stir the butter, milk powder, and beaten egg thoroughly under blended. Vigorously stir the butter mixture into the dough until evenly incorporated and smooth.  It takes awhile to mix it thoroughly.



Gradually mix in 2/3 cup or enough flour to yield a very hard-to-stir dough.

Using a well-oiled rubber spatula, fold the dough in towards the center, working all the way around the bowl. This will help develop the gluten and make it easier to shape the loaf.



Now, we'll take the County Fair White Bread dough and make cinnamon raisin bread out of it.


Vigorously stir in the raisins until the dough is fluffy and the raisins are evenly incorporated.



Set the dough in the refrigerator to rest for 10 minutes. I think it needed to rest a little longer because the dough was a little to soft to roll. It's very humid in Atlanta so that could also be part of the problem.


Spray a 16-inch-long sheet of parchment with cooking spray and generously dust it with flour. Turn the dough out onto the center of the parchment and evenly dust with flour.



With flour-dusted fingertips, shape the dough into a 9 x 14-inch evenly thick rectangle. Dust with more flour as needed.



Brush beaten egg evenly over the dough to within 1/8 inch of the edge.



Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the dough to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Reserve 1/2 tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar for garnish.




Sprinkle the bits of butter over the sugar.




Shaping the loaf:

Using flour-dusted hands, tightly roll up the dough from a 9-inch-wide side to form a pinwheel log. Lift up the parchment to assist the rolling as you work.




This part was a little bit tricky. The dough was a little too soft and kept sticking to the parchment. I put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes, but I ended up just plopping the somewhat-rolled loaf in the pan. Next time, I think I'll leave the dough in the refrigerator longer than 10 minutes or put it back in after I sprinkle the butter bits so it has a chance to harden a little bit before rolling it up.



Transfer the loaf, seam-side down, to a well-greased 9 x 5-inch baking pan.  Brush or spray the top with oil. Cover the pan with plastic wrap coated with nonstick spray.




Let the dough stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. Continue the rise until the dough reaches the plastic. Remove the plastic and continue with the rise until the dough reaches 1/2 inch above the pan rim.



Preparing to Bake:

15 minutes before baking time, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Evenly brush the top of the dough with egg wash. Wipe away any that pools around the pan edges so that the dough won't stick to the pan when you try to remove it.





Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the loaf.




Baking the bread:

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaf is nicely browned. Then cover with foil and continue baking for 25 to 35 minutes longer and test with a skewer inserted in the thickest part until the skewer comes out with just a few particles on the end.  Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes more to make sure the center is completely done.



Cooling the bread:

Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn the loaf onto the rack; cool thoroughly.




Serving and Storing:

Serve warm, or cool, or toasted. The bread slices best when cool if you can wait that long.

This bread is really good!

Be sure to cool completely before storing in plastic or foil. The bread will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months. I decided to freeze half of the bread since it's such a large loaf. This way, we'll have some for another day.


Happy Baking!
Cathy

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This dark rich, Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread is delicious! Try it for breakfast, either plain or toasted. The bread can be made completely in the bread machine or, make the dough in the bread machine, then transfer the dough to loaf pans for the final rising, and bake them in the conventional oven.

Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin Bread Recipe
Recipe from Linda Rehberg's and Lois Conway's The Bread Machine Magic Book of Helpful Hints

Makes: 1 1/2 pound loaf in bread machine



Note: If you have a machine with a regular baking cycle of under 3 hours, you may need to reduce the amount of butter by half or switch to the Whole Wheat cycle if you find it didn't rise well the first time.

Ingredients:

• 7/8 to 1 cup + 1 tablespoon Buttermilk
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1/3 cup Butter or Margarine
• 3 tablespoons Brown Sugar
• 1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
• 1 1/2 cups Bread Flour
• 3 tablespoons Vital Wheat Gluten (optional) I didn't use the vital wheat gluten -- we'll see how well it works without it.
• 2/3 cups Raisins
• 1 teaspoon Cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast

 

Directions:

Place all ingredients in bread pan, using the least amount of liquid listed in the recipe. Select Medium Crust setting and press Start.

Observe the dough as it kneads. After 5 to 10 minutes, if it appears dry and stiff or if your machine sounds as if its straining to knead it, add more liquid 1 tablespoon at a time until dough forms a smooth, soft, pliable ball that is slightly tacky to the touch.

I checked the dough and the amount of liquid (7/3 cup + 1 tablespoon) was perfect for my bread machine. I had to scrape the sides a few times to help the machine along, but it didn't need any additional liquid.

This cinnamon bread smells delightful while it's baking. It fills the house with a wonderful aroma. I can't wait for it to finish baking. Although I'm going to try and wait until tomorrow morning to eat some. The only way that's going to work is if I go over to my friend's house and leave the cinnamon bread at home. I'm bringing him some freshly-baked sourdough bread so he won't feel slighted.

After the baking cycle ends, remove bread from pan, place on wire rack, and allow to cool 1 hour before slicing.



I couldn’t wait to try this bread for toast in the morning so I had a slice when I got home. It was really good!

While I was waiting for the bread to finish baking, my oldest son and his friend walked in the door. They both said "Mmmmm ... what's that smell? See, I told you it smells yummy. Although they both turned there noses up when I said it was whole wheat. Oh well! I guess I don't have to worry about having to share my breakfast bread with them. My youngest son will probably eat it. He runs track so he likes to eat healthy stuff - most of the time.

Happy Baking!
Cathy