Mmmm love me some raisins

This is based on a very excellent recipe at The Fresh Loaf, converted to metric and shown using my timetable.

I didn't shape the loaves carefully enough -- I would have liked a more even domed top -- but boy, this was delicious straight from the oven and this morning it made heavenly toast.

The crumb was good, not dense at all. It was quite light but still had good structure.

Cinnamon-maple raisin bread


Makes 3 loaves

680g bread or AP unbleached flour
227g whole wheat flour
150g rolled oats
2.5 cups water
3/8 cups milk
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp maple syrup
5.5 tbsp vegetable oil (I used extra virgin olive oil as that was al I had)
1 tbsp plus 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 tbsp instant yeast
2 tbsp ground cinnamon
2 cups soaked and drained raisins
1 egg white, beaten and with a pinch of salt to help break it down

Timetable:

7:00 pm: Soak the raisins in warm water to which you can, as I did, add orange flavouring (other possibilities include rum, earl grey tea, orange juice). In a large bowl, soak the oats in the 2 1/2 cups water.

7:30: Drain off the raisins. Mix the flours, yeast, salt, and cinnamon. In another container combine the milk, honey, maple syrup and oil. Dump the liquid mixture into the oats, and then dump in the flour mixture. Mix well, until all of the flour is hydrated. Knead by hand for 5-7 minutes, then mix in the drained raisins. Knead until the raisins are distributed throughout the dough.

7:45: Place the dough back into your now-greased large bowl. Spray the top with a little nonstick spray or oil, and cover with a kitchen towel or clingfilm. Allow to rise for 1 hour.

Around 8:45: Remove the dough from the bowl and fold it, degassing it gently as you do. Place the dough on your floured counter, top side down. Fold the dough in thirds, like a letter, gently degassing. Fold in thirds again the other way. Flip the dough over, dust off as much of the raw flour as you can, and place it back into the bowl.

9:00 Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise in bulk again for another hour.

10:00 Preheat the oven to 450F. Tip dough out of the bowl and degas very gently. Divide the dough in thirds and shape the loaves. Place each shaped loaf into a greased pan. Gently brush each loaf with egg white and sprinkle with some more oats.

Place the loaves in the center rack of the oven. After 5 minutes, reduce the oven temperature to 375. Rotate the loaves 180 degrees after 20 minutes, and bake for another 15 to 25 minutes, until the tops of the loaves are nicely browned, the bottoms of the loaves make a hollow sound when tapped.

Around 11: All done! You really should cool the loaves on a rack. But if you're like me and probably 90 percent of home bakers, you'll have a slice straight from the oven.