Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Batteries are like super expensive so I regrettably have yet another post without any pictures. So you will just have to use your imagination for this one. Also, the reason I haven't been on in a while is because it took me two weeks to come up with this recipe. Here's why: the first week I tried making the bread, I had forgotten to check what I had in the pantry before baking. I assumed I had packets of yeast and I had just planned on using one packet for this recipe. Well, when I got to baking at 3:30 last Monday morning, I opened the pantry and low-and-behold no packets of yeast. So I say to myself, "that's fine, I'll just use some from the jar of yeast I have in the fridge. I bet you a packet of yeast is about half a teaspoon." So I used half a teaspoon of yeast. Do you know how much is in a packet of yeast? Let me tell you. It's 2 and a quarter teaspoons. 2 and a quarter is much different than half a teaspoon, especially when you are talking about yeast. So there was not a whole lot of rising going on in this situation here. But this week I tried the recipe with the appropriate amount and I think it turned out pretty decent. Here you go:

• 3/4 cups warm water (95 to 105 degrees)
  
• 3/4 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 cups flour (I used bread flour because I had it on hand, but all-purpose would be fine)
• like a handful of raisins
• cinnamon sugar
• 1 1/2 tablespoons melted butter

1. Put your warm water in your mixing bowl and whisk or stir in your yeast until it is pretty much dissolved. Try not to get too many clumps in there. You can avoid the clumps by slowing sprinkling in the yeast while stirring.
2. Add the salt and sugar and stir to dissolve everything.
3. Add your flour. I like to go a half cup at a time, but it doesn't really matter. I've just found that if you're scooping out a bag, the half cup is a little more manageable and you don't pack the flour that much.
4. Begin to add the milk a 1/4 cup at a time. After the first 1/4 cup start to mix the dough and continue to add the milk as necessary. You want to achieve a dough that is just a little bit sticky. So add milk until all the flour in the bowl is picked up and included in the dough, but don't add to much so that the dough looks wet or makes that noise while mixing that sounds as if someone is chewing with their mouth open. It's gross and it means your dough is gonna suck.
5. While you are adding the milk a 1/4 cup at a time you can start to sprinkle in your raisins. These two steps seem to be kind of by the seat of my pants I know, but it is really all about what your preference is and there isn't too much of a science to it. Once you have made a few loaves of bread, you can kind of tell how wet or dry dough should look and to what degree of stickiness you want it to be. And as for adding the raisins, just add a little at a time so that you don't have a bunch of raisins that are sitting at the bottom of your mixing bowl instead of in the dough. You can also add in the raisins while kneading if you want, but I think it is easier to just add them while mixing.
6. Mix for about 2 - 3 minutes until you have achieved a nice slightly sticky ball of dough that looks ready for some kneading and then let it continue mixing for about 1 minute. The whole time, I just used my dough hook attachment, but you could probably start with the paddle and do the last minute with the dough hook.
7. Now knead for 10 minutes on a slightly floured surface. The dough should be nice and soft and not really sticky anymore by the time you are done. Then form it into a ball.
   
8. Let it rise for one hour. I like to put it in a large mixing bowl coated with spray oil and covered with a dish towel.
9. After is rises (hopefully) for an hour, go back to your floured surface and roll it out. I like to put my loaf pan on the table to I know how wide to roll it and generally you can roll it out 1.5 times long as it is wide.
10. Brush on your melted butter so the cinnamon sugar has something to keep it company. Then sprinkle on your cinnamon sugar leave about a 1/4 inch border. How do you make cinnamon sugar? Well you take cinnamon and you take sugar and you put them together. I don't really use an exact ratio or anything. In fact I use an ancient little bottle that is in the shape of a bear - it looks like one that honey usually comes in, but it has a shaker style top. So my rule of thumb is to fill Mr. Bear up to his mouth in sugar and then up to his eyes with ground cinnamon. (A camera could really come in handy right now) Then screw on the lid and shake him up. When you have a consistent light brown mix, then you got yourself some cinnamon sugar. You have to add cinnamon or sugar as necessary until you get what you are looking for. Just don't fill to the top because you want some room for the cinnamon and sugar to mix while shaking.
11. Then roll up your dough like a rug and put it in your loaf pan, coated with spray oil, to raise for another hour or so.
12. Preheat to 400 F and bake for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, rotate the pan and bake for 5 to 10 minutes more. When you approach that 25 minute mark, start checking to see how the loaf is looking and it will be done when the crust is a nice dark golden brown.
13. Cool for about an hour before slicing. Then have at it.
    

Sandwich Rolls

In an effort to respect everyone's New Year's Resolutions, I think I am going to stick to breads and rolls for the next few weeks. This week I made some rolls using a recipe for a basic sandwich bread. It was a pretty easy recipe and also pretty versatile. You could make rolls or loaves and when you think of all the options you have with shaping methods and "toppings," you really have a lot you can do. Unfortunately, the batteries on my camera died so no pictures on this one (I was a little too lazy at 3:30 am to go digging around for new batteries). Here's the recipe:

• 1 Tablespoon Instant Yeast
• 2 Cups Milk
• 6.25 Cups Bread Flour
• 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
• 5.5 Tablespoons Sugar
• 6 Tablespoons Melted Butter
• 1 Egg

Warm the milk to around 95 F and add the yeast. Let the yeast hydrate for a few minutes. Combine all other ingredients and then add the milk and yeast. Then mix for 2 minutes or so on low and knead for about 5 minutes. You'll end up with a course dough at first and not particularly sticky compared to other bread doughs. By the time you are done kneading, you should have a soft barely sticky dough. You can refrigerate the dough up to 4 days before baking, but I usually give it about 12 hours in the fridge. That gives it enough time to experience the slow, cold fermentation process.
When you are ready for baking, you can choose whatever options you want in terms of shaping or added toppings. I ended up just making some simple round rolls. Easy enough to shape and simple to try different toppings. It was kind of like shaping cookies, just slice off a piece of the dough and roll into a ball. And you can go for whatever size you want. I topped some with Sesame Seeds and others with Asiago Cheese.
Now to get that nice sheen that you always see on restaurant rolls, you can use an egg wash - or even better a honey wash. A Tablespoon of Honey and 3 Tablespoons of Water whisked together will give you not only that sheen, but also a great little hint of sweetness to the rolls.