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Sunday, November 20, 2011

Cinnamon Raisin Loaf

My friend and fellow blogger, Jenn of Knitty Baker, recently posted her Cinnamon Raisin Loaf from The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. I loved it the minute I saw it and knew I had to make it. Coincidentally, I was browsing another one of my favorite blogs, Uit de keuken van Arden/Levine, and happened to come across that same bread. It was a (clear) sign and so I decided to make it.


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.

9 comments:

  1. 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!

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  2. The 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.

    Hope you have a pleasant and relaxing holiday.

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  3. @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.

    @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)

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  4. 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!

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  5. I 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*
    But maybe its time again to ignore this and bake this bread for me alone ;-)

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  6. 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)
    They look great and the little ones are adorable!

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  7. I really want to get around to making this! I've always wanted to make a fruity loaf. Yours looks lovely!

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  8. @samanosuke: thanks! Working with the sponge wasn’t as scary as I thought :o) Give it a try.

    @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.

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