NM's Old-Fashioned Raisin Bread

The first time I've seen this bread was from Hanaa's Kitchen and I knew that I will be making this bread, sooner or later. Hanaa got the recipe from Nick Malgieri's blog here. Nick Malgieri is sharing two recipes, a sneak preview from his latest book "BREAD" which will be out in September 2012. 

This recipe makes two loaves and I'm glad that I did not make half the recipe! It smells really nice while baking in the oven and as soon as they are cool enough, I sliced one loaf and could not stop eating at just one slice! It was so good, especially fresh from the oven! The texture is soft, moist and very tasty! Nick uses two types of raisins, dark and golden. The original recipe uses 3 cups of mixed raisins, which I think is a little too much for me, so I only use 2 cups, and it turned out just right! Nick Malgieri described this bread as "nothing fancy about this bread but a slightly sweetened and enriched white bread loaded with dark and golden raisins, and they'll be gone before you know it"! I couldn't agree more! 

It is a really simple and easy bread to make. If you have a stand mixer, then you are good to go! Here, I've taken some photographs and you can see how easy it is!

1.  First, whisk the water and yeast together, then whisk in the cooled scalded milk.
2. Flour, sugar, salt are added in.
3. Stir with spatula to a rough dough.
4. Distribute pieces of butter all over top of rough dough.
5. Using the mixer fitted with dough hook, mix on lowest speed until butter is absorbed, about 2 minutes, and increase speed to low/medium and mix until dough is smooth and elastic, another 3 minutes, (mine took about 8-10 minutes). Decrease speed to lowest and add in raisins a little at a time, until the raisins are evenly distributed in the dough.

Scrape dough onto a work surface and knead briefly to ensure that the raisins are evenly distributed in the dough. Place dough in into a buttered or greased bowl, turn it over so the top is coated. Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise until doubles in size, about an hour. 

Invert risen dough to a lightly floured work surface and cut into 2 equal pieces. Gently pat each piece into a rough square and roll it from the top down., into a tight cylinder. Pinch the sides and place in greased loaf pans, seam side down. Cover with greased plastic wrap and leave to rise until dough has risen about an inch above the edge of the pans. Remove plastic and bake in a preheated oven (refer nstruction for the temperature in the recipe below).

Freshly baked Old-Fashioned Raisin Bread

Nice, plump moist raisins, with soft, moist and fluffy bread. This bread is a winner!

Good eaten on its own!

I'm looking forward to Nick Malgieri's new book!

I'm sharing this with :
BYOB, Bake Your Own Bread hosted by Girlichef
Bake with Bizzy hosted by Bizzy Bakes


Old-Fashioned Raisin Bread
(source from : Nick Malgieri)

1 cup/225gm room temperature tap water, about 75F

3 teaspoon/10gm fine granulated active dry or instant yeast

1 cup/225gm whole milk, scalded and cooled

5 cups/675gm unbleached bread flour

1/3 cup/70gm sugar

1-1/2 teaspoon/10gm fine sea salt

4 tablespoons/55gm unsalted butter, cut into 10 pieces and softened

1-1/2 cups/150gm dark raisins or currants (I use 1 cup)

1-1/2 cups/150gm golden raisins (I use 1 cup)

Two 8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-3/4-inch loaf pans brushed with soft butter or coated with vegetable cooking spray

1. Whisk the water and yeast together in the bowl of a stand mixer; whisk in the cooled milk.
2. Stir together the flour, sugar, and salt, and add to the mixer bowl. Use a large rubber spatula to stir the ingredients to a rough dough. Distribute the pieces of butter all over the top of the dough.
3. Place on the mixer fitted with the dough hook and mix on lowest speed until the butter is absorbed, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to low/medium and mix until the dough is smooth and elastic, an additional 3 minutes.
4. Decrease the speed to lowest and add the raisins a little at a time, continuing to mix until they are fairly evenly absorbed by the dough.
5. Scrape the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead briefly to ensure that the raisins are evenly distributed in the dough.
6. Drop the dough into a buttered or sprayed bowl and turn it over so that the top is coated. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough ferment until it doubles in bulk, about an hour or longer if it's cool in the kitchen.
7. Invert the risen dough into a lightly floured work surface and cut it into 2 equal pieces, each about 715 grams. Gently pat one of the pieces to a rough square and roll it from the top down, jellyroll style, into a tight cylinder. Pinch the edge in place and drop into one of the pans, seam side down. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
8. Cover the loaves with butter or sprayed plastic wrap and let them proof until the dough comes about an inch above the edge of the pan.
9. Once the loaves are almost proofed, set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 375 degrees F.
10. Place the pans in the oven and decrease the temperature to 350 degrees. Bake the raisin bread until it is well risen and has an internal temperature of 200 degrees, about 45 to 55 minutes.
11. Unmold and cool the loaves on rack on their sides. Let cool several hours before wrapping.