Honey Raisin Bread

 

While I love baking breads with at least some whole grain flour in them, I’m also happy to make a richer, fluffier, sweeter loaf on occasion. This one, which is also studded with dark raisins, is made with all bread flour, and is nearly as indulgently satisfying as dessert.

I always feel a bit irresponsible when writing about a kneaded yeast bread recipe on these pages. Not because of the carbohydrate loaded nature of the final product. (It has never been my goal to be nutritionally elite.) It’s because of the somewhat careless way I put together a loaf of bread. Success in baking is usually accomplished by applied accuracy. Recipes for really great fancy baked goods have measurements that consider tiny increments like grams and milliliters. My bread recipes tend to use language like, “3 cups bread flour, or more as needed,” or brief descriptions of what the dough should be like when it’s time to stop kneading or adding flour.

 

This recipe is no exception. I started with a cup of warm milk. I wanted to sweeten and enrich the bread, so added ¼ cup of each honey and soft, unsalted butter. I knew this would hold about 3 cups of bread flour, so that’s what I kneaded in. It was about right. The dough came together in my stand mixer, smooth and elastic, slightly tacky. Perhaps more or less flour would be needed if I used a different brand. Perhaps kneading by hand instead of with a stand mixer and a dough hook would change the results. Really, I’m happy to keep the recipe somewhat flexible so that bread can be made the way the bread maker likes to make it.

 

This dough could probably take in some other flavors, such as cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice. You could also use a different dried fruit, such as craisins, or chopped dates, figs, or apricots, or a mixture of any of those. Nuts could be mixed in, too. I liked the sweetness of this recipe, though you may be able to back off the honey, or replace it with another sweetener, with some minor adjustments to the flour content. You could probably put some whole grain flour in as well.

The butter keeps the bread soft as well as rich, making it a lovely breakfast or afternoon snack. It also makes pretty fabulous French toast. Bread pudding would be great, too. This is a good one to have in your recipe file for tinkering. Or just eating plain, lightly toasted and gently buttered.

Honey Raisin Bread

If you do not want to use a stand mixer to mix and knead the bread, you can mix it in a large bowl and knead by hand on a floured surface.

1 cup milk

¼ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup honey

2 ¼ teaspoon (1 envelope) active dry yeast

3 cups bread flour, or more as needed, divided

1 teaspoon fine salt

¾ cup raisins

1. Combine the milk and butter and heat until the milk is about 100 F. The butter does not need to be completely melted. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.

2. Stir in the honey and yeast. Let stand about 5 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy.

3. Add about 1 ½ cups flour and mix with the paddle attachment to make a batter. Cover the bowl with a towel and let stand for 15-30 minutes. The mixture should be risen and puffy in appearance.

4. Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Add about half of the remaining flour. Knead on medium-low speed using the dough hook. Continue adding the remaining flour and kneading it in to make a smooth and elastic dough that is still slightly tacky. This will take about 10 minutes of kneading time.

5. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead in the raisins by hand to distribute them evenly.

6. Spray a large bowl with cooking spray, or grease it as desired. Shape the dough into a smooth ball and place it in the prepared bowl. Spray or grease the dough ball. Cover the dough loosely with a sheet of plastic wrap. Cover the bowl with a towel. Let stand for about 1 hour, or until roughly doubled in size.

7. Gently deflate the dough and reshape it into a ball. Let stand 5 minutes. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Shape the dough into a log and place it on the baking sheet. Cover loosely with a towel.

8. Let the shaped dough rise for about 1 hour or until roughly doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350 F.

9. Slash the dough in several places with a sharp blade. Bake at 350 F for 40-45 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and the bread sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Cool completely.

Makes about 12 servings.

Other recipes like this one: White Sandwich Bread, Rosemary Raisin Rye Bread, Hazelnut and Cranberry Bread with Sage, Cinnamon Graham Bread with Cranberries and Pecans