Recipes From the Porch: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

It's been a while since I shared a recipe. It's also been a while since I baked this bread. Coincidence? Discuss.

Anyhoodle, this bread is made in a bread machine, which, makes it super simple. If you have a bread machine, I mean, obviously. If you don't have a bread machine, you'll have to knead the dough. With your hands.

That's much harder, friends.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 Cups water at room temperature

2 tsp. salt

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 Tbsp. nonfat dry milk

2 1/2 Tbsp. vegetable oil

4 cups bread flour

2 1/2 tsp.cinnamon

2 1/2 tsp. yeast (I use yeast made for bread machines)

1 cup raisins

Every bread machine has it's own set of instructions for how to add the ingredients; mine calls for the wet ingredients to be added first, followed by the dry. It also instructs me to use a spatula to smooth the dry ingredients completely over the wet, making sure to have dry ingredients touching each side of the pan.

So, pour water and vegetable oil into pan. Add flour, salt, dry milk, sugar, and cinnamon. Top with yeast. 

Different bread machines also have different programs for different types of bread. On my machine, I chose the Basic Bread program for this recipe. I can also select the darkness of my crust; for this particular loaf, I chose Light.

My bread machine alerts me when it's time to add additional ingredients, such as nuts, raisins, etc., so, when I hear the beep, I add the raisins.

This recipe produces a dense, fruity loaf; it's delicious.