Cinnamon Raisin Bread II

1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup warm water (must be between 110-115 degrees)
2 (1/4 ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup raisins
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup white sugar
3 T ground cinnamon
2 T butter, melted (approx.)

Warm the milk in a small sauce pan on the stove until it just starts to bubble, stirring occasionally.

Remove from heat.

Let cool until lukewarm, about 120-125 degrees.

Dissolve yeast in warm water and set aside until yeast is frothy, about 10 minutes or so (make sure your water is at the correct temperature or the yeast won't activate.) Then mix in eggs, sugar, butter salt and raisins (stir in the cooled milk slowly so you don't cook the eggs.) Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.

Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes until smooth.

Place in a large, buttered, mixing bowl and turn to grease the surface of the dough.

Cover with a warm, damp cloth and let rise (I like to let my bread rise in the oven with the light on. It has just the right amount of heat and keeps the bread out of drafts.) Allow to rise until doubled, usually about 1 1/2 hours.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick.

Moisten the dough with 2 tablespoons milk and rub all over the dough with your hands.

Mix together 1 cup of sugar and 3 tablespoons cinnamon and sprinkle mixture evenly on top of the moistened dough.

Roll up tightly (the long way).

The roll should be about 3 inches in diameter.

Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends and pinch bottom together.

Place loaves into well greased (you can use Crisco or butter for this) 9 x 5 inch pans and lightly grease tops of loaves.

Let rise in warm place, uncovered, again for about an hour.

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.

Remove from oven and let cool on rack.

Take melted butter and spread over tops of loaves.

After about 20 minutes, lay loaves on their sides and remove from pans.

Allow to cool before slicing.

Makes 3 loaves

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Comments:

From: joy
Absolutely scrumptious- this cinnamon raisin bread turned out beautifully! After comparing a number of different recipes, I decided to give this one a try and I couldn't have been happier with the results. The loaves were fluffy, moist, and flavorful, and an intoxicating aroma filled my home not only during the baking process, but also every time a slice hit the toaster this week. I did make a few minor adjustments that I think made a positive difference to the final product: I added 1 T of sugar to my water/yeast mixture to help it proof. I increased the salt an extra 1/2 tsp (totaling 1 1/2 tsp) and increased the raisins an extra 2 cups (totaling 3 cups- I wanted to have 1 cup per loaf. At first, I was worried it would be too much, but in the end it turned out just right! Be on the lookout for extra moist raisins specially made for baking- I found them at my supermarket and they worked out great- if you can't find them, you can always plump your raisins in hot water for a few minutes before you add them!) Instead of 2 T of milk to wash the dough, I did 1 T milk + 1 T melted butter. I'd also recommend separating your dough into 3 parts before you start rolling- it made it so much easier to handle, and allowed me to form each loaf with a nice tight swirl. Just sprinkle about 1/3 cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture in each loaf to make sure it comes out evenly distributed. Lastly, my loaves were perfectly golden and ready to come out at 35 minutes (10 minutes shy of the 45 minutes in the stated recipe.) I hope these suggestions help!

From: Queer Eye in the Kitchen Guy
This was the pefect solution to a boring Seattle Sunday! I tried to make it in my standard sized Mix Master. There was barely enough room & was fine until the dough climbed all the way up & over the hook! Will keep a closer eye on it next time. The bread was perfect though! might add another 1/2 cup raisins next time too.

From: John W Wenzelburger
Just like the title says: "This is the best Cinnamon Raisin Bread I've ever had!". I added chopped walnuts with the suger and cinnimon to two of the loafs before I rolled them up. You could make one with nuts one with raisins and one just suger and cinnimon. Don't skimp on the sugar and cinnamon....

From: Daphne2002
I made 2 batches of this bread for christmas presents. The first batch had a slow rise in the fridge overnight and baked in the morning due to time constraints. The second batch was made as instructed, with the addition of walnuts on top of the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Both batches were wonderful, but the room temperature loaves did rise higher. The dough was very easy to work with and tasted delicious when baked. Everyone loved their Christmas breakfast bread!

