Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Made with fresh yeast, this cinnamon raisin bread has a delightfully soft crumb and is perfect for breakfast or snack time, plain or toasted and buttered! 

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that since my husband retired, we have been dividing our time between the United States and the Channel Islands. To keep up with what is happening in both places, I belong to a lot of Facebook groups. 

For all its faults, Facebook is a great place to follow small businesses, find out about local events as well as get restaurant and shopping recommendations, etc. Recently on one of my Channel Island groups, someone asked where a person could buy fresh yeast. 

I love baking with fresh yeast so I immediately saved the post so I could check back for updates. Various people chimed in with suggestions which absolutely thrilled me. One of the commenters said the Polish shop in town sold it and they were right! 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Some of my seedless raisins were quite large so I chopped them in half to get a better distribution. If you struggle to find fresh yeast, you can substitute 2 1/4 teaspoons or 7g of active dry yeast.

Ingredients

For the bread dough:

4 cups or 500g all-purpose flour, plus extra flour for kneading and dusting

.7 oz or 20g fresh yeast (see note above for substitute)

2 tablespoons sugar


1 teaspoon fine sea salt


1 1/3 cups or 320ml warm water

1 egg yolk (save the white for the egg wash)

Canola or other light oil

For the filling:

3/4 cup or 165g/4 x3 seedless raisins

1/3 cup or 67g sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

For the egg wash: 

1 egg white, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon water

Optional for decoration: 

2 tablespoons pearl sugar

Method

Put your flour in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center and pop in your yeast, sugar and salt.  

Pour in half the water and mix with a fork by incorporating flour from the edges of the well little by little.  

Now add in the rest of the water and the egg yolk and mix the whole lot.  

When you have one thick dough ball, knead it on a lightly floured surface (or in a stand mixer) until it is stretchy and supple.

  

Put the tiniest amount of canola oil in the bottom of the bowl, spread it around a little, and put the dough ball in. Cover with a teacloth or shower cap and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile, prepare your loaf pan by lining it with baking parchment. 

After half an hour, punch the dough down and knead it a little bit more, for just a minute or two.  

Use a rolling pin to roll it out into a big rectangle. Mix the sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle the mixture over the dough. Do the same with the raisins. 

Roll the rectangle up and tuck the ends under. 

Place it in your prepared bread pan, seam side down.

With a very sharp knife, cut three shallow slits in the top of the dough and sprinkle again with flour. 

Cover the pan with your teacloth or shower cap and put it back in the warm place for 30 minutes to one hour for the final rising. (I set my timer for 30 minutes and then started preheating my oven to 400°F or 200°C, putting the bread in when the oven was hot, after 45 minutes rising time.)

Whisk the egg white and water together and brush the top of the loaf. 

Sprinkle on the pearl sugar to decorate, if using. I also added a light dusting of ground cinnamon because, why not? 

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden on the outside and sounds hollow when tapped with a knife. If you are an instant thermometer using person, the internal temperature should be about 200°F or 93°C.

Leave to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing to serve. 

Enjoy! 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today our group is sharing yeast bread recipes. Many thanks to our host, Amy from Amy's Cooking Adventures. Check out the links below. 

• Basil Garlic Bread by Mayuri's Jikoni
• Buckwheat Dinner Rolls (Gluten-Free) by Cook with Renu
• Cardamom Chrysanthemum Bread by Culinary Cam
• Cinnamon Raisin Bread by Food Lust People Love
• Keto Eggless Almond Four Yeasted Bread by Sneha's Recipe
• No Knead Ciabatta Bread by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Shirin Chorek by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Sweet Turmeric Milk Bread (Shirin Chorek) by Amy's Cooking Adventures

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin this Cinnamon Raisin Bread! 

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Soft White Loaf

When I first joined Facebook, it was because of peer pressure.  I resisted and resisted every overture and then, finally, I got an invitation from a friend who is creative, artistic, a super adaptable expat and mother-extraordinaire, but she is not what I would have called technologically adept.  Perfectly competent, but no whiz.  Well, unless that technology is her fancy all-knowing, embroidering, fancy-stitching computerized Bernina sewing machine!  She has that baby down pat.  Anyway, I figured if she could do it, I could too. 

In the 2009 format, Facebook had the ability to create discussion forums under Groups.  Almost immediately, I saw the potential of that and created a Recipe Exchange group and asked my few friends to join.  We posted favorite recipes or things we were making for dinner, divided into discussion topics like Soups, Sweet Things, Poultry and Vegetables.  It was great fun to see what friends were up to in their kitchens around the world and share ideas and recipes. 

One item under discussion was fresh yeast vs. dried yeast.  I had never tried fresh yeast, and this same friend was expounding its virtues.  (She is also a very good cook and baker!)  Ever since, I have looked for it at bakery supply shops and have even asked at bakeries (because I was told they will sometimes give you a piece if you ask.)  No luck.  Until yesterday.   Here in Providence, the day before I am flying back to Cairo, and should be packing.  Right at the local grocery store mere minutes from the place I am housesitting.  Well, I had to bake bread, didn’t I?  This was the lightest, most delicate crumb loaf I’ve ever made.  It disappeared in record time, served only sliced with a light spread of butter.  Now I will pine for fresh yeast because I know what I am missing.  Ah, to lose a new love so soon.  Tragic.

Ingredients

4 cups or 500g all purpose flour, plus extra flour for kneading and dusting

1 1/3 cups or 320ml warm water


.6 oz or 17g fresh yeast (or one sachet of dried yeast)

1 tablespoon sugar


1 teaspoon fine sea salt


Olive oil

Method

Put your flour in a large mixing bowl.  Make a well in the center and pop in your yeast cake, sugar and salt.  

Yay!  Little fresh yeast cake.  How long I have longed for you. 

Pour in half the water and mix with a fork by incorporating flour from the edges of the well little by little.  

When you have a very thick batter, add in the rest of the water and mix the whole lot.  

When you have one thick dough ball, knead it on a lightly floured surface until it is stretchy and supple.

  Put the tiniest amount of olive oil in the bottom of the bowl, spread it around a little, and put the dough ball in.  Sprinkle the top with flour, cover with a teacloth and leave in a warm place for 30 minutes. 

After half an hour, punch the dough down and knead it a little bit more, for just a minute or two.  

After half an hour - the first rising.

Shape into the form you want to bake it and put it in a greased baking pan.  Here in my housesitting house, a round springform pan was the only one I could find.  Use whatever shape you like.

With a very sharp knife, cut three shallow slits in the top of the dough and sprinkle again with flour. 

Cover the pan with your teacloth and put it back in the warm place for 30 minutes to one hour for the final rising.  I set my timer for 30 minutes and then started preheating my oven to 400°F or 200°C, putting the bread in when the oven was hot, after 45 minutes rising time.

After 45 minutes of rising in a warm place - over the radiator vent.  

Bake for about 30 minutes or until the loaf is golden on the outside and sounds hollow when tapped with a knife.  (Just open the oven door and give it a couple of gentle raps before removing it.)

Enjoy!

Hey, see that little green Facebook symbol up in the right hand column?  If you click on it and then hit LIKE when Facebook opens, you will never miss a post because they are automatically updated to my Facebook page.  I mean, just if you want to.