Chocolate Raisin & Walnut Bread

Another weekend, another bread-making attempt ... I wish I could do this more often. Last week's attempt was actually quite good, with the exception of being a little too sweet. We ate about half of it on the same day and then I put the rest in the fridge. Unfortunately, when I took it out next, it was too dry and chewy to be eaten as bread. So I made my East-Indian Stuffing ... in January :) !!! It was pretty delish and half a loaf made me 4 good sized servings which I enjoyed for lunch this week. So here's today's attempt. Its in the machine now and is expected to be done in about 3 hours. 

Prep Time: 10 minutes + ~3.25 hours in a bread machine

Ingredients: (8 servings/slices)*:

1. 1 cup Water
2. 6 tbsp Apple Sauce (1 Mots Naturals Snack cup)
3. 2.5 cups All Purpose Flour
4. 0.5 cup Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
5. 3 tbsp Dark Brown Sugar
6. 1.5 tsp Sea Salt
7. 1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
8. 2.5 tsp Active Dry Yeast
9. 1/4 cup Raisins
10. 1/4 cup Pecans
11. 1/4 cup Ghirardelli Non-Dairy Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions:

Place all ingredients in the order they are listed into the baking pan of your bread machine, with the exception of the Raisins, Pecans and Chocolate chips. Most bread machines want you to put in liquid ingredients first, followed by dry ingredients and the require that the yeast be added at the very top, in a little hollow made into the dry flour. Make sure that any salt is not in contact with the active yeast. 

Start the machine using the menu selection for Basic White bread. Set the crust to medium or light. Start the cycle and when the machine beeps at the 'add ingredient' stage (just before the last 5-10 minutes of kneading), add the last 3 ingredients. Allow the baking cycle to complete, remove the bread from the pan onto a baking rack and allow to stand for 20-30 minutes before slicing/cutting into the loaf.

Chocolate Raisin & Walnut Bread

My Assessment: Adding a half a cup of whole wheat flour made it a tad denser than the 100% white bread I made last week. The recipe initially called for 2 tbsp of oil. Initially, when I substituted 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour, I added 4 tbsp of applesauce, instead of just 2. When the dough was initially formed, it looked just a tad too tight to me so I added 2 tbsp more. That was probably a good idea. I got very good rise and some nice air pockets. The bread was light, but not fluffy. I wonder if it can even be fluffy when I've added raisins and nuts and chocolate chips. This recipe tasted a lot like the Pepperidge Farm Raisin Cinnamon Swirl. Yummy! 

Nutrition Facts (Per Serving): Calories 240

Total Fat 3.5 g; Cholesterol 0 g; Carbohydrates 46.9 g; Fiber 2.4 g; Sugars 8.8 g; Protein 5.9 g

* I seem to have trouble slicing bread very thin. Especially fresh bread is even harder to slice in my opinion. The best I've ever gotten out of my bread machine is 8 slices. If you can slice thinner ... more power to you :)