Tuesday, June 15, 2010

There's 104 days of summer vacation...



I was trying to figure out earlier why I've been in a better mood lately.  I feel like I'm getting my blogging mojo back.  I've been baking all sorts of great stuff, and actually want to write about it!  I finally decided that the reason is that it's summer vacation.  Sure, I still have to work, but life is definitely less stressful.  My kids are in one place (well, across the parking lot from each other) rather than two, so there's less travel time.  If I'm going into work later, I don't have to get us all up early anyway so we can get Brianna to school on time. Which means it's less critical to get the girls to bed early, since they can sleep in some.  And then we can have breakfast together without having to rush out the door... 

Which brings me to this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.  Susan of Food.Baby picked Raisin Swirl bread for us to make this week.  She says in her post that she picked the recipe because baking bread is comforting.  I have to agree with that.  I know yeast is scary for some people, but the more I bake bread, the more I love it.  One nice thing about this sort of enriched bread is that it's pretty easy to make, since you don't have to do a lot of advanced planning (unlike with breads that have preferments).  

I made the recipe more or less as written, but I did tweak a few things.  First off, I used instant yeast rather than active dry, since that's what I keep on hand.  I adjusted the quantity to 1 1/2 teaspoons, but still mixed it with the warm milk to give it a bit of a head start, since I knew it would have to work harder in a dough with fat and sugar.  The only flavoring I included was the vanilla.  Rather than put the raisins in the swirl, I kneaded them into the dough before the first rise so they would be distributed throughout the dough.  For the swirl, I left out the cocoa (I don't like chocolate and cinnamon together) and skipped the butter that was to be spread over the dough before adding the cinnamon sugar.  I did the latter because I was afraid that the butter would prevent the dough from sticking together well, causing it to unravel when cut.  I ended up baking my loaf for 55 minutes, at which point it registered about 195F on my instant-read thermometer.  


The verdict?  This raisin bread is pretty good, though I have to admit that it's not my favorite.  That honor still belongs to the BBA raisin bread.  I can't quite put my finger on what wasn't quite as good with this bread, but I think part of it is that it was a bit dry.  And the long bake time resulted in a tough crust.  In retrospect, I think I should have brushed the crust with melted butter when it came out of the oven, to soften it somewhat.  That said, the bread makes very good toast for breakfast, which is my favorite way to eat raisin bread anyway.  And hey, it's still homemade bread, and that's always a good thing.  =)  Most of the loaf got sliced and stashed in the freezer, and Gillian is happily helping me finish it off.  Brianna, of course, wanted nothing to do with it, since she doesn't like raisins baked into things.  (I'm working on some non-raisin cinnamon swirl bread for her.)  

If you'd like to give this one a try for yourself, you can find the recipe on Susan's blog.  And to see how everyone else did with this week's recipe, head over to the Leave Your Links page!


16 comments:

  1. I used instant yeast as well, as that is all I ever use.

    I also didn't add raisins.

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  2. Wow Di, in the first shot .... totally Vogue bread, girl. Now I have to go back and read the rest of your wonderful story. You write wonderful stories. bRB
    AmyRuth

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  3. The swirl is so pretty! Hurray for summer vacation! (Today is our first day!)

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  4. Okay BBA girl, very interesting analysis. I loved how you knew how to tweak it and make it your own. I didn't have raisins and figured Corbin would come closer to tasting it without. He liked it, but as I said, I don't bake a lot of bread like you do. You spoil your sweet fam. Nicely done. I will have to take in to consideration your experience with bread the next time I bake this and come back for a second look. Thanks Di for sharing your talents.
    AmyRuth

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  5. Beautiful bread, as usual. Swirl is perfect.

    Yes, summer vaca is great - much less stress, etc. which means you can have FUN!!

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  6. It looks delicious sliced and toasted the way you have it here. Mine has not made it to the toaster yet. I keep eating it.

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  7. It sure looks good! I put mine in the freezer to for french toast later!
    I so agree with you on the mornings being much less rushed when the kids aren't in school!

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  8. Your raisins got dispersed through your loaf. I love how it looks!

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  9. Your bread looks wonderful! It's funny, I'm looking forward to my son's summer vacation so that I can go into work EARLIER!

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  10. What a beautiful loaf, Di! I like how you mixed the raisins in rather than putting them in the swirl. Enjoy your more relaxed summer days!

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  11. Great photos of it all...especially the toast one, makes me want to just have one right now. It was fun baking with you, as always...much more fun that way!

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  12. You are the second baker to say that BBA's raisin bread is better. I am going to have to make it to see for myself! Your bread looks perfect!

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  13. So glad that your summer is more relaxed and I look forward to your upcoming posts. I agree with your assessment of this bread. Love your tips; I copied you on the butter and intended to knead my raisins into the dough also, but then I forgot.

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  14. You can tell you are a bread baker! That swirl is so nice and evenly circular - this was my first loaf and I LOVED the whole process. Just need to get the rolling down - think I rolled too tightly. But now, I have to try that BBA recipe - heard it's pretty good! Beautiful loaf!

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  15. Your bread looks PERFECT! I noticed that several TWDers kneaded the raisins into the dough instead of putting them in the swirl, and I like the way it looks. But seeing as how this was my first foray into yeast bread baking...I thought I should stick to the recipe. By the looks of your beautiful loaf, you're a pro! :)

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  16. Ciao ! i think I'll knead the raisins in next time too ! Love yours !

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