Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

I got my order from King Arthur Flour and I was so excited for it! I did a little happy dance when my UPS man delivered it to me.  I got a super duper new candy thermometer (I don't know what happened to my old one, but this one is FANTASTIC!), a box of cake flour, and the most amazing yeast set in the world.  Now that I had my fancy, new yeast, I had to make something with it! What to make?! So many possibilities, I wanted to make something that I haven't made before.  And then I found it......cinnamon-raisin bread.  I love anything that is cinnamon-raisin - bread, bagels, english muffins.  And it's my dads favorite as well.  So I go over to my parents house and get started on baking!  Let's be honest - I do love to use their oven, plus they have the counter space I need to make this, and it would be a little cramped if I made it at my place.  Anything that involves me rolling out dough is an automatic making it at my parents. 

One of my friends was on standby incase I had any questions with bread, or dare to say it, yeast problems.  So I go in with the attitude that this bread will turn out amazing and I will have no yeast problems because I now have the worlds best yeast.  And I'm happy to say, that's exactly what happened.  I got to work on the dough for the bread, and before I know it, I get to knead in the cinnamon and raisins.

let the fun begin
Now, it didn't turn out to be so easy, since I had to knead mainly with my left hand since my right hand is still injured.  But a couple minutes later, its all kneaded and goes into the bowl to rise. 

go yeast go!
Making bread takes up a good amount of doing nothing - just waiting for yeast to do its job and rise.  So I catch up on some TV, do my laundry and play with my parents dogs while I wait.  Once its doubled in size, I get to split the dough in half, make the cinnamon filling, fill them up and roll them into logs and put them into the bread tins to rise again.

yes, they don't look
so pretty and a little deformed
Once, again, back to the nice warm, sunny window they go to rise.  And one of the dogs was interested in what was in the tins and sat next to them while they rose.  Once they were at the tops of the tins, I brushed those bad boys with an egg wash and put them into the oven.  I love the smell of baking bread, and it quickly filled my parents house.  Soon, it was time to take them out.  I must say I was truly impressed with myself.  No yeast issues, the bread looked and smelled amazing.  I left a loaf for my parents and I took one home with me. 

golden brown goodness
I talked to my mom later that night.  She said her house smelled amazing when she got home.  And then when my dad got home, he was extremely happy to see a fresh loaf of cinnamon-raisin bread waiting for him.  The next morning I sliced myself 2 pieces and put mine in the toaster - buttered it up and was in heaven.  So good and a perfect way to start my morning with my cup of coffee. I will so be making this again.

4 comments:

  1. I bake a lot and can't believe I have never made cinnamon raisin bread! This looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing your link on the My Baking Addiction Facebook page!

    -Jamie

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  2. Jamie-
    Thank you so much for checking out my blog! I love your page and visit it all the time and make countless things from it! Huge fan! :)
    I highly suggest you trying to make bread - I can't believe it took me this long to try it myself but I cant wait to make bread again!
    CB

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  3. Yum, they look SO good, and I like that they were a little wonky looking (in your opinion) in the loaf pans. LOL.

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  4. They were delicious! At least they baked up all pretty. Just wait until I put up pics of me decorating a cake - you will laugh so hard because I have no artistic ability whatsoever. :)

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