From Scratch

I like this bread a lot. It’s perfect for snacking, whether as an afternoon pick-me-up or for kids after school. It’s terrific tucked into a backpack while hiking or trail walking. A schmear of cream cheese would be delightful but I prefer it on its own. It’s just sweet enough.

It’s a small loaf, only one pound yielding about eight slices. With a small household, I like that too and this bread, while perfect on the first day, is not a very good keeper and after 24 hours or so belongs in the toaster. There are worse things in life!

I suspect it was originally for a bread machine, partly because of the size but also because it was on a mailing list when bread machines were at their peak of popularity. I don’t have one — I hear they do a wonderful job at kneading — but I appreciate some of the usually-small recipes developed for them. I make this in the processor but it’s certainly small enough to make by any other method.

Cinnamon can inhibit yeast’s performance, so don’t use more than called for. And if you don’t keep dry milk on hand, just replace 2 tablespoons of the water with milk.

Raisin Cinnamon Bread

2 cups bread flour
1 heaping TB dry milk powder
1 heaping TB sugar
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp instant yeast
1 TB canola oil
3/4 cup warm water
1/2 cup raisins

Put the dry ingredients into the bowl of a food processor and pulse several times to combine. Add the oil and most of the water — hold back about 2 tablespoons — and pulse until a cohesive ball is formed. If too dry, add the rest of the water and pulse. Once a ball is formed, process about 30 seconds to knead. Add raisins, pulse to mix in.

Turn out into a greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Grease an 8″ x 4″ loaf pan. Punch down the dough, form into a loaf, place into the pan and let rise again until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350 and place a rack in the middle. Bake 30 - 40 minutes or until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped or the interior registers 200 degrees on an instant read thermometer. [35 is good for me.]

Remove from pan and let cool completely on a rack.

Ella’s tips: If your raisins are getting dry and need to be plumped, pour boiling water over them and let stand for 10 minutes, then drain well. To keep raisins from settling to the bottom in baked goods, shake with 1 tablespoon of flour in a little plastic bag then dump into a strainer to remove the excess flour.

Related: What is Instant Yeast?

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Tags: easy