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

Classic White Sandwich Bread

If I was writing a cookbook or a book on baking bread (and who says I’m not?), I would probably begin with something as basic as this classic white loaf of sandwich bread. I’m sure this bread, or something very much like it, was the first kind of bread I tried to make. I found it to be the easiest to master, and most other sandwich-style loves that I make are some variation on this recipe.

All that being said, I don’t make white bread very often, which is probably why I haven’t blabbed about it on these pages before. I tend to make breads with at least some whole grain flour in them, with this Wheat Sandwich Bread being my usual go-to. I tend to forget, however, just how beautiful a smooth and stretchy, almost glossy, and luxuriant a higher-gluten bread dough can be. It can be shaped into such a smooth ball with a lovely “gluten cloak” enfolding it all like a particularly cuddly and comforting blanket. And the resulting baked loaf is oh, so soft and fluffy.

 

I like to use King Arthur brand bread flour for my bread baking (the folks at that company do not know me or know anything about me using their products). I find that the bread flour has a very satisfying protein content that allows me to make bread the way I like to make it. By that I not only mean that the dough and the bread are the texture that I like, but also that it’s consistent and predictable enough for me to take the short-cut of using a stand mixer to mix and knead my dough, always with good results.

When I had more time, I used to knead my bread dough by hand. (Partly, I figured that I needed the exercise.) That experience was extremely valuable in terms of learning how flour, water, yeast, butter and salt can some together to form a great loaf of delicious bread. I learned how the dough should feel if it’s going to make a nice loaf, and that exact measurements in bread recipes are more like guidelines. The mixture will become a proper dough when it looks and feels like it will become a proper dough far more often than when the measured ingredients declare that their work is done.

Now, I’ve made enough dough to be able to let my Kitchen Aid do a lot of my work, while I merely supervise and quality check. I begin the dough with water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of the mixer, bloom the yeast, then add the butter and some of the flour. I let this sort of mini-starter rest for up to 30 minutes, which may not be a critical step, but I like the flavor and texture results when I do this. Finally, I add the rest of the flour and knead the dough with the hook attachment until it is smooth and stretchy, going by look and feel rather than exact measurements of ingredients or time.

The rest is shaping, resting and baking, and, if I was a skilled photographer, I could have a photo journal of the whole process. But let’s not let that distract us from the resulting delicious sandwich bread, classic in flavor, soft and fluffy in texture, but still sturdy enough to keep from collapsing or tearing when cutting. I don’t eat white bread very often, choosing at least slightly healthier recipes with some whole grains in them. That just makes a lovely slice of white bread an especially nice treat on occasion. Maybe it’s not quite cake, but, well, almost!

White Sandwich Bread

1 cup warm water (about 100 F)

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (1 envelope)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon soft unsalted butter

3 cups bread flour, divided

1 teaspoon fine salt

1. Combine the water, yeast and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. (If mixing by hand, use a large bowl.) Let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

2. Add the butter and 2 cups flour. Stir together on low speed (or stir with a spoon) to form a loose batter. Cover the bowl with a towel and let the mixture stand 15-30 minutes.

3. After resting, the batter should have risen and appear puffy. Add about half the remaining flour. Using the dough hook for the sand mixer, mix and knead at medium-low speed, adding as much of the remaining flour as you can. (Or, stir in as much flour as you can with a spoon and turn out the dough on a floured surface to knead by hand.)

4. Continue kneading in as much of the remaining flour as you can. You want to to form a smooth, stretchy dough that is still a little sticky to the touch. This will take a total of about 10 minutes.

5. Remove the dough from the bowl of the stand mixer and shape it into a smooth ball. The dough should be able to be stretched and shaped such that a smooth outer “cloak” forms around the outside of the ball, giving it a smooth shape.

6. Spray a large bowl with nonstick cooking spray or grease it using the method you desire. Place the dough ball in the bowl. Spray the top of the dough. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the dough. Cover the bowl with a towel. Let stand for about 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

7. When the dough has risen to double in size, gently deflate the dough and form it into a new ball. Let the dough rest about 5 minutes. Spray an 8 x 5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, or grease it as desired. Shape the dough into a loaf and place it in the pan.

8. Cover the dough with a towel and let stand for about 1 hour or until roughly doubled in size. The dough should be puffed above the rim of the pan by 2 inches or so.

9. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 F. When the loaf has risen appropriately, bake at 375 F for 35 minutes, or until the bread tests done, either by sounding hollow when tapped on the bottom or by reaching a temperature of about 200 F in the interior of the loaf.

10. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Wrap well to store. The bread is best within a day or two, and can be frozen in a freezer-safe bag or container.

Makes 1 loaf.

Other recipes like this one: Wheat Sandwich Bread, Caraway Rye Sandwich Bread, Oatmeal Sandwich Bread

Rosemary Focaccia

 

I’ve seen and collected enough recipes for rosemary-flavored flatbread, thought long enough about how I would make it, and imagined vividly enough how it would taste, that I could probably have convinced someone that I make it regularly. I even kind of surprised myself when I realized that I had never made it at all. How something so lively and interesting slipped through my culinary clutches, I will never know.

The good news is that I finally made some. I kept this pretty simple, mostly adapting my pizza dough recipe. I swapped in bread flour for the all-purpose flour to make it soft and puffy and significantly increased the olive oil to make it richer. I also infused the oil with fresh rosemary, added rosemary leaves to the dough, and sprinkled even more rosemary leaves on top of the bread.

While I tried to get rosemary into and onto this bread in as many ways as I could, I also tried not to really overpower it with rosemary. The end result in this recipe attempt was a warm, subtle rosemary essence through each bite of bread. 

 

This bread is fairly thick and puffy. It works well as a soup accompaniment (especially for this soup!). I think it’s even thick enough to split in half horizontally and stuff with sandwich fixings. You could adapt that thickness to meet your own preferences by stretching the dough more or less before baking.

You could also add other things to this bread, either mixed into the dough (other herbs, olives) or on top, like a pizza (a sprinkling of cheese, caramelized onions). Like any basic flour and water and yeast mixture, there are lots of opportunities improvise your way to customized deliciousness. Let your imagination run wild! You might even become an expert on a few things you’ve never actually done!

 

Rosemary Focaccia

You could use more rosemary in this recipe if you really want the flavor to burst through.

2 tablespoons rosemary leaves, divided

¼ cup olive oil, preferably extra-virgin

1 cup warm (about 100 F) water

2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 envelope)

1 tablespoon sugar

3 ½ cups bread flour (or more if needed)

1 ½ teaspoon fine salt

1. Finely chop about 2 teaspoons rosemary leaves. Set aside. Set aside about 1 teaspoon of the remaining whole rosemary leaves.

2. Warm the olive oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add the remaining rosemary leaves and cook about 3-5 minutes, or until they have sizzled for a while and the leaves turn a dull green, almost brown color (do not burn them). Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. This can be done a few hours ahead of time.

3. Combine the water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer (or in a large bowl if mixing the dough by hand.) Let stand about 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy.

4. Strain the rosemary leaves out of the oil. Discard the spent leaves. Add 3 tablespoons of the infused oil to the yeast mixture. Set the remaining oil aside.

5. Add the chopped rosemary leaves. Using the paddle attachment, stir in 2 cups of the bread flour on low speed until the mixture resembles a coarse batter (or stir together with a spoon). Cover the bowl with a clean towel and let stand 15-30 minutes. The batter should have expanded to a puffy mass.

6. Sprinkle the salt over the dough. Add about ½ cup bread flour and knead in with the dough hook (or stir in with a spoon). Continue kneading at medium-low speed, adding enough of the remaining flour to make a soft, slightly sticky dough, about 10 minutes. (Or turn out the dough and knead in the remaining flour by hand.)

7. Form the sticky dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Spray the top of the dough ball and place a sheet of plastic wrap on top. Cover the bowl with a towel and let stand at least 1 hour. The dough should have doubled in size. (You can also refrigerate the dough overnight. Bring to room temperature before continuing.)

8. Gently deflate the risen dough and shape into a new ball. Cover and let rest about 5 minutes. Stretch and shape the dough into a flat disk, square or oval as desired. I made mine about 10-inches square and 1-1 ½ inches thick. You can stretch it as thinly as you like. Place on a baking sheet that has either been greased or sprayed with cooking spray or lined with parchment or a silicone baking mat (my favorite).

9. Preheat oven to 350 F. Let the dough rise about 30 minutes. Gently poke the dough all over to create dimples. Brush the remaining infused oil over the top of the dough. Sprinkle with the last of the rosemary leaves. Bake 30-40 minutes or until lightly golden on the outside. If your dough is thinner, you may want to bake a shorter time.

10. Cool the bread in the pan on a wire rack. Enjoy slightly warm.

Makes about 6 servings.

Other recipes like this one: Pizza Crust Dough, Whole Wheat Pizza Crust, Naan with Whole Wheat Flour, Rosemary Raisin Rye Bread