I haven't baked bread that uses a starter or sponge in many years. Let's say, we didn't see eye-to-eye back then and so I never bothered again. Until now. I figured with my "reduced" yeast phobia, I surely can handle a "little sponge" :o)
I won't bore you with any step-by-step pictures because Jenn and Levine did a wonderful job capturing the steps in their respective blog posts which you can find here and here.
 |
| Today's lunch. Yum! |
Final thoughts/tips:
- Hubby and I liked this bread a lot. The raisins add sweetness and moisture, although the bread itself is plenty moist. He gave it an 8 out of 10 rating. I skipped the cinnamon swirl after asking hubby what he wanted. Instead, I made 2 small rolls that I sprayed with a little water and sprinkled cinnamon-sugar on top (these rolls are for me, ha ha).
- My favorite part about the bread is that it doesn't have a heavy yeast smell. The bread on its own is great, but when toasted, it's even better. I had it with butter, as well as with cheese.
- My changes to the recipe: instead of 4.5 oz of unsalted butter, I used 3 oz of unsalted butter and 1 oz of oil. And like Levine, I also increased the raisins by adding some golden raisins and reduced the salt (to 2 tsp).
- Although I didn't wash or reconstitute the raisins, they still "stained" the bread's interior a little bit.
- The recipe can be found in The Bread Bible. Levine has posted her adaption of the recipe here.
- I'm submitting this post to YeastSpotting.
Hanaa, I'm so glad you made this! Your bread looks awesome. And I love that you sub with golden raisin. Now you make me want to make this again!
ReplyDeleteThe bread looks great. If I can fit it in around the rolls my grandkids demand for Thanksgiving and the gluten-free bread I must ready for my daughter-in-law, I'll give it a try.
ReplyDeleteHope you have a pleasant and relaxing holiday.
@Jenn: thank you. I'm glad I made it too. I froze one loaf and am fully enjoying the other loaf. Do try it with a mix of golden raisins. They're even sweeter than the regular raisins.
ReplyDelete@Nancy: thank you so much for stopping by and your compliments. Let me know if you find time to squeeze in this bread. It's worth it! A very happy Thanksgiving to you too :o)
i haven't deal with spongy recipes for quite a while too, might as well give this a try :)! that bread really look nice btw!
ReplyDeleteI like this kind of raisin bread very much but bake them to seldom because the other half of this household does not eat raisins *sigh*
ReplyDeleteBut maybe its time again to ignore this and bake this bread for me alone ;-)
I just love toasted raisin bread! Sometimes I can't for it to get a little stale so I can make myself toast. (There's this thing in me that says you can't "waste" fresh bread for toast, only allowed with stale bread. Yeah I don't know either)
ReplyDeleteThey look great and the little ones are adorable!
I really want to get around to making this! I've always wanted to make a fruity loaf. Yours looks lovely!
ReplyDelete@samanosuke: thanks! Working with the sponge wasn’t as scary as I thought :o) Give it a try.
ReplyDelete@Stefanie: ha ha. Sounds like a good enough reason for me :o) We ate one loaf and I froze the other.
@Baking Soda: I hear ya. It doesn’t feel right to “waste” fresh bread to me either, but it’s just sooooo good toasted, ha ha. And the little ones with the cinnamon-sugar were ridiculously good.
@Les reves: thank you. This is a pretty straight forward recipe so give it a try sometime.
Good readinng
ReplyDelete