From: Mommamoody
Excellent made it last night. Don't start this at 7pm. Whew its a long process but worth it. I messed up one roll by not rolling it tight enough, the cinnamon sugar mixture distribution swirl is imperative,because it gives the bread its sweetness. I almost wish it was a touch sweeter.... Next time more sugar swirl! Also if you have a standup Kitchen Aid mixer, it will save you time, adding 8 cups of flour by hand was a bit messy. Good luck, we already ate one loave,the others are going as gifts. PS I have now made this twice and my neighbors rave its the best they have ever had!

From: Yasmine
Great recipe! My only change will be to add another cup of raisins into the DOUGH and not the swirl. This ensures that almost every bite will have a delicious raisin in it. Also, 45 min cooking time is WAY too long - try 30-35 maximum!

From: bbh
I live on the New England coast - yesterday was a foggy, cold day - a perfect day to make this bread. It is wonderful bread - I especially love it toasted. I literally inhaled the first 2 slices when it was still hot. Thank you for such an outstanding recipe.

From: Mswhipple
Thanks for the nice recipe, Lydia! I made this just before Christmas and presented the loaves as gifts to my neighbors. It got very good verbal reviews! Instead of just raisins, I used a few raisins, some dried cranberries, cherries and blueberries. For the crust, I brushed lightly with beaten egg and sprinkled with Pearl sugar (also called Hail sugar) just before baking. It's definitely worth a repeat! ~ Mary Ann

From: CarlaBakes
Great raisin bread! Best flavor and texture I've had. Can't remember having better. I added sugar to the yeast and increased the raisins as suggested. Mmmmmmmm, good.

From: LuuvBunny
If only I could give this more than 5 stars.This is absolutely fantastic!I could hardly wait to get it out the oven.It smelled so good while it was baking.Tasted even better than it smelled! I can see this being a staple in my house!

From: H-Chef
More of the same! I'm not usually a fan of raisin bread, but I made this for my husband and it was ridiculously good even to me. It was very moist, yeasty, and flavorful. It just couldn't have been any better. I used 2 1/4 cups of raisins and instead of regular milk, I had some buttermilk that I wanted to use up. It was amazing. One note, the cooking time was about 10 minutes less in my oven.

From: FriendlyChefy
I made the bread up and had a piece of toast with my coffee for breakfast. It was to die for good! I got to thinking and decided to make French Toast out of it the next morning. I made them up, and served with butter cinnamon and sugar. Oh what a yummy breakfast it was! Such a treat, I thought I was having a dessert instead of breakfast. DH and I both give this 5 well deserving stars!

From: Suzie_Q
If I could give this 100 stars I would! This recipe far exceeded my expectations. I used egg whites instead of whole eggs, skim milk and cut the butter back just slightly. For the filling I increased the filling by half, used brown sugar and added nuts as a personal preference. In my oven 30 minutes was absolutley perfect. My family already devoured a whole loaf and is already talking about me making more! This definitely cured my craving for cinnamon buns and actually I think I prefer this now! Thanks for the best bread recipe ever!

From: homegirl
This was a very good recipe. I would have given it 4 stars if I had not read all 54 reviews and decided to add more salt and sugar. I also was very mindfull of how quick it might cook. I did need to cook the whole 45 min but after just 20 I had to tent it with tin foil or it would have looked burnt. I did not use raisins in mine (personal pref) The ribbon of cin and sugar was gooey and nummy! I did wing the amounts of filling and instead of wetting it with the milk I rubbed a couple of tablespoons of butter on the triangle before adding the cina nd sugar. That might have been the reason for the yummy gooey center. Great recipe with the changes!

From: Jentry
Oh man this was awesome! I live in Germany and today I got a real bad craving for some cinnamon raisin bread. I found this recipe and it came out BEAUTIFULLY!!! I like to have lots of raisins, so I added about 2 cups of raisins. Thank you so much for this recipe! I will definitely be making this one again!

