Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Here’s my version of the time–honored cinnamon swirl bread. Traditionally, this bread is topped with a confectioners’ sugar icing, but I have chosen to skip that part. I really just felt like the dough itself was sweet enough. You can certainly chose to add icing to it, but I feel that the average American diet is excessively loaded with added and refined sugars as it is.
This cinnamon raisin bread recipe is one of the best I’ve found. I’ve stress–tested so many, and this one really has a great consistency and smells wonderful while baking. I made this for my daughter for the first time about a year ago, the original recipe quantities yielded 3 loaves, so I ended up giving away two of them as gifts.
But since I have such a tiny family, I reduced the quantities to one third. Now I make only one loaf at a time, which is just the perfect number for my two little ones, since fresh baked bread goes stale much more quickly that the store–bought kind (preservatives, yuk!).
Baking is therapy for me, and so as I have been feeling melancholy for some time now, I skipped my daily workout yesterday and got to baking one delicious loaf of the best cinnamon raisin bread on the planet. Seriously, you need to find some raisins and make this bread. It will change your life. Ok, maybe not…but it will definitely improve your mood.
How to Make Cinnamon Raisin Bread
Yield: 1 Loaf
Prep Time: 15 min.
Rise Time: 2 ½–3 ½ hours
Bake Time: 45 min.
Total Time: 3 hours 45 min.
Ingredients
- ½ cup milk
- ⅓ cup warm water (between 110–115℉)
- 2 packages (1½ Tbsp.) active dry yeast
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup white sugar
- ⅓ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ⅓ cup raisins
- 2⅔ cups All Purpose flour (can substitute bread flour)
- ⅔ Tbsp. milk
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- 1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
- ⅔ Tbsp. butter, melted
Directions
- Warm the milk in a small sauce pan on the stove until it just starts to bubble, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat.
- Let cool until lukewarm, about 120–125℉.
- Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside until yeast is frothy, about 10 minutes or so (make sure your water is at the correct temperature or the yeast won’t activate.) Then mix in egg, sugar, butter salt and raisins (stir in the cooled milk slowly so you don’t cook the egg). Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.
- Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until smooth.
- Place in a large, buttered, mixing bowl and turn to grease the surface of the dough.
- Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rise (I like to let my bread rise in the oven with the light on. It has just the right amount of heat and keeps the bread out of drafts.) Allow to rise until doubled, usually between 1½–2 hours.
- Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle ½ inch thick.
- Moisten the dough with 2 Tbsp. milk and rub all over the dough with your hands.
- Mix together 1 cup of sugar and 1 Tbsp. cinnamon and sprinkle mixture evenly on top of the moistened dough.
- Roll up tightly (the long way).
- The roll should be about 3 inches in diameter.
- Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends and pinch bottom together.
- Place loaves into greased (with butter or vegan butter) 9 x 5 inch loaf pans and lightly grease tops of loaves.
- Let rise in warm place, uncovered, again for another 1–1½ hours.
- Bake at 350℉ for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.
- Remove from oven and let cool on rack.
- Take melted butter and spread over tops of loaves.
- After about 20 minutes, lay loaves on their sides and remove from pans.
- Allow to cool before slicing.
Nutrition Information
| Serving Size: 67g | Servings Per Recipe: 11 | Calories: 189.6 |
| Nutrition | Amount Per Serving | % Daily Value |
| Calories from Fat | 38g | 21% |
| Total Fat | 4.3g | 6% |
| Saturated Fat | 2.5g | 12% |
| Cholesterol | 25.5mg | 8% |
| Sodium | 83.4mg | 3% |
| Total Carbohydrate | 34g | 11% |
| Dietary Fiber | 1.4g | 5% |
| Sugars | 10.8g | 43% |
| Protein | 4.1g | 8% |
Notes
To serve, slice the cinnamon raisin bread, pop it in the toaster and toast. Spread a little butter on the toasted goodness and serve warm. Freeze any loaves you don’t plan to use in the next 3–4 days.
Did you make this recipe? Share a photo and tag us—we can’t wait to see what you’ve made. I made this cinnamon raisin bread last week and let me tell you, it’s worth your time.
Source:
WORLD’S BEST CINNAMON RAISIN BREAD (NOT BREAD MACHINE)
https://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-cinnamon-raisin-bread-not-bread-machine-98867
Recipe by Lydia Holton