Cinnamon Raisin Bread

Another weekend, another bread. I decided I wanted to experiment with some whole-wheat flour today and experiment with my recipe from a couple of weekends ago. Today, Tony was in the mood for a Cinnamon Raisin Bread.

Time Required: 20 min prep time, ~2.0 hours rise time, 45 min oven time.

Ingredients:

1. 3 and 1/3 cups All-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
2. 2/3 cup Whole-Wheat flour
3. 1 tsp Vital Wheat Gluten
4. 1.5 cups + a couple extra tbsp Water
5. 1.5 tsp Ground Cinnamon
6. 1/3 cup Raisins
7. 2 tsp Coarse Salt (Sea or Kosher)
8. 1 tsp Active Dry Yeast

Directions:

Measure out both kinds of flour, gluten, yeast and salt into the bowl. I'm trying the gluten trick for the first time today. I read recently that VWG helps with the rise in WW bread by providing more gluten fibers. Get the yeast started by dissolving in a cup of tepid tap water (the water should be barely warm to touch) and set aside. In the next 5-10 minutes the water will be become cloudy and foamy (if it doesn't, discard and start with fresh yeast, and check the expiration date on your packet). 

Mix water/yeast mix with the flour in the bowl of a Cuisinart Stand Mixer to form the dough. The dough should come together as a large ball. If not, add water in 1 tablespoon portions until everything is well incorporated, but doesn't look too dry. Be patient with this step as it is easy to add too much and you will most likely not need to much. Today I needed 4 tablespoons of water to get to a nice wet, but not slippery consistency. Once you have everything incorporated, make note of the clock time and knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes. Once you successfully achieve a windowpane with the dough, you can stop kneading (when stretched out dough looks somewhat translucent - light goes through it like a windowpane). 

One ready, remove the dough onto a well floured surface. I used a silicone baking mat. Lightly dust your fingers and shape the dough into a ball. Keeping the seam side down, transfer to a bowl. I also tried another trick today, which used wax paper instead of putting the dough directly in a bowl to rise. The recommendation was that you can then transfer everything directly into the cooking vessel. This did not work for me at all.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for approximately 2-3 hours. If your house is cold, try the oven method I talked about in the last recipe). I only allowed around a 2 hour rise time today because the dough was ready to spill out of the bowl after 1 hour. After 2 hours, the surface of the dough was dotted with a lot of tiny bubbles and crevices. 

Preheat the oven and dutch oven (a 5.5 qt Round Le Creuset) to 450° F.  Remove dough from bowl and gently form into a round ball using the silicone mat and some flour for dusting. I did not score the loaf I made today.  For some odd reason, when I formed the ball this time, my down lost its rise and dropped to the same size it was prior to my 2 hour rise. I knew something was up :(! 

Remove preheated pot from the oven. Set lid aside. Do not grease the pot. Gently drop the dough into the pot, seam side down. Shake the pan a couple of times to help distribute the loaf, if necessary. Cover with lid and bake for 30 minutes at 450° F. 

After 30 min, remove the lid and set aside, and bake for another 15 minutes, until the loaf is golden brown. Remove pot from oven, give it a good shake and the loaf should shake loose immediately. Gently remove the loaf from the pot and allow to cool on a cooling rack. Allow bread to cool completely before cutting into it.

The loaf today was a little lopsided :) !! The flavor was great. The raisins were moist and the cinnamon aromatic. I did get rise and a lot of alveoli (bread speak for air pockets) but it was still a pretty dense loaf! My whole-wheat loaf still needs work. 

Suggestions: If you were to make this loaf with 4 cups of All purpose or bread flour, it would be the perfect cinnamon raisin bread!! One your guests would rave about.

Nutrition Facts (One Loaf): Calories 1940 (Fat Calories 47)

Total Fat 5.2 g; Carbohydrates 414.6 g; Fiber 17.6 g; Sugars 30.0 g; Protein 53.5 g


If you liked this recipe, be sure to check out my Recipe Index for more Whole-Food, Plant-Based, No-Added-Oil recipes. You can also like Rugrat Chow! on Facebook. Thanks!

Chocolate Bread Pudding

I made bread pudding this weekend, instead of canning apples which is what I original planned to do. I improved on my previous recipe and made it yummy and gooier than before and used half a loaf of stale bread from the loaf I made earlier in the weekend. It was a loaf of no-knead bread which was awesome when it was fresh and warm out of the oven. However, I need to figure our a better way to store homemade bread because it always dries out. I've tried putting it in a plastic bread box (becomes sweaty and soggy) and I've tried wrapping it in a couple of kitchen towels and leaving it on the counter. Any other suggestions on bread storage would be most welcome. Anyhow, the half loaf that we had left after lunch yesterday was dried and not quite edible this morning. So I decided to transform it into something much more decadent than stale bread. 

Prep Time: 5-10 min + 45 min in the oven.

Ingredients:

1. 3 cups of stale home-made bread pieces, coarsely torn with your hands
2. 4 tbsp Raisins
3. 1/2 cup Non-Dairy Chocolate Chips
4. 1/8 cup Slivered Almonds
5. 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
6. 2 tbsp Chia Seeds
7. 2 tsp Cinnamon
8. 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
9. 2.5 cups Almond Milk (Silk PureAlmond Unsweetened)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease a 2.5 qt covered casserole dish. Spread bread all across the bottom in an even layer. Sprinkle raisins, Chia seeds, chocolate chips, brown sugar, almonds and cinnamon across the bread, as evenly as possible. Mix vanilla extract in 2 cups milk and pour it slowly across the entire dish, so as to soak as much of the bread as possible. Cover and bake for 45 minutes. Once done, remove from oven. Uncover, pour the remaining 1/2 cup of almond milk across the pan and re-cover. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to allow the excess milk to get absorbed and for the dish to cook down. At this point all the bread should be soft and gooey and the chocolate should have melted all over the bread. 

