Cinnamon Raisin Bread
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 cups milk
- 1 cup raisins
- 8 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 cup warm water (110 degrees f/45 degrees c)
- 2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
- 1/2 cup margarine softened
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- Carbohydrate 30.2845811917798 g
- Cholesterol 3.1862847237943 mg
- Fat 6.39913821851354 g
- Fiber 1.15017408445875 g
- Protein 3.60880771226292 g
- Saturated Fat 1.65490564853922 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (67g)
- Sodium 431.643106936831 mg
- Sugar 29.1344071073211 g
- Trans Fat 0.341822689996496 g
- Calories 192 calories
Step-by-step
- Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.
- Dissolve yeast in warm water, and set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in cooled milk. Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.
- Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased, mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.
- Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons milk. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. Roll up tightly; the roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends. Place loaves into well greased 9 x 5 inch pans. Lightly grease tops of loaves. Let rise again for 1 hour.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when knocked. Remove loaves from pans, and brush with melted butter or margarine. Let cool before slicing.
A properly baked loaf emerges from the oven with a hollow-sounding crust, caramelized sugar swirls, and aromatic spices filling the kitchen. Making enriched yeast doughs requires precision regarding water temperature. Yeast added to water above 110 degrees Fahrenheit will thermal shock and die, resulting in a dense, flat loaf that fails to rise during proofing. Scalding the milk breaks down whey proteins that can otherwise weaken gluten strands, but the liquid must cool until lukewarm before contacting the active dry yeast.
Incorporating eight cups of all-purpose flour requires gradual addition to avoid overloading the liquid phase, which produces heavy pockets of unhydrated powder. Kneading builds the necessary gluten matrix to support the weight of the fruit and sugar. Distribute raisins evenly throughout the dough during mixing so pockets of moisture do not create dense spots that trap steam and cause the loaf to collapse internally. Rolling the dough into a consistent three-inch diameter cylinder ensures the cinnamon-sugar mixture distributes uniformly without creating massive voids between the spiral layers.
Sugars inside the dough and the filling caramelize rapidly at 350 degrees Fahrenheit, requiring careful visual monitoring during the forty-five-minute bake time to prevent premature burning of the outer crust. Brushing the hot crust with melted butter immediately upon removal from the 9x5 inch pans softens the exterior while locking in internal moisture as the bread cools on a wire rack.
