Cinnamon Raisin Bread

I've been on a making bread kick lately.  We buy so much bread at the store - white bread, wheat bread, French bread, rolls, English muffins, the list is endless!  In a effort to tighten our budget at bit, I've decided to make instead of buy (as much as I can anyway).  Cinnamon raisin toast is one of my absolute favorite breakfast items, but it can be pretty pricey buying a loaf in the store.  I was so excited to find this recipe from Super Glue Mom on Pinterest that I immediately had to try it out.  It's easy and makes three whole loaves!! 

It makes a lot of dough - like I said, enough for three loaves so you'll need a pretty big bowl to let it rise.  It will double in size in about 1 1/2 hours. 

You roll the entire dough out at once and slather on a mixture of cinnamon and sugar.  Roll it up and slice into three loaves.  Into the loaf pans they go and to rise for another hour. 

And this is the heavenly (I'm pretty sure I used that word more than once while we were eating it this morning) finished product.  OMG.  Believe me, you will be so glad you have those other two loaves to fall back on.  We ate nearly 1/2 a loaf for breakfast and the other two are in the freezer.  Probably not long before they make their way out of there!  

 Makes 3 loaves

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

1 1/2 cups milk, luke-warm (heat in microwave or stovetop)

1 cup warm water

5 teaspoons yeast

3 eggs

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick of butter, room temperature

1 cup raisins

9 cups flour and more for dusting 

For the filling

2 tablespoons milk

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

In the bowl of a stand mixer, dissolve the yeast in the warm water until frothy, about 10 minutes.  Add in eggs, sugar, butter, salt and raisins and mix.  Add the room temperature/ warm milk and slowly mix to combine.  Gradually add flour to make dough (start with 8 cups and add in the last cup as needed).  You may need to add the last cup by hand if your bowl starts to overflow like mine did.   

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth, adding in the last cup of flour if necessary.  Spray a large bowl with non-stick cooking spray and place dough in, turning it to coat all sides.  Cover with a clean dishtowel and set in a warm place.  Let rise for 1 1/2 hours until doubled in size. 

Once again, turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to a large rectangle approximately 1/2 inch thick (mine ended up being about 27 inches long).  Moisten the dough with the milk and use your hands to rub all over dough.  Mix the sugar and cinnamon together and sprinkle evenly over the dough.  Roll up tightly from the long end - it should be about 3 inches in diameter.  

Cut into thirds,  pinching dough together at the seams.  Place loaves,seams side down, into 3 greased loaf pans and let rise, uncovered for another hour.  

Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when tapped.  Remove from oven and let cool on racks.  After about 20 minutes, turn bread out from pans.  Allow bread to cool before slicing.  Serve toasted with butter or use for French toast!  To freeze, wrap in foil and place in freezer bags.

(Source:  Adapted from Super Glue Mom)