From: Shadowdancer Duskstar
Very, very good! Mom was giddy for it while it was baking. We didn't put the loaves into loaf pans, but I will do that next time. Minor adjustments: I needed to add about another 3/4c-1c flour because the dough was just too sticky to work with. Added 2 additional cups of raisins, a teaspoon of vanilla to the egg, and added an instant mocha coffee mix (about 3 tbsp, heaping) to the cinnamon-sugar mix. Will probably increase the vanilla to 2 tsp next time. I should probably also not let this rise overnight. We ended up with monster loaves that were crawling off the cookie sheets I let them rise on. All in all, DELISH. edit: my mom had some church friends over and served the bread; they loved it so much they asked to take some home!

From: plantfreek
Ive made this bread 3x's & I"m wondering if anyone else has had this problem with it. First time it turned out nice. 2nd&3rd times,following recipe exactly the same way as the 1st time, I've had to add 1-1.5cups more flour to it to even be able to handle it. I've been baking bread since I was 8 and do it for a living. Is this a recipe that is affected by the vagaries of weather? I just can't figure it out. It has been sooo sticky the last 2 times I've been unable to get it to form a ball cleaning the sides of my KA commercial mixer. Can't figure out why theres been such discrep- ancies between batches. I'm a real stickler for following directions the first couple times I bake a recipe so I get a feel for what it's sposed to be like. Anyone baked this and had the same thing happen? I do like the flavor and when it rises-wow-it heads for the roof of my oven!TIA.

From: funsport1213
I can't add anymore than everyone else. It was wonderful and makes even better french toast. Made over Christmas when I had a houseful of people. Half was gone Christmas day and the rest was gone in the morning when I made french toast and people wanted more. Definitely a keeper!

From: Ah-Lia!
Made this last night but downscaled the recipe from 3 to 2 loaves. Based on the large number of positive reviews, I am going to blame my review on the quantity change. This was easy to make and the dough was delightful to work with. However, I found the flavor of the bread to be lacking and somewhat odd-tasting. My experience tells me it needs more salt and more sugar than the 2 loaf recipe states. It's on the edge of being really good but just isn't.I might also add some vanilla and/or butter flavoring; more sugar/cinnamon mixture, more raisins and instead of brushing the dough with milk, try using one with salted butter and one unsalted to see which tastes better.

From: Chef Kate
Let me be the twenty-first to say that this is WONDERFUL bread! This would be great bread without the raisins and the cinnamon sugar. Lovely crust and lovely crumb. Slices and toasts beautifully. I'll be making this bread often.

From: JPGR
Based on the reviews, I was expecting a better tasting bread. I followed the recipe to the letter. The recipe was easy to follow and the dough turned out great - easy to work with. The bread looked fabulous, but the aroma and taste were lacking. It had an unusual, almost bland flavor. I might try again increasing the cinnamon/sugar mixture. Another reviewer suggested a bit more salt - good idea.

From: Sophie1017
Just delicious! I won't look any further after tasting this one. Makes three HUGE loaves. I ended up using a little more than 9 cups of flour and still had a nice moist dough. Use the freshest ingredients you can get. The flour makes all the difference here. If you get an off taste in your bread as one reviewer said, the culprit is probably rancid flour.

From: Chef~V
This is a wonderful bread. The smell while baking was heavenly. Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing! ~V

From: RobinS Smith
We finally got some rain here in Southern Cailfornia, and when its cold and rainy I love to make breads. I have been wanting to try this recipe for so long. I prefer non- machine breads as I feel I need to put lots of love in my bread I loved this recipe , it was alot of fun to make. It was easy and smelled really good thru the entire house. My chidren loved it as well as my husband. I don't think the three loafs are going to last much longer. I need to make more. Awesome recipe with amazing results. -Yum :D

From: Lutie
Excellent! Easy! Enticing Smell! Engulfed a whole loaf in one sitting! Nothing more needs to be said. This is a great recipe.

From: KyAmy
Update: The bread has been raved about by several co-workers.

