Brown Sugar Raisin Bread

For me, bread is the ultimate comfort food. Give me a plain old piece of white bread and a dab of butter and I'm no good to anyone for the next half hour. Throw in some brown sugar, cinnamon and raisins and this girl can just call it a day.

Making bread by hand is a true talent and lost art. I have patience for many things when it comes to baking and while I enjoy eating homemade bread, kneading the dough exceeds my patience quota.

Thankfully, my stand mixer is equipped with a dough hook. To me, that is simply a magical thing. You mean I don't have to knead by hand? I can stand there with a glass of iced tea, file my nails, chat on the phone (yeah, because THAT is what I do with my free time) and watch my little green machine do all the grunt work? And you mean to tell me, at the end of it all I will have soft, warm slices of heaven that melt in my mouth? Sign me up!

My cousin Ellen gave me "Bread," a Williams-Sonoma cookbook when I got married. While flipping through it recently, I came across their recipe for Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread and knew right away that it had to be the inaugural bread for my mixer.

This bread, like most traditional recipes, rises twice. The trick is, after the first rising the dough is flattened into a rectangle, sprinkled with a brown sugar and cinnamon filling, rolled into a log and tucked into a loaf pan.

Once in the pan, it rises for the second time...

and is then baked until golden brown.

What results is a soft and chewy treat full of raisins, interrupted by a swirl of gooey filling. It's fabulous as is, but is even better toasted with just a smidge of cinnamon butter. The latter kept me in breakfast for about two weeks. There's not a better way to start the day, in my opinion!

Brown Sugar-Raisin Bread

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1-1/4 cups warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 cup warm milk (105-115 degrees F)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
1 tablespoon salt
1 large egg, lightly beaten
6 to 6-1/4 cups bread flour, plus extra if needed
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup dark raisins

For the filling:
 2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar mixed with 4 1/2 teaspoons 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 a heavy duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the remaining water, the milk, melted butter, remaining granulated sugar, salt, egg and 2 cups of the flour. Beat on medium speed until creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the raisins , then beat in the remaining flour, one 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 tablespoon 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 size, about 1-1 1/2 hours.

-Lightly grease the bottom and sides of 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 the narrow end, tightly roll up each rectangle into a compact log. Pinch the ends and the long seam to seal the filling. Place each log, seam side down, in a prepared pan. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until about 1 inch above the rim of each pan, 1-1 1/2 hours.

-Preheat over to 350. Bake until the loaves are golden brown and pull away from the sides of the pan, 35-40 minutes. Turn out onto racks and let cool completely.