No Recipe Raisin Bread

The loaf of artisan raisin and walnut bread on the bakery shelf called to me and its voice was loud and clear. It is amazing what you will hear calling to you in a grocery store on Saturday morning when you haven't yet had breakfast or even an early morning cup of tea. But I resisted. The January Freeze's temperatures hovered around minus 10 for the past week and I wanted a cozy Saturday at home with the aroma of baking bread making the house seem a bit warmer. There is nothing like it.

I call this bread No Recipe for a reason. Thirty years ago we lived on the Northern Cheyenne Reservation in Montana, a 125 mile drive from anything resembling a bakery. So I learned to make a pretty good loaf of bread and baked it once or twice a week - so often that I learned to craft it by how it looked and felt and not by what a written recipe told me to do. I suppose that is why I still play with perfectly good recipes created by others and why I just throw the ingredients into the mixing bowl and let it become bread. It is so much fun!

Although I have included measurements for the ingredients, please know that the flour amount actually depends on how the dough feels and how it responds to the kneading process. Too much flour will result in a very heavy, dry loaf. Not enough, and the dough will be quite sticky and make a very soft and small loaf. Pay attention to how the bread dough looks and feels as you work with it (I describe below) and your loaves will turn out beautifully.

Let's bake!
No Recipe Raisin Bread - makes 2 very yummy loaves that you'll want to eat as soon as they come out of the oven.

Ingredients:
2 cups raisins
1/2 cup liquid to plump the raisins. I used orange juice and a splash of that whiskey vanilla I like to make. You can use water if you'd like, or apple cider, or even a wonderful sweet red wine.
1 pkg. dry yeast or about 2 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp. sugar
1 Tblsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup dry milk powder
4 - 5 cups bread flourplus a little more for dusting
4 Tblsp. (1/4 cup) butter, melted
2 cups warm water
2 Tblsp. butter, melted to brush the loaves after baking

Let's get started!
Place the raisins and the liquid in a saucepan and heat them gently on low for about 15 minutes. Cover the raisins and allow to plump up as they cool.
Heat the water and butter until warm (about 100 - 110 degrees F). The butter will melt in the water.
In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of the flour, yeast, sugar, salt, cinnamon, and the dry milk powder, and whisk it around a bit to mix. Pour in the water and butter and whisk it vigorously or beat at a medium speed for about 2 minutes until the batter is well combined and begins to bubble. Add the raisins and any remaining liquid to the bowl and stir. Then stir in just enough flour to create a sticky, shaggy dough (about a cup or so). Sprinkle the dough with a bit more flour and cover. At this point the dough needs to rest for about 30 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the liquid. The dough may rise a bit while it is resting. No worries!

After the dough has taken its 30 minute nap, stir in another cup or so of flour and when it is too difficult to stir well, start to knead the dough right in the bowl, adding flour a handful at a time - just enough to help the kneading process and keep it from being too sticky. Knead for about 5 - 7 minutes until the dough is a soft, smooth ball.
At this point, I put the dough on a floured towel for a moment while I wash the bowl and grease it with a little butter or oil. The warmth of the bowl from washing it will also help the dough to begin to rise or proof. Place the dough ball back into the greased bowl, cover it with a towel and allow to rise until doubled in size, for about an hour or so.

When the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide it into two equal portions. Roll each piece tightly on a lightly floured surface, then fold over and tuck in the ends to create a high dough ball, perhaps 4 inches across and 5 inches high. Place each on an 8-inch pie plate or baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover with a towel and allow to rise again until doubled - for an hour or so.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and brush with melted butter. Allow to cool on a rack if you can wait that long to try a piece!