From: Vino p.o. prn
This was very good and easier to make than it seems! I used 1 1/2 cups white AP flour and 6 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour. I'm sure that it would have been a lighter/fluffier bread if I used all white AP flour but for the added nutrition of whole wheat we don't mind the difference! My bread was done in only 30 minutes and I made sure they were approx 3 inches in diameter. This recipe makes a lot of bread...next time I may half the recipe or maybe freeze the leftover dough. Also, next time I'll add more raisins!

From: Chef #268402
I have to agree with the other reviewers--this bread is delicious. I followed the recipe with the one exception being I only baked for 30 minutes. I rub butter on the top of my loaves immediately upon removing from the oven. I posted a picture but the inside of the bread is so pretty. These will make nice gifts, something to bring to the hostess of a party or whatnot.

From: L. Duch
First I have to say. I need to read the amounts of ingredients before jumping in I usually do read the amounts, but for some reason I didn't this time.) lol I was half way through and realized I needed 8 cups of flour. My bad. Whew! The kneading sure gave me a work out. lol And my neighbor got a nice warm surprise when I was done. That being said, this was the best cinnimon bread I've ever eaten. I will definatly make this again. Can't wait until morning to have some toasted with butter spread on it. I think dried blueberries would be nice in this too opposed to raisins.

From: Ty's Kitchen
We love this! I think DS ate an entire loaf himself! I added a tsp. sugar to the yeast. Next time I will add more raisins.

From: spreadnjoy
I was just going to enter the exact same recipe, thought I'd check and make sure that there weren't any others like it... and here it is!! This is a recipe that I have made quite often, and OMG this is the BEST!! But beware, you will become addicted! Also I made this at Christmastime and the yeast wasn't active or something,it didn't raise AT ALL, but I went ahead and cooked it, it was a bit heavy (obviously) but my mom said she preferred it that way, because the flavors were more condensed and it was almost like a sticky bun. So in short you really can't ruin this bread.

From: Juliansmommy!
Great Bread! My hubby loves rasin bread and when he tried this he said no more store bought. Im gonna try the left over loaf in French toast! Thanks for the wonderful recipe. Its really the best!!!

From: Chef #285867
Delicious! This was my first attempt at making homemade bread and it turned out so beautiful. I had a perfect swirl of cinnamon in the center! The only thing I caution is the baking time. Mine got a little too dark...so be sure to check as your bread bakes. It is well worth the effort!

From: Littlemomma
THis is soooo gooood... you got two thumbs up from my kids..i did however leave out the raisins... when i made these with our breakfast the kids even wanted to put put cinnamon butter on them like they do toast & they don't hardly eat their toast... now they do & so do we.. one loaf dissapers in a weekend

From: Chef #330470
Superfluous to say this is a great recipe...!! I have only just begun using my first stand mixer ever and also just beginning at age 64 to make breads. This wonderful raisin bread was the first success in the bread area in the first week of "learning" bread baking. Thank you Lydia for posting this. I am a new member today...and so pleased to have found this wonderful site. Thanks Grannie-Ann

From: kzbhansen
This is SOOOO good!!! We loved this!!! Im glad it made as many loaves as it did cause my family had the first loaf gone within an hour. I had no trouble with my dough just perfect!! Thanks for posting!!

From: LuvMyWeim
FABULOUS!! This is a wonderful cinnamon raisin bread. Total bakery quality. Very easy to make and such incredible flavour. If you're using a stand mixer make sure to add the last few cups of flour VERY gradually or you will end up wearing the flour like I did. Wonderful recipe, thank you for sharing!

From: Gringo
Told my wife that the best raisin bread I ever had was from Freihofers bakery in upstate New York. However, this beats any, hands down. Excellent. However, as one person mentioned, cooking time was reduced almost 20 minutes. Don't know why, but it was done!

From: watsonlamb
For years I have used a Cinnamon-raisin bread recipe from "Laurel's bread" book. This is so much better. It smells and tastes so good. Thank you!!

From: Ginger Rose
Wonderful!! It reminds me of some bread rolls I once had in Norway.This definitely has to be classified as one of my favourite breads! Thanks.

