As a child, I remember a special treat Mom occasionally bought from the grocery store – a loaf of raisin bread, made by Sunbeam if memory serves. It was covered with sweet frosting, which I immediately licked off the top of my slices. We ate the bread plain or toasted. It rarely lasted more than a day in our house.
A special treat I have been making is homemade raisin bread. For the past year, I have been turning out loaf after loaf of delicious homemade breads in my Oster Bread Making Machine. Every batch has been delicious, except for the time I forgot to put the little kneading paddle that turns the bread in the bottom of the pan. I use that loaf now as a doorstop. But everything else has been terrific, especially the Raisin Bread.
When I make it, Nancy and I immediately dig in and eat a hot slice, then we have raisin bread toast slathered in butter each morning until it runs out. It is good stuff, and if you like to cook and you don’t have one of these bread machines, for goodness sakes get one.
Some have told me that they once had bread machines that broke down and were unreliable. My machine is going strong after many loaves. It makes no-fail bread if you remember all the steps.
Raisin bread takes about 3 hours and 15 minutes. The only catch is you have to be there about 25 minutes after the batch begins in order to sprinkle in the raisins. But it makes the best bread for toast there is.
Here’s Oster’s recipe.
Large Loaf (2 pounds)
1 1/4 cups water (hot)
2 tablespoons butter, softened
4 cups bread flour (use King Arthur, the best)
3 T sugar
2 T dry milk
1 1/2 t salt
1 1/2 t ground cinnamon
2-¼ t active dry yeast
1 C raisins
Mix dry ingredients and add to liquid ingredients in the bread pan. When machine beeps, add raisins slowly. Unbelievable bread!