Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I love bread. I became interested in learning how to bake bread in college and have been trying to perfect my skills every since. I give much praise for the book The Bread Bakers Apprentice. This book taught me so much. I suggest it to anyone who strives to make extraordinary bread.

Oddly, I decided to try going gluten free about a year ago. Seems crazy, I know. I had some reasons to give it a try, and it was a challenge to see if I could do it. Well I got a chance to learn some new recipes an try some new things. I stayed gluten free for at least 6 months. It was challenging and I have a lot of respect for people who have to live gluten free.
I am no longer gluten free and I haven't made bread in over a year. I am so happy to be back kneading the dough and filling my house with the smell of fresh baked bread. I decided to make a loaf style bread instead of a 'rustic' type just for quickness and ease. So I made Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread.

Formula: 3 parts flour: 1 part liquid
3 cups bread flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup toasted rolled oats
.5 cup flax seed meal
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 cup raisins
1 package yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 cup 2% milk
1 large egg
1/4 cup melted butter
In a large bowl I mixed the flours, oats, sugar, raisins, and yeast. I mixed the milk, egg, and melted butter in another bowl and let it sit at room temp for about 1 hour. I mixed the liquid with the flour stirring (adding a little more milk to make a sticky dough. I turned the Dough out onto a floured table and kneaded for 8-10 min until the dough became soft and tacky (but not sticky). I did this by hand, if you have a stand mixer feel free to use it. Once dough is kneaded, put it into a lightly oiled bowl rolling it to coat all sides, cover with a damp towel and let rise for 90 minutes.
Once risen, punch down dough, separate into 2 pieces. Roll out pieces to about 8x10 inch rectangle about 1 inch thick. Smear with butter, sprinkle liberally with cinnamon/sugar, then roll tightly pinching the seam together and tucking the ends under. Place rolled dough into greased loaf pan (9x5). Let rise for another 90 min. or until it fills the loaf pan. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 minutes.

Conclusion:
This bread turned out wonderfully, soft, chewy and slightly sweet. The oat meal adds a nice texture. The whole wheat gives this bread a denseness and makes a more substantial slice. Wonderfully addictive. Great with or with out butter.

Let me know what you thinkFor more nutritional information about this bread this link will take you to my recipe page on NutritionData.com. This is a really cool website where you can enter your recipes and it calculates the nutrition facts.

p.s. I got my grill thermometer yesterday. Will post more when it is installed.