From: Chellerific
On Jan 13, 2009
Very good bread. Denser than I expected, but good! Thank you.

From: Mrs. Nes
This isn't so much a review.. but a not for myself. Thanks! - use 1 cup raisins per loaf - in plastic container put raisins, eggs, butter, and some vanilla - in mixer bowl all the dry ingredients EXCEPT 2 cups of flour - warm the milk in a pot to 125, then add it to the the plastic container with the raisins - slowly add the wet to the dry... at the end add the last 2 cups - put it in a big buttered bowl with a damp cloth over it - let rise 1 1/2 hrs - for each loaf have ready 1/2 cup sugar + 1 tbs cinnamon + some chopped nuts (opt) - after rise, split dough into 3 sections - roll it out on lightly floured counter - spread 2 tsp milk on dough, then brush a little less than 1/4 cup butter on surface, then sprinkle cinnamon mix over it. - Roll up... stick in buttered bread pan making sure ends are pinched and seam is in bottom of pan. Let rise additonal hour.

From: firealarmqueen
Yum yum yum. I followed the suggestions of adding sugar to the yeast water, I upped the raisins to 3 cups (though I think 2 will do for future use). This was really easy but time consuming. Make sure you have all the ingredients laid out and ready to go so there are no surprises. Other than pizza dough, this is my first yeast bread; I think it turned out really well. It's only been done for a few hours and one loaf is almost gone UPDATED TO ADD: MY PARENTS AND I POLISHED OFF 2 LOAVES IN A WEEKEND...GAVE AWAY THE 3RD, FORTUNATELY, OR WE WOULD'VE HAD A BREAD-OVERDOSE...

From: Chef #1012753
So delicious! It was my first bread ever and it turned out perfect. Read reviews and followed a few suggestions, added 1 T sugar to the yeast and increased the sugar/cinnamon mixture slightly. I also washed the dough with 1 T milk and 1 T melted butter. That was a great suggestion! I did have to add some flour for manageability and I only cooked it for 30 minutes! Turned out perfect. Even tossed in walnuts to one loaf. My family loved it. I have a feeling I'll be repeating this around the holidays!

From: SAHMof2
I am in the UK and wanted to recreate some authentic American food to remind us of our recent trip to the States, and I am a BIG cinnamon raisin bread fan (along with the rest of my brood :o))) This ABSOLUTELY hit the spot,hhhhmmm it is truly delicious, toasted and buttered it is even more so. I am no masterchef, and this was really easy, time consuming, but easy. I also reduced baking time to 30 minutes (I dont like the crust to be TOO crusty) and the results were, well fabulous. I well definately be baking this one again, for sure!!

From: Nuttie Moo
I made this bread exactly as the recipe stated but i don't what all the fuss was about. It had a terrible texture and a revoulting taste that made me sick. Even the uncooked dough tasted better.

From: Mami Janine
Yes, it is the best cinnamon raisin bread I've ever had. I used part whole wheat flour and increased the raisins, sugar and cinnamon a bit. It was a very hot day, so the dough was sticky and took more than 8 cups flour to get it manageable. Also, after I warmed the milk, I added the raisins to it so that they would plump. Thank you very much for posting!

From: zoegirl21
I made this with all whole wheat flour and it turned out pretty dense, but smelled, looked, and tasted wonderful. Thanks for posting. Rolling it up and getting the swirl was way worth not just throwing it in the bread machine. However, I found that I had way way way enough sugar cinnamon mixture to coat the rectangle like three times over though. Oh well...I'm not going to complain about more sugar!

From: melmaddie
This is absolutely wonderful! It was very easy (yes, I little time consuming – but worth it). I followed the recipe as written except adding 1T of sugar to bloom the yeast, and added more raisins. For some reason my dough needed about 2 more cups of flour to be manageable. I ended up only cooking mine for 35 minutes. So easy and just as good as store bought.

