A Recipe
This was Becky Moulder's Fabulous Raisin Swirl bread that we made one of our "get domestic" tutorials.
Perfect Swirl Raisin Bread 5 ½ -6 cups bread flour 1 packet (1 tablespoon) dry active yeast 2 ¼ cups milk ¼ cup Crisco/shortening (butter flavor or regular) 1/3 sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2 cups raisins 2 tablespoons cinnamon ½ cup sugar 4 cups powdered sugar (6x or 10x is fine) ¼ cup milk ½ teaspoon vanilla Combine 2 ½ cups flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl. In a 1-quart glass measuring bowl or microwave-safe bowl, stir together the milk, sugar, shortening, and salt and heat in microwave for about 3 minutes on HIGH until shortening is melted. The milk mixture should be about 100-110°F (bath temp). Let it cool for a few minutes if it is too hot. Add the milk mixture to the flour and yeast and stir well. Mix in the raisins and enough flour (generally another 2-2 ½ cups) to form a slightly sticky dough. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead for 3 minutes, adding more flour as needed. You usually won’t need all 6 cups. The dough should feel smooth and elastic at this stage, like a baby’s bottom.
Cover the dough with a clean dish towel and allow it to rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Once the dough has doubled, punch it down and divide it in half. Use a rolling pin to roll out each piece of dough into a rectangle measuring about 16” x 10”. Sprinkle each rectangle with a teaspoon of water and spread it evenly with your fingers (this helps the sugar and cinnamon to stick). Sprinkle each rectangle evenly with 1 tablespoon cinnamon and ¼ cup of sugar, making sure to spread both to all edges. Be liberal with the cinnamon; that’s where the elusive perfect swirl comes from! Carefully roll up each rectangle lengthwise, starting with one of the longer sides. Tuck the ends underneath the roll to form a long loaf and ensure that the seam is on the bottom so that the bread doesn’t unroll while baking. Transfer both loaves to a lightly greased baking or cookie sheet. You can also place the loaves on a lightly greased sheet of parchment paper before putting them on the baking sheet to save some cleanup time and make sure they don’t stick to the pan.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Allow the loaves to rise again in a warm area until doubled in size, this time about 30 minutes. Bake the loaves in the center of the oven for 30 minutes or until nicely browned. The bottoms should also be slightly brown and the bread should sound hollow when tapped. Allow bread to cool. In a bowl or large plastic Ziploc bag, combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla. Mix or squeeze well to make a thick, but still pourable icing. Add more milk or powdered sugar as needed to get this consistency. Spread the icing over the cooled loaves using a spatula or cut a small hole in the corner of the bag and drizzle the icing over the loaves. Enjoy! You’ve earned it! A Website This cute tutorial for crayons letters...
That should catch me up for now. I'll post a life update soon.
awww....
