Quick Cinnamon Raisin Bread

My 181st recipe, "Quick Cinnamon Raisin Bread", a comparatively quicker version of a wonderful cinnamon raisin bread. When I stayed at a Comfort Inn Hotel during my vacation, I was introduced to a cinnamon raisin bread for the first time via the free continental breakfast. Since cinnamon and raisin are two my favorites, it was an instant hit. The next time I tasted the same in Kalachandji's restaurant in Dallas. I immediately registered in my mind that I should try baking one at home. After baking a regular bread earlier, I realized that even though the bread is soft n delicious people were not very appreciative of the fact it takes a few hours to make one. While using a regular dry yeast gives you a softer and fluffy bread, I could not think of a reason why we should not make use of a rapid rising yeast to quicken the process. After all homemade breads are supposed to be rustic and not artistic. You always might not have a few hours at your disposal to bake a bread the traditional way. I found a recipe on the web to make a cinnamon raisin bread using instant yeast. I adapted the recipe slightly to come up with a version which uses a rapid rising yeast instead. The bread itself was super easy to make and it was soft and super delicious. It is surely worth baking one, at times when you have only about an hour or so and want to make your own bread at home 🙂 

Quick Cinnamon Raisin Bread

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Prep Time 1 hour hr

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Ingredients

  

• All purpose flour - 1 ¼ Cup
• Whole Wheat Flour - 1 Cup
• Brown Sugar - 2 Tbsp adjust per taste
• Rapid Rise Yeast - 1 packet or 2 ¼ tsp
• Salt - ¾ tsp
• Raisin - ⅓ Cup
• Warm water - 1 ½ Cup + 1 Tbsp about 120 F temperature
• Cinnamon Powder - 1 Tbsp adjust per taste

Instructions

 

• First add all the dry ingredients (both flours, sugar, salt, yeast and raisin) into a large mixing bowl. Mix it well until combined.
  
   
• Add 1 ¼ Cup of the water to the dry ingredients. Mix well. Then add the remaining ¼ Cup + 1 Tbsp slowly until the dough can be made into a ball and you do not have any dry bits. Your flour would determine the quantity of water needed.
  
   
• Keep the dough covered with a wet kitchen towel and let it in a warm place for about 10 mins, until it is slightly bubbly. Transfer the dough to a flour dusted surface.
  
   
• Knead it with your hands, by stretching it for about 3 mins. Make it into a flat rectangle. Make sure that the width of the rectangle is not large than your bread loaf pan. Sprinkle the cinnamon powder evenly on top of the dough. Optionally sprinkle a little more raisins.
  
   
• Roll the dough back to form a log. Transfer the log to a greased loaf pan.
  
   
• Cover it with a damp kitchen towel and leave it to rise in a warm place for about 40 mins. By now the dough would have doubled in size. Brush the top with a little water. Bake the bread in a 425 F oven for about 25 - 30 mins until the top turns golden brown. Remove from the oven and optionally brush the top with oil.
  
   
• Let the bread cool down completely before slicing with a sharp knife. Enjoy.
  
  

Notes | FAQ

- You can use bread flour instead of the all purpose flour to get a more softer bread.
- This recipe uses rapid rise yeast. You can also use instant yeast. The process will be the same. But in step 3, you would need atleast 1 hr to get the dough slightly bubbly. Also, in step 6, you will again need atleast 1.5 hrs to get the dough to double in size.
- Before baking, make sure that there are no raisins on top. They would burn while cooking.
- Add warm water for making the dough. Cold or too hot water will kill the yeast.

Adapted from Budget Bytes