BBA #9: Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Pecan Bread

I have to admit to having few problems with this bread. The dough was lovely (maybe a tad dry, contrary to others' experiences) with the exact amounts of flour and liquid, and I worked a couple more tablespoons of liquid in only because I'd over-measured a bit and had this milky water sitting right there. I did fail to drain my raisins well enough and so things got a little sticky as I hand-kneaded them in, but I can't blame that on Reinhart. A little blotting with a paper towel and I think I could have kneaded without added flour.

[Forgive the lousy photo quality on most shots--one dial on this camera is fatally easy to shift without noticing, and I don't pay enough attention to the results until I've downloaded to the computer. Things were very over-exposed this week until the last couple of pics of both bread and cake.]

I added cinnamon in all the suggested places--the base amount in the dough, the full amount of cinnamon-sugar for the swirl, and the coating glued on the hot loaf with a little butter. I'd skip the top coating next time--it added some extra flavor, sure, but made the loaf messy to handle and slice. There's plenty of cinnamon in the dough + swirl.

The dough rose beautifully, as did the loaves. I might let the loafs go a little longer on a repeat....or not, as the crumb was good and I'd hate to have a loaf collapse on me.











On slicing, the "open swirl" problem emerged--I don't mind a little separation of the layers, but a big opening is not what I'm looking for. I thought I was rolling tightly, but perhaps not. And perhaps the amount of cinnamon-sugar affects this, too, and I had a pretty heavy layer.

I took the second loaf to my hairdresser, as I'd described it as she was doing my perm and gotten an enthusiastic response. That was a good decision, as I suspect the nephew will be the only one next door to try it: older niece is on a school trip (robotics competition), younger niece hates raisins, and my brother and sister-in-law are avoiding carbs they unless the temptation is very strong. Come to think of it, my brother may never have learned to enjoy raisins. I could have made younger niece happy by subbing dried cherries, but with the weekly whole-wheat dried-cherry challah I just wanted something different. And *I* love cinnamon raisin bread!