From: AnitaG
This was delicious! I used almost 3 cups of wheat flour and the rest was AP flour. I added more raisins based on other reviews. My house smelled wonderful! I don't think we'll be eating the store bought version anymore!

From: Lydia's Mother
this was sooooooooooo good it was unbelievable!! I will be making this again and again and again and . . . LOL

From: RachelRoo
I hate to be negative when obviously so many people loved this bread, however I found the recipe to be dissappointing. Perhaps it was because I tried to use about half whole wheat pastry flour, a cup of fresh ground whole wheat flour, a few Tbsp. of gluten flour (to compensate for the lack of gluten in the whole wheat flour) and white flour for the remainder. We omitted the raisins, but other than that, followed the recipe exactly - even checking the temperature of the yeast mixture and the cooled milk. The dough was very heavy and dense, and took forever to rise. The cinnamon/sugar mix for sure needs to be increased - maybe doubled - and I think I'll stick with brown sugar for this purpose. My good ol' whole wheat bread recipe that I generally use when I make cinnamon bread always puffs way up, only has to rise once and is more flavorful than this recipe was. After all the work and time that went into this bread, my hubby and kids were not impressed. In our opinion, it was not sweet enough (and we're not sugar-holics), nor particularily flavorful, and did not rise very much. I am willing to acknowledge that perhaps the wheat flour threw things all off. I have made, literally, hundreds of loaves of bread in my relatively short lifetime, but I'm afraid I will not try to experiment with this one any further.

From: Chicago Clare
Very good, and easy to put together- it all happened just as described. Only needed 30 minutes in the oven. When I first tried it, I was wishing it was just a little sweeter overall as others have posted. Day 2 I found that it's best when sliced THIN - about 1/4 inch- then the sweetness in the cinnamon swirl comes through.

From: Onolishious
After reading most of the reviews, i felt encouraged to try this recipe. This recipe was easy to make. Instead of adding flour gradually, i poured the liquid mix into the flour (8cups)and knead the dough in the bowl, adding a little bit of flour while kneading it. My dough did not seem to rise (maybe because i let it rise for only 1hour). I shaped it into loafs and they seem to rise a little bit in the pan. I was surprised when they came out of the oven in perfect shape. I don't know if dough rises during baking but mine did. The bread was soft and delicious. Two minutes after the breads came out of the oven, my husband and my four young children sliced and ate them. Thank you Linda for sharing this recipe. It's a keeper. A BIG "Thank You" to all of you who shared your experience with this recipe. If there weren't many of you, i would have missed this delicious treat.

From: crazyPastrychef
Very good... my family loved it very much that i have to make it every weekend...

From: pixieglenn
This is the perfect recipe! It came out perfect, moist, just the right sweetness, and it's a big loaf! I didn't have the problem the previous reviewer had, mine came out great so I am not sure what happened with her. I am very happy with this recipe and will be adding it to our regular breakfast repertoire. Thank you!

From:
OMG GREAT! I made this recipe after trying about 20 others. This by far is the best. It was light, with a wonderful crust, 3 loaves were not enough the next weekend I had to double the recipe.

From: Chef #946545
I had been searching for a cinnamon raisin bread recipe, and found this one. It is fantastic. My husband loves cinnamon raisin bread for breakfast. It got too expensive to buy at the grocery store. I have made this recipe several times and everyone who has eaten it raves about how good it is. Also I increased the amount of raisins and sugar and cinnamon, because my husband wanted it a little sweeter and wanted more raisins. I divided the dough into thirds to make it easier to handle when shaping the loaves. Thanks so much for putting it on the internet.

From: Yia Yia
This is excellent! I've been on a bread baking rampage, trying to improve my skill. This recipe was easy and turned out perfectly, thus increasing my confidence! I love that it makes 3 big yummy loaves. I was able to share with a couple of drop ins and still have some to take to work tomorrow.

From: JOY1998
5 stars! I read all the reviews and added extra raisins and sugar. I like my bread sweeter that is why I added extra sugar, but I think that following the original recipe would be great too! I really like making bread the old-fashioned way. Thank you for this wonderful recipe.