Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread
Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread is one of my favorite childhood treats. My mother never let us have too many sweets and this felt like a cheat—bread that was like a dessert that we could have for breakfast! In actuality this bread isn’t really sweet, aside from the natural sweetness of the raisins distributed throughout the dough. But that is really part of its charm. It is just sweet enough that when toasted and spread with butter it makes the morning or anytime of day feel like a special occasion.
To update my favorite childhood treat, I simplified a Chinese bread making technique known as “tangzhong” in order to make this bread extra soft and delicious. “Tangzhong” involves precooking some of the flour from your recipe in water and/or milk, thus trapping some of the liquid in gelatinized starch molecules. The resulting bread retains more moisture, is softer and stays softer longer than bread made using a traditional method. I also used powdered sugar instead of the traditional granulated sugar in the cinnamon swirl component, in order to avoid the dreaded swirl separation that happens frequently in swirl type loaves. The powdered sugar melts more quickly and the cornstarch in the powdered sugar effectively glues the loaf back together, resulting in a beautiful, stable cinnamon swirl effect. Also—don’t skip the step of rehydrating the raisins. Dried fruit added to a bread dough can actually leach moisture from the dough and make the bread dry.
This bread is excellent on it’s own, lightly toasted with butter or made into my delicious Rum Raisin French Toast!
Directions:
Place raisins in a medium bowl and cover with ¾ cup of boiling water. Cover and let stand 30 minutes.
Combine water and the 30 grams of reserved flour in a microwave proof 4 cup measuring cup. Whisk thoroughly. Microwave for 1 minute, stir and microwave for 1 additional minute until the liquid has thickened. Whisk thoroughly to smooth out any lumps. This flour slurry should register at least 140° F.
Add the sugar, salt, vanilla extract and canola oil to the flour slurry and whisk thoroughly to combine. Cover with plastic wrap and let cool to 115° F (about 30 minutes).
Mix remaining flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Once flour slurry has cooled combine with flour and yeast and stir with a spoon until no dry flour remains. Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 10 minutes.
While the dough rests, drain and rinse the raisins in a strainer. Transfer to a plate lined with paper towels or a clean kitchen towel and gently press to remove excess water. Set aside.
Once the dough has rested for 10 minutes, knead for 20 minutes on low speed using a dough hook.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled counter or cutting board and press into a 9” x 13” rectangle. Sprinkle drained raisins over the surface of the dough and roll into a cylinder. Fold cylinder in half and gently knead dough for 5 minutes by hand until the raisins have evenly distributed. You will know this is done when raisins become visible on the surface of the dough and some may even fall off. Dough will also become more taut and smooth.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place for 60-70 minutes or until it has doubled in size.
Mix ground cinnamon and powdered sugar together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Spray a 9” x 5” loaf pan generously with non-stick spray or coat with softened butter. Set aside.
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled cutting board or counter and press into a 9” x 14” rectangle.
Using a small sieve, sprinkle dough evenly with cinnamon sugar mixture.
Roll dough into a 9” log and pinch seam closed. Turn the dough seam side down and lightly tuck ends under to shape into a loaf. Transfer to your prepared loaf pan seam side down and jiggle the pan to make sure the dough is evenly distributed. (Fine tune shape with hands if necessary.)
Spray one side of a 12’’-14” length of plastic wrap with nonstick spray. Place the nonstick side down loosely over the top of the dough and let rise in a warm place for 55 minutes or until nearly doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 350° F while dough rises.
Remove plastic wrap and transfer loaf to the center of your preheated oven for 40-50 minutes rotating halfway through or until top is golden brown and center registers 200° F on an instant read thermometer.
Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!
(Makes one 9 inch loaf.)
Ingredients:
550 grams (3¾ cups) All Purpose Flour (reserve 30 grams)
320 ml Water
45 grams (1 ½ Tbsp) Canola Oil
36 grams (3 Tbsp) Dark Brown Sugar
1 ¾ tsp Table Salt
2 ¼ tsp Instant or Rapid Rise Yeast
120 grams (¾ cup) Zante Currants or Raisins
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tbsp Ground Cinnamon
15 grams (2 Tbsp) Powdered Sugar
Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread is one of my favorite childhood treats. My mother never let us have too many sweets and this felt like a cheat—bread that was like a dessert that we could have for breakfast! In actuality this bread isn’t really sweet, aside from the natural sweetness of the raisins distributed throughout the dough. But that is really part of its charm. It is just sweet enough that when toasted and spread with butter it makes the morning or anytime of day feel like a special occasion.
To update my favorite childhood treat, I simplified a Chinese bread making technique known as “tangzhong” in order to make this bread extra soft and delicious. “Tangzhong” involves precooking some of the flour from your recipe in water and/or milk, thus trapping some of the liquid in gelatinized starch molecules. The resulting bread retains more moisture, is softer and stays softer longer than bread made using a traditional method. I also used powdered sugar instead of the traditional granulated sugar in the cinnamon swirl component, in order to avoid the dreaded swirl separation that happens frequently in swirl type loaves. The powdered sugar melts more quickly and the cornstarch in the powdered sugar effectively glues the loaf back together, resulting in a beautiful, stable cinnamon swirl effect. Also—don’t skip the step of rehydrating the raisins. Dried fruit added to a bread dough can actually leach moisture from the dough and make the bread dry.
This bread is excellent on it’s own, lightly toasted with butter or made into my delicious Rum Raisin French Toast!