Best Beards Raisin Wheat Bread Recipes

JAMES BEARD'S BASIC HOME-STYLE BREAD

Steps:

• Add the yeast to 1/2 cup of the warm milk, along with 2 tbl sugar, and stir well until the yeast in completely dissolved. Allow the yeast to proof.
• Place the remaining milk, butter and salt in a bowl. (Beard liked a lot of salt, and I would use less). Stir in the flour, 1 cup at a time, with a wooden spoon.
• After the third cup, add the yeast mixture. Continue stirring in flour until the mixture is rather firm, which should take about 4 to 5 cups.
• Remove the dough to a floured board and knead, adding more flour as necessary, until it is supple, satiny and no longer sticky.
• Butter a bowl and place the dough in it, turning to coat all sides with the fat. Cover and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Deflate the dough by punching firmly two or three times, return to the floured board, and knead 4 to 5 minutes more.
• Divide into two equal parts and shape into loaves. Place in well-buttered 9x5x3 in loaf tins, cover, and let rise again until doubled in bulk.
• Slash the loaves with a sharp knife and brush with lightly beaten egg white or water.
• Bake in a 400 deg. oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped with the knuckles.
• Remove the loaves from the pans and put them back in the oven a few minutes longer to become crisped.

RAISIN CINNAMON BREAD

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add milk, 1/3 cup sugar, oil, salt and 2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Add raisins and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, about 6-8 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1-1/4 hours. , Punch dough down. On a lightly floured surface, divide in half. Roll each into a 15x7-in. rectangle. Combine cinnamon and remaining sugar; sprinkle over dough. Sprinkle with water. Starting with a short side, roll up tightly, jelly-roll style. Pinch seams and ends to seal. Place, seam side down, in two greased 9x5-in. loaf pans. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour. , Preheat oven to 350°. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over warm loaves.

WHOLE-WHEAT CINNAMON-RAISIN BREAD

Steps:

• Make the dough.
• Measure out 1 1/4 cups very warm water and check the temperature; it should be 120 degrees F to 130 degrees F. Combine both flours, the dry milk, egg, canola oil, honey, salt, yeast and warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix 3 minutes on the lowest setting, then increase to the next highest setting and mix 5 more minutes. The dough should be soft and sticky.
• Let it rise.
• Transfer the dough to a large bowl coated with cooking spray. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough has nearly doubled in size, about 1 hour, 30 minutes.
• Soak the raisins.
• Dry raisins will rob moisture from the bread, so soak them first in boiling water until plump, about 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry.
• Fold the dough.
• Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Picture it as a loose square. Lift up one side of the dough and fold about one-third of it across; press down on the dough with spread fingers to remove any air bubbles. Repeat with the remaining 3 sides of the dough.
• Add the filling.
• Mist two 9-by-5-inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Divide the dough in half; roll out each half into an 8-inch square. Brush each square with canola oil, then sprinkle with the cinnamon (it's high in antioxidants!), brown sugar and raisins.
• Form the loaves.
• Roll up each square of dough into a tight cylinder; place seam-side down in the prepared pans. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until the dough fills the pans and springs back when touched, about 1 hour, 30 minutes.
• Bake the bread.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Brush the loaves with canola oil and bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the pans and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

CINNAMON RAISIN SWIRL BREAD

Steps:

• Make the dough: In a large electric mixer bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/4 cup warm milk. Add the remaining warm milk, the sugar, the salt, the butter and the eggs. Add 5 cups flour and mix with paddle attachment until smooth, about 2 minutes. Switch to hook attachment and knead on low speed, adding more flour if necessary until dough is stiff and slightly tacky, about 10 minutes.
• Grease a large bowl with butter and turn dough out into the bowl. Flip dough over so greased side is up, cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel and set in a warm, draft-free spot until doubled in size, about 11/2 to 2 hours. Generously butter two 9-x-5 loaf pans.
• Meanwhile, make the filling: In a small pot, bring sherry to a low boil and simmer until reduced by half, about 8 to 10 minutes. Add raisins, cover and let sit until needed for filling.
• When dough has doubled in size, turn dough out onto floured surface and knead for 3 minutes. Return to greased bowl, cover and let rise again for 30 minutes.
• Press down dough with your hand to expel the air. Divide dough in half and roll one half into a 16-x-8-inch rectangle. Brush with some of the melted butter. Drain raisins and mix with sugar and cinnamon; scatter half of the mixture over the dough and, starting with the shorter side, roll up tightly into an 8-inch log, tucking the ends under. Place roll seam-side down in a loaf pan and brush top with melted butter; dust with cinnamon sugar if desired. Repeat with second dough half.
• Cover and let rise until dough is just above the tops of pans, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, heat oven to 400 degrees. Bake bread for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for an additional 20 to 30 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped, the tops are brown and the internal temperatures are 200 degrees. Remove loaves from pans and let cool on wire racks.