Soft Raisin Bread: My Childhood Favorite

I ate a lot of raisin bread when I was a child; my aunt always bought a loaf for us (me, my sisters and brother), a snack that we won’t say no. The texture of the bread is so soft or I think it a bit collapsed (but for a children it’s so good, maybe I start love soft food from that time ^ ^). But this time it’s not my call, my friend want to make raisin bread and ask me about it. I made this recipe many time before, sometimes with rum sometimes not, I love them both ways. The bread is a basic and easy to make recipe but because the raisin had been soaked so the moisture from it make the bread moist and soft. If you like you can put a few drop of vanilla extract with water to pump up the raisin; the bread will smell great too.

Raisin Bread

Makes 8 x 20 cm loaf

200 g	Bread Flour
1 tsp	Instant dried yeast
2 tbsp	Sugar
½ tsp	Salt
25 g	Unsalted butter (soft)
140 ml	whole milk
100 g	Raisin
2 tbsp	Dark rum (if you don’t like the smell or taste of the rum, use 2 tbsp of water instead)
	Egg wash
	1 egg + 1tbsp water

Soak the raisin in rum (or water) for at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Butter the loaf pan or place the baking paper inside.

Put the flour and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add the sugar and salt whisk again. Pour the milk into the bowl, use large spoon to mix everything together into a soft mess.

Take the dough out of the bowl rub in the butter; knead until the dough is soft, smooth and elastic about 10 minutes

Roll the dough into square and sprinkle the raisin (drained) on the dough. Knead lightly to incorporate the raisin into the dough.

Put the dough into a light buttered bowl. Let the dough rise in a warm place until double in size about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Take the dough out of the bowl. Gently press down the dough and a rolling pin to roll the dough to press the dough into a circle, about 18 cm. Roll into a cylinder and cut the dough in half. Roll both half into a ball and place in the loaf pan.

Cover the dough; let rise until almost doubled in volume, to 30 minutes. Brush with egg wash before baking.

Bake for 15-18 minutes (or until golden brown).

Bread recipe from: みかさんの手づくりパンのある楽しい食卓