My Baking Story: Cinnamon Raisin Bread

The recipe I used was taken from

http://www.food.com/recipe/worlds-best-cinnamon-raisin-bread-not-bread-machine-98867?scaleto=1&mode=null&st=true

Yes, from the world's best cinnamon raisin bread recipe, without using bread machine, since I do not have one. The feedback was awesome and the pictures looked good so I decided to give it a try.

Recipe below yields 1 loaf of bread.

1⁄2 cup milk

2 (1⁄8 ounce) packages active dry yeast

1⁄3 cup warm water (must be between 110-115 degrees)

1 egg

1⁄4 cup white sugar

1⁄3 teaspoon salt

1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1⁄3 cup raisins

2 2⁄3 cups all-purpose flour

2⁄3 tablespoon milk

1⁄3 cup white sugar

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

2⁄3 tablespoon butter, melted (approx.)

1. Warm 1/2 cup of milk on a saucepan until bubble then cool to lukewarm.

2. Dissolve 1 pack of active dry yeast in 1 cup warm water until frothy.

3. Mix in 1 egg, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup room temperature unsalted butter, 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix well.

4. Add 1/3 cup raisin. Mix well.

5. Add 2/3 cup all purpose flour. Mix well.

6. Add 1 cup all purpose flour. Mix well. The dough should start to get sticky.

7. Add 1 cup all purpose flour. Mix until smooth.

8. Put dough on well floured surface. Knead dough until forms a smooth non-sticky ball.

9. Place dough in buttered and floured bowl. Cover with cling wrap then a piece of wet cloth. Let rise at a warm area to double its size (about 2 hours).

10. Remove dough from bowl and place on a well floured surface. Roll out dough to rectangular shape about 1/2 inch thick and punch all air out.

11. Moise dough with 2 tablespoon milk.

12. Mix 1/3 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon then sprinkle all over dough.

13. Roll dough from the longer side.Pinch bottoms together and tuck the ends under.

14. Let rise in a greased loaf pan about 1 hour or until desired size.

15. Bake in preheated oven 350F for 45 minutes.

13. Roll dough.

I forgot a few things because I was baking 2 other items while doing this. I first forgot to stir in the raisins so I only incorporated the raisins after the first rise. Then I rolled the dough and realized I forgot to sprinkle the cinnamon! So I have to knead the dough again and was wondering if it will form too much gluten and become very dense or worse, harden. By the time I was able to reshape the dough into a ball, it was already kinda 'tough' and I knew I can't knead anymore. I let it sit for a few minutes while pondering what to do next. It soften a little then so I just gently tried to flatten it (1 1/2 inch was the max I could flatten), sprinkle cinnamon on the dough and rolled it up. I was already distracted so I forgot to moist the dough with milk.

But it still came out good despite the over-kneaded process and not-moisted dough. I will definitely give this recipe one more try.