Whole Wheat Cinammon Raisin Bread

Another delayed post. This was the August bread for my father-in-law. I've made it before and the results of this attempt don't look much different from the previous attempt. It's from Peter Reinhart's 'Whole Grain Breads' book. It's a great whole grain bread for those who like sweet breads and appreciate the flavor of whole grains.

The ingredients
In typical delayed fermentation method, this bread is made over two days with a biga and a soaker. I used 1% milk as the liquid for both the soaker and the biga.

Day 1: Soaker ingredients on left, biga ingredients on the right.

Day 2: Soaker, biga and other ingredients: whole wheat flour, salt,
instant yeast, brown sugar, ground cinammon

Everything mixed together epoxy style

Dough ready for some kneading

2:51 pm: Ready for first rise

At 4:05 pm I rounded and rested the dough. This is the dough at 4:26 pm

The loaf
The recipe says it makes one large loaf. The dough didn't look like a lot, but I hoped it would rise better during proofing. Also, as I was going to be giving away this loaf, I thought it would be good to have a small piece for tasting. I split the dough into a big piece and a smaller piece

4:31pm: Ready to shape

The dough itself does not have a lot of sugar or cinnamon, so I would highly recommend adding the optional cinammon sugar swirl step. I didn't use all 3 tablespoons of the sugar though, because I was working with lesser dough.

4:34 pm: Cinnamon sugar step is highly recommended

4:38: Ready for proofing

6:10 pm: Not a lot of rise after 90 minutes of proofing

7:02 pm: Small bit of oven spring

Out of the pan, sticky raisins

Where is the swirl?

Decent crumb with veins of cinnamon sugar

The bread
Although I only got to have a bit of this bread, I really enjoyed it. It would be better if it were a little more light and airy, this one was fairly dense. RH doesn't like raisins in bread, or yeast breads that are sweet, for that matter, so I won't make this bread very often. It isn't suitable for savory sandwiches but it would make a great gift bread for whole grain lovers.

Notes
Date: July 31, 2011
Recipe: Whole Wheat Cinnamon Raisin from Peter Reinhart's book, 'Whole Grain Breads'

Flours: Whole wheat
Bread specific ingredients: Raisins, cinnamon, egg, butter
Sweetener used: Brown sugar
Liquid: Milk

Comments: I didn't add the optional walnuts. Next time I try this bread, I will add the walnuts and use all the healthier substitutes: agave nectar and vegetable oil. I also wonder if using almond milk for this would be a good idea. Hmm... maybe the next attempt will have to be soon.

-RPH