Raising Raisin Bread

This week's bread was inspired by a photo I saw in a bread book I got last week at a thrift store with my Mom. She found this wonderful British bread book for me while I was watching Adam in the appliance section of the store. The book is called "The Color Book of Home Baking" edited by Hilary Walden. It is an old book from 1978 and it is the kind of old cook book that I truly love! It has photos that really inspire you to bake the breads and try new methods of baking.

I was really in the mood for a bread that would make lovely morning toast and the picture of this bread really made me want to make it. Of course, I had to change the recipe I slight bit as always but I am happy with the end result- the loaf above. The recipe made 2 loaves and they rose very high in the oven. Below is a picture of my baker's apprentice- Adam- my son who loves to sift flour and put it in a bowl, dump it out, taste the dough, etc. It is great fun and such a joy!


The original recipe called for whole wheat flour and rye flour but I used unbleached white flour in place of the rye since I didn't have any and I don't really like the taste of rye unless it is for a deli type sandwich.

Also, the original recipe called for simmering the raisins in white wine, but I had some coffee liqueur that my mom gave me leftover from our Farmer's Tea baking business days and I thought that the raisins would taste really good simmered in that.

Here is the recipe & my notes on what happened and what I might do differently next time.

Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

Makes-2 small loaves- tall but narrow

2 cups raisins
6 tablespoons coffee liqueur + 3 tablespoons extra for mixing with the yeast
3 tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm milk
3/4 cup melted butter
1/4 cup molasses
1 cup light brown sugar
4 cups whole wheat flour
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1. Simmer the raisins in the coffee liqueur on low for 20 minutes.

2. Mix the yeast with the 3 tablespoons of liqueur in a small bowl.

3. Pour the milk and butter over the molasses in a separate bowl and mix thoroughly. Stir in the brown sugar.

4. Mix the flours and the salt in a large bowl separately. Make a well or hole in the center and add the yeast, milk mixture and raisins. With a spatula mix the flours and the liquid until the dough comes away cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

5. Turn onto a floured board and knead for 8-10 minutes by hand until the dough is elastic and smooth. Put the dough into a clean, oiled bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk- about 2 hours.

6. After this first rising, knead the dough about 3-4 minutes then divide the dough into 2 parts. Form 2 loaves and place them into oiled small loaf pans. Make sure to oil the tops of the loaves. Then, place them in a large plastic bag (I used an "oven bag" used for cooking roasts). Set these aside for 30-40 minutes to rise a while.

7. Bake at 475F for around 9-10 minutes, then lower the temperature to 425F and bake for 30-40 minutes. After lowering the temperature put foil on top of the bread so that it does not brown so much. I did not do this but I recommend it because the bread browned a bit more than I'd like even though the inside is very tender.

8. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool.

This bread is heavenly as toast. One of my loaves has a hole in the middle of it and it is very tender in the center, but it makes fabulous toast! See the picture below of a slice of the bread. I love it!! Enjoy!