A Recipe for Raisin Bread
Jun. 29th, 2009 11:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
beccastareyesThis is adapted from a recipe I found in the New York Times -- I just added the cinnamon and raisins. And sarcastic commentary. I brought it to the Astronomy picnic where it was a hit -- a loaf and a half were eaten, and Shoshe (the one who gave me the recipe) was quite happy, since the bread is low fat (and also vegan). Now, if only I could come up with a gluten-free version and handle everyone's food preferences/allergies/etc. at once.
1. Mix three cups of flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1/4 teaspoons yeast in a bowl until just well mixed.
2. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 12-18 hours. (In other words, do this the night before -- this is a recipe that takes some patience.) It's ready to go when there's little bubbles all over it.
3. Dredge a towel with flour. Lots of it. As in, if it doesn't look like you have used too much, you haven't used enough. The more flour you use, the less dough you have to scrape off later.
4. Mix cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar -- I used a 8:2:1 sugar:cinnamon:nutmeg ratio. (That's a half cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and one of nutmeg.)
5. Pour the dough out onto the floured towel. Yes, it will pour -- this is runny dough.
6. Shake some cinnamon-sugar on top of it and then add a handful of raisins.
7. Fold the dough over to put this in the middle, and then sprinkle flour on top.
8. Wrap the dough in the towel, and let it rise for two hours. It will double in size and will no longer fill in holes when you poke it when it's ready.
9. A half-hour before it's done, put a greased ceramic pot or Dutch over in the oven and make sure you can get the lid off with the arrangement of racks and stuff. Then preheat the whole thing to 450° F. Be sure to grease the pan or you will be trying to pry burnt toast off of a hot pot for 15 minutes. Listen to Rebecca, for she knows these things.
10. Take the pot out of the oven, plop the bread in, scrape as much dough off the towel as you can, and put the pot back in the oven.
11. Bake the bread for 30 minutes in the covered pot in the oven. While you're waiting, you might want to do the dishes. And wash the towel.
12. Uncover the pot and bake for 15-30 more minutes, until the crust looks done.
13. Take the pot out (carefully, as it will be hot and heavy), and turn it over only a cooling rack. If you missed the grease-the-pot step or overcook it, it will stick, and you will then spend fifteen minutes with knives and turners trying to get the damn thing out.
14. Let the bread cool a bit before eating.
The picture is of the second loaf. The first one I added the filling late, so it's a bit overworked and chewy, and there's black carmelly stuff from where the sugar leaked. And I didn't grease the pot, so it ended up having to be removed in halves. It's still edible though, and not even 'edible based on the fact today is grocery day'*.
* I have a edibility food scale. Below 'edible but only on grocery day' (read: eat now or wait an hour and go to the Subway in the mall) is 'edible only if it is 10 PM and I just got back from a month's vacation' (read: eat now or go to bed hungry). Then we start getting into desert island stuff.
1. Mix three cups of flour, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, 1 1/2 cups water, and 1/4 teaspoons yeast in a bowl until just well mixed.
2. Cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit for 12-18 hours. (In other words, do this the night before -- this is a recipe that takes some patience.) It's ready to go when there's little bubbles all over it.
3. Dredge a towel with flour. Lots of it. As in, if it doesn't look like you have used too much, you haven't used enough. The more flour you use, the less dough you have to scrape off later.
4. Mix cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar -- I used a 8:2:1 sugar:cinnamon:nutmeg ratio. (That's a half cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of cinnamon and one of nutmeg.)
5. Pour the dough out onto the floured towel. Yes, it will pour -- this is runny dough.
6. Shake some cinnamon-sugar on top of it and then add a handful of raisins.
7. Fold the dough over to put this in the middle, and then sprinkle flour on top.
8. Wrap the dough in the towel, and let it rise for two hours. It will double in size and will no longer fill in holes when you poke it when it's ready.
9. A half-hour before it's done, put a greased ceramic pot or Dutch over in the oven and make sure you can get the lid off with the arrangement of racks and stuff. Then preheat the whole thing to 450° F. Be sure to grease the pan or you will be trying to pry burnt toast off of a hot pot for 15 minutes. Listen to Rebecca, for she knows these things.
10. Take the pot out of the oven, plop the bread in, scrape as much dough off the towel as you can, and put the pot back in the oven.
11. Bake the bread for 30 minutes in the covered pot in the oven. While you're waiting, you might want to do the dishes. And wash the towel.
12. Uncover the pot and bake for 15-30 more minutes, until the crust looks done.
13. Take the pot out (carefully, as it will be hot and heavy), and turn it over only a cooling rack. If you missed the grease-the-pot step or overcook it, it will stick, and you will then spend fifteen minutes with knives and turners trying to get the damn thing out.
14. Let the bread cool a bit before eating.
The picture is of the second loaf. The first one I added the filling late, so it's a bit overworked and chewy, and there's black carmelly stuff from where the sugar leaked. And I didn't grease the pot, so it ended up having to be removed in halves. It's still edible though, and not even 'edible based on the fact today is grocery day'*.
* I have a edibility food scale. Below 'edible but only on grocery day' (read: eat now or wait an hour and go to the Subway in the mall) is 'edible only if it is 10 PM and I just got back from a month's vacation' (read: eat now or go to bed hungry). Then we start getting into desert island stuff.
