Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread

I was looking for a cinnamon-rasin bread to make and came across this recipe on the Williams-Sonoma website. I didn't have bread flour so I used all purpose flour and it came out just fine. I also used 8x4 1/2 inch loaf pans to get a higher loaf. I just started making bread last weekend so I was very excited that these turned out so good! I ended up with two beautiful loafs. I did make one mistake though. I couldn't wait to see what they looked like inside so I cut one loaf 5 minutes out of the oven and the brown sugar started to leak out!! I guess that is why the recipes says to cool completely. Next time I will try to roll the dough out into a longer rectangle so I get more swirls.

** Update! I made this again using bread flour. I added 1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon into the dough before kneading. I rolled it into a longer rectangle and got lots of swirls. These loafs were even better than the first! I think the bread dough made a huge difference. It was much more soft. Also the cinnamon in the dough was great! I love this recipe!!

Ingredients:

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

3 Tbs. granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water (105° to 115°F)

1 cup warm milk (105° to 115°F)

3 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

1 Tbs. salt

1 egg, lightly beaten

6 to 6 1/4 cups bread flour, plus more as needed

3/4 cup golden raisins

3/4 cup dark raisins

For the filling:

2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:

In a bowl, sprinkle the yeast and a pinch of the granulated sugar over 1⁄2 cup of the water and stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, combine the remaining 3/4 cup water, the milk, butter, the remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute. Add the yeast mixture and 1⁄2 cup of the flour and beat for 1 minute. Add the raisins, then beat in the remaining flour, 1⁄2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Switch to the dough hook. Knead on medium-low speed, adding flour 1 Tbs. at a time if the dough sticks, until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a greased deep bowl and turn to coat it. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Lightly grease two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board. Divide the dough in half and roll or pat each half into an 8-by-12-inch rectangle. Lightly sprinkle each rectangle with half of the filling, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides. Beginning at a narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal in the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough is about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1 to 1 1⁄2 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Turn the loaves out onto wire racks and let cool completely. Makes two 9-by-5-inch loaves.