Food for thought: Raisins Bread

Hello everyone! How’s your weekend coming by? I hope everyone is enjoying the last days of summer as we enter Fall season officially this Tuesday, September 22nd. For most of us, it seems that we kind of skipped Spring and Summer and definitely I feel you since I myself totally missed Spring and Summer. Hopefully Fall would be better for us especially for the children as Halloween is coming up very soon.

Although, we still have to do our due diligence when it comes to social distancing and our safety especially for our young ones. Yes! We’re still going trick or treating on Halloween. Why miss dressing up????

All I can say as what we, parents always do for our children, keep them safe and of course this time it would be more precautions to take for their safety. So, all the best to all for this coming Halloween! Have fun!

Now, I will be sharing today the Raisins Bread Recipe which one of my family’s favorite. My family loves it and I normally served it warm with or without butter, very delicious.

One trick when slicing any type of bread is to wait about an hour when it has cool down before slicing the bread. However, I myself could not wait and I prefer slicing it warm and serve right way to enjoy it. So, it’s your choice whether to wait an hour before slicing it perfectly or slice it while still warm… Anyways, whatever you decide, the Raisins Bread is super delicious.

You can store the bread in the fridge or freezer depending on your consumption. I normally just put both loaves in the fridge, we normally finish them in two weeks anyways. From the fridge, just warm it on the microwave for about 20 seconds or simply put it on the oven toaster and serve.

Ingredients: For two loaves of bread

For dough:

• 8 cups of all purpose flour
• 5 tsp of instant yeast
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups raisins
• 1/2 melted butter or margarine
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs beaten
• 1 1/2 warm milk
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp melted butter to brush the dough
• 2 tbsp melted butter to brush the bread from oven

For fillings:

• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

Preparations: 2 hours 15 minutes

• Mix all the dry ingredients
• Mix eggs, vanilla extract, butter, milk and water
• Combine two mixtures well
• Knead for about 10 minutes, then form the dough into round
• Use the olive oil to coat the dough
• Put into a bowl to rise for about 45 min or until double
• Mix the sugar and cinnamon for fillings
• Punch dough a few times to remove air pockets
• Roll the dough into oblong about 10″ x 20″
• Brush with milk and sprinkle evenly the cinnamon sugar mixture
• Roll up the dough like a jelly roll
• Divide into two and secure the edges
• Put into the greased bread pans and set for about 25 minutes
• Preheat oven at 350F
• Brush the dough with butter and bake for about 35-40 minutes
• Brush the bread with remaining butter and let it cool before slicing

Enjoy!