{TWD} Raisin Swirl Bread

What a difference the baking group Tuesdays With Dorie has made in my kitchen! Nearly two years of steady baking, week in and week out, has made me comfortable with a variety of techniques and ingredients. The biggest transformation , however, has been in yeast baking. My first ever yeast experience was a Dorie recipe (Kugelhopf, posted here) and I have no doubt that were it not for my participation in TWD I would never have attempted to bake with yeast.

Boy, am I glad that I did; I was bitten by the yeast bug and now I even have a separate blog devoted solely to my yeast baking. So I was pleased to see that the assigned recipe for this week is Raisin Swirl Bread. Raisin bread is a longtime favorite in our house, and the best version I've baked is a Peter Reinhard recipe from his book The Bread Baker's Apprentice (which I posted here). How would Dorie's compare?

n.o.e.'s notes:

- The recipe was chosen by Susan of the blog Food.Baby. You can find the recipe on her post.

- I made half recipe in a smallish loaf pan.

- Rather than active dry yeast, I used instant yeast. The conversion is to use 3/4 of the active dry measurement when measuring the instant yeast. The instant yeast doesn't need to be proofed, but rather is added with the dry ingredients.

- My favorite way to mix bread is by hand, but if I use a machine, I invariably use my food processor. I love the speed and precision of this method. It requires the ingredients to be mixed in a different order, but before long it really becomes second nature. First all of the dry ingredients (including the instant yeast) are combined in the food processor bowl. Then the liquid ingredients are added in a slow stream while the machine is pulsing. Continue to process the dough until it gathers into a ball, generally a minute of less. When the dough has been mixed/kneaded enough, it will register 77-81 degrees on an instant thermometer, and the dough will pass the "windowpane" test, meaning that it will be translucent when stretched between the fingers of both hands.

- Dorie's recipe calls for all-purpose flour, but I wanted bread with a sturdy crumb and some whole grain complexity, so I used a mixture of high gluten flour, oat flour, and white whole wheat flour. I added the optional nutmeg and orange zest to the dough.

- For the swirl, I used brown sugar with cinnamon and a very dark cocoa powder. After my buddy Di mentioned that she was leaving out the butter so that the bread wouldn't fall apart where the swirl was I decided to follow suit.

- I put the dough into the freezer for the specified 30 minute rest and set a timer. At the time I had a lot of other cooking and baking projects going in the kitchen - you know where this is going, right? - so when the timer rang I got distracted and promptly forgot about my dough. About 3 hours later I remembered the bread dough! At that point I moved it from freezer to the fridge for an overnight stint and the next day I formed and baked the bread.


the verdict:

When I sliced this bread, I gave a little gasp - it was so gorgeous! The swirl, with its plump raisins, looked like a string of beads. The bread had nice flavor and texture, but I have to say that it didn't unseat my favorite Peter Reinhart raisin bread. It was pretty good toasted, and I'm sure that Dorie's suggestion of French toast would be quite delicious. Also our host Susan made cinnamon toast with her bread and I'm going to try that out. Thanks, Susan!