Old-fashioned Raisin Bread

When I saw this bread on Phyl's blog, I knew I had to make it. The loaves looked so wonderful and the crumb so perfect. When I read that the recipe was a preview from Nick Malgieri's new book "Bread" (to be published in the fall 2012), I had one more reason to try it.

Baking bread is fun, but it's even more fun when you can do it with someone else and turn it into a mini (virtual) baking project. Fellow ABC-er and baking buddy, Janis of The Kitchen Is My Shrink, had mentioned that she'd like to get back into bread baking. The timing of the Old-fashioned Raisin Bread couldn't have been better. We both took the challenge and baked the bread in our respective kitchens. Do check out Janis' post. She did an awesome experiment where she made the recipe as-is and then again with natural enhancers such as Vital Wheat Gluten. Check out her side-by-side comparison here.

I love the three colors from the raisin, golden raisins and craisins in this bread!

As you've come to know of me, I like to substitute some of the white flour with whole wheat flour and this recipe was no exception. I like raisins but I'm also a huge fan of dried cranberries so I added some of those too. You can find all the changes I made later in the post.

Once I gathered the ingredients, I added them to my bread machine except for the dried fruit. I added the dried fruit to the dough by hand. There's a very nice and helpful video made by Levine and Freerk to show you how to easily add dried fruit to any dough. So, since this recipe makes 2 loaves, I decided to only use the kneading cycle in the BM and to let it rise outside the BM.

The 6" boule only took 25 minutes to bake. The other two loaves took an additional 15 minutes.

This bread is so light and tender, you wouldn't guess it's 50% whole-grain. I sliced all the loaves and froze them. That way, you take however many slices you want and let them sit on the counter to thaw out for a few minutes. This bread makes wonderful toast.

I love the light and tender crumb of this bread.

 

Bon appetit!

Final thoughts/tips:

• We both loved this bread. Hubby is a huge raisin bread fan and really enjoyed sandwiches made with this bread, both savory and sweet.
• I loved this bread fresh, but when you toast it, it's even more amazing. This recipe definitely goes on the make-again list.
• A big thanks to Nick Malgieri for giving us a preview to this wonderful recipe. I can't wait to see the other recipes in his new book. If you'd like to try the recipe, you can find it here. 
• I'm submitting this post to Susan's weekly round-up of yeast recipes at YeastSpotting.

Old-fashioned Raisin Bread
(adapted from Nick Malgieri's recipe)
Yields: two 8"x4" loaves + a small 6" boule

1 cup/225 grams room temperature tap water, about 75°F
3 teaspoons/10 grams fine granulated active dry or instant yeast
1 cup/225 grams 1% milk, scalded and cooled
3-1/2 oz water, lukewarm
375 grams unbleached bread flour
300 grams King Arthur Flour white whole wheat flour
25 grams ground golden flax seeds
16 grams vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup/50 grams sugar
23 grams non-fat dry milk powder
1 1/2 teaspoons/10 grams fine sea salt
55 grams vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups/150 grams dark raisins or currants
1 cup/100 grams golden raisins
1 cup/100 grams dried cranberries

Combine all the ingredients, except the dried fruit, in the bowl of your stand mixer or bread machine. Knead the dough and add the dried fruit in the last couple minutes of kneading. Follow the remainder of the directions here.