If it is not evenly melted, and the bread is still hard, make sure you add more milk and re-bake for 15-20 minutes to get the desired softness. Serve warm. 

My Assessment: Adding the brown sugar instead of maple syrup (my original recipe) makes for a thicker more yummy dish. Also, adding raisins to this dish added a new dimension this time. Even Tony loved it!!! My job is done :)

Home-made Applesauce

It is apple season in Ohio and our apple tree has given us quite the hall this year. This past weekend we harvested about a whole wheelbarrow full of apples and this only from the low-hanging branches. Even though li'l Coder used a ladder, he is all of 4 feet tall and didn't get much higher than I did. 

Anyhow, I gave away loaded grocery bags full of apples to at least 4 different families and I used a bunch myself. One of the things I made and set aside in the freezer was applesauce. 

Prep Time: 30 min (or so).

Ingredients:

1. 6 cups Apples, peeled, cored, quartered.
2. 1 cup Water
3. 2 tsp Cinnamon

Directions:

In a non-stick pan, bring water to a boil and add apples. If you prefer, leaves the skins on. Since our apples were never sprayed or really taken care of, the skin on my apples was quite pockmarked and blemished so I removed it completely. 

Bring to a boil, cover and allow to simmer for 15-20 min until the apples begin to disintegrate. Mix frequently as the apples are cooking to prevent the bottom from sticking. Mix well with a rubber spatula to break down any large chunks. If the consistency is too thick, add more water until it achieves the right thickness. Always start with less water than you think you needed. Its hard to make something less-soupy!! Add cinnamon and mix well. 

If you're planning on eating it 'as is' add some brown sugar or maple syrup to taste. I'm planning on using it in Oatmeal and baking, so I didn't use any sugar. 

Freeze (or can) in several serving size containers, as appropriate for your household. I froze it in about 1/3 cup servings, one for each single serve Oatmeal recipe. Enjoy!!!

Uses for Applesauce:

1. Baby food - a gentle wholesome food to wean a baby with.
2. Adult food :) its excellent as a snack, warm or cold, and as a side dish. Ever try peanut butter and applesauce on toast? You'll eat it every day. Its a lot healthier than sugar-loaded jellies too.
3. As an oil substitute and egg-substitute in baked goods (1 egg = 1/4 cup applesauce). Avoid using more than 1 cup/recipe. 
4. As a natural fiber-filled sweetener in breakfast cereals, oatmeal etc. 
5. As a sauce - combine sauteed onions, apple cider vinegar, ketchup, soy sauce and light brown sugar and use it to smother pan-seared tofu or seitan (or pork chops, if you're an omnivore!). 

Chocolate Bread Pudding

So after Tony had a sinus infection last week, he lovingly passed it onto me :)!! Not a pleasant experience especially since I was hit much harder than he was and after 3 days of OTC medicines had to go in to see the doctor and get the big guns!!! Last night was the worst ... head ache, plugged up, sore scratchy throat and a lot of coughing, fever .. the works!! So as I'm laying in bed with my achy throat, I was craving something soft and gooey (oh no!). So I decided to try this bread pudding, which came together in 5 minutes and was warm and gooey after 30 min at 375 F. 

Chocolate Bread Pudding

Prep Time: Less than 5 min and 30 min in the oven

Ingredients (Serves 2):

1. 3 slices of 100% whole wheat bread (I used Brownberry Double Fiber Bread)
   
2. 4 tbsp Vegan Chocolate Chocolate chips
3. 2 tbsp Slivered Almonds
4. 1 cup Almond Milk (Silk PureAlmond Unsweetened)
5. 1-2 tbsp Maple Syrup (to taste)
6. 1 tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa
7. 1/4 tsp Cinnamon
8. 1/4 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut bread slices into halves and place the first 2 in a bread pan. Sprinkle a few almonds and chocolate chips on these and then add 2 more slices. Sprinkle a few more almonds and chocolate chips and top off with the last slice of bread. In a separate cup make a thick paste with cocoa, vanilla extract, cinnamon and maple syrup and then add almond milk and mix it all together. Making a paste with maple syrup first helps the cocoa and cinnamon mix into the milk much better than if you added these directly to the milk. Once the almond milk mixture is nice and smooth, pour it over the bread very slowly making sure some of it is absorbed into the top slice and seeps in (instead of just pouring off to the side). Place in oven and bake uncovered for 30 minutes (at the end you should see no spare liquid, except for thick gooey chocolaty bubbles on the side) as it should all be absorbed by the bread). Serve warm, with freshly sliced bananas and sprinkled with slivered almonds and more chocolate chips. 

Gooey Chocolate Bread Pudding

My Assessment: This hit the spot last night. The bread was gooey and soft and chocolaty and no added fat!! I like nuts but Tony doesn't and so I will probably make it without the added nuts the next time and just sprinkle some on top for myself. 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 110 (Fat Calories 41)
Total Fat 4.6 g; Carbohydrates 17.0 g; Fiber 2.3 g; Sugars 12.3 g; Protein 2.3 g