Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Oatmeal and Sprouted Wheat

Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon and Raisins is one of the breads on the list for the Mellow Bakers for August. I was really looking forward to making this bread. My youngest son is home from college for a couple of weeks and oatmeal bread happens to be one of his favorites. The timing was great! 

Oatmeal with cinnamon and raisins is delicious and healthy in and of itself, but when you add the combination to bread, you’ve got yourself a pretty awesome treat. I thought this would make some exceptional cinnamon toast so I baked the loaf in a Pullman pan.

 

Instead of using high gluten flour and whole wheat flour as per the original formula, I used Super Sprout^TM flour and bread flour along with the rolled oats. Super Sprout^TM is a whole grain organic wheat that has been sprouted using a proprietary method and milled into flour for baking. The wheat flavor of this sprouted flour is deeper, smoother and more well-rounded than plain whole wheat flour. 

As I mentioned in a previous post on Whole Wheat Bread, I learned about Super Sprout^TM at the Asheville Bread Baking Festival during Peter Reinhart’s workshop.  This flour is milled by Lindley Mills. I’m not sure if it is readily available yet, but it is supposed to be in markets soon.

 

Cinnamon Raisin Bread with Oatmeal & Sprouted Wheat

Makes: 1 Pullman Loaf

Adapted from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman

 

Ingredients:

• 12 oz bread flour (plus more for sprinkling)
• 4 oz sprouted wheat flour
• 2.6 oz rolled oats
• 12 oz water
• 1.7 oz milk
• 1 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 2 1/2 tablespoons neutral flavored oil
• 1/2 tablespoon + 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1 cup raisins

 

Directions:

1. Soak the raisins in water for at least 30 minutes (or overnight) before mixing.

    

    

2. Place the oats in the mixing bowl.  Add the water and turn the machine on for a moment to moisten all the oats.  Let stand for 15 to 20 minutes to soften.  I soaked the oats and the flours in the water for about 20 minutes.

   

    

3. Add all of the remaining ingredients except the raisins to the bowl. Mix on first speed for 3 minutes in order to incorporate the ingredients thoroughly.  The dough will be moderately loose, with a slight tackiness from the honey. Mix an additional 3 to 3 1/2 minutes on second speed, until the gluten has been moderately developed.  Add the drained raisins and mix on first speed just until the raisins are thoroughly incorporated throughout the dough. 

   

    

4. Let the dough ferment for 2 hours or overnight. I covered the dough and put it the refrigerator overnight.

   Edited 3/27/2013: The original formula indicates that you can shape the dough after a 2-hour bulk ferment, however, some readers have had issues with the dough still being too wet. For this dough, I would recommend placing it in the refrigerator overnight to make sure the gluten is developed completely. Or, let it proof on the counter for 2-3 hours and perform a couple of folds and turns in the bowl (during the first hour) to help develop the gluten. You will still probably need to use a little extra flour for sprinkling when shaping the loaf to keep it from sticking.

   

    

5. The next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it warm up to room temperature.  Preshape the dough lightly into a round.

   

    

6. Cover the ball with plastic wrap and let it rest seam-side up on a counter sprinkled with flour until it has relaxed sufficiently.  This should take about 15 to 20 minutes.

   

    

7. Shape the dough into a blunt log and place it a greased Pullman pan.  I think my log could’ve been a little blunter.  It looked more like a batard.

   

    

8. Slide the lid on the Pullman pan and let the dough rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until it reaches the top of the pan. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Spray the loaf with water and gently press rolled oats into the top of the loaf.

   

    

9. Bake the loaf for 15 minutes, then lower the temperature by 20 to 30 degrees and continue baking for about 30 minutes.  The raisins as well as the milk, honey, and oil contribute to the coloring of the loaf so lowering the temperature partway through the baking will keep it from burning.

   

    

10. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately remove the loaf from the pan to keep the crust from getting soft from the moisture.

    

     

     

    Let the bread cool completely before slicing and serving.  This makes it easier to slice. 

    

     

I let this loaf cool for several hours, then put it in a plastic bag until the next day. Then I sliced it and enjoyed it toasted. As I suspected, it makes delicious cinnamon toast. My son had 5 slices in one sitting.  His metabolism still works so he can do that and go out and run it off.

 

This bread has been YeastSpotted. Please visit Wild Yeast to view all of the lovely breads in the roundup.

 

Mellow Bakers was started by Paul at Yumarama.
We’ve been baking breads from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman.

 

Thanks for visiting the Bread Experience bread-baking blog.  I hope you’ll join me again soon.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

Cinnamon Raisin Bread and Rolls: HBinFive

For the May 15th HBinFive Bread Braid, I made Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread and Cinnamon Rolls using the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes Milk and Honey dough.

For the dough, I used a mixture of whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour as the recipe suggested, but I added more raisins than the recipe called for and I also added some cinnamon powder.  I let the raisins soak in the warm water a little bit to soften.  The raisins tasted much better that way.


Fermenting the Dough

After the dough had rested on the counter for 2 hours, I put it in the refrigerator to ferment for a couple of days.  Then I took it out and divided it into 3 equal pieces.

Making the Cinnamon Swirl Bread

I used two of the pieces for the cinnamon raisin swirl bread.



Shaping the Loaves

To shape the loaves, sprinkle flour on the counter and use your fingers to flatten and spread each piece of dough into a 5” x 8” rectangle.  Then sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top.

And roll the dough up jelly roll style

to form the loaf

Pinch the seams together and roll the loaf until the seam is on the bottom.

Proofing the Loaves

Place each loaf in a 4 1/2 x 8 1/2-inch loaf pan and sprayed them with spray oil and covered them with plastic.

I let the loaves proof for about 90 minutes.

Bake the loaves for about 25 to 35 minutes, then remove them to a cooling rack. Brush the loaves with butter and sprinkle more cinnamon sugar over the tops.

This made for an over-the-top flavor.  Yummy!  This bread tastes really good toasted with butter.  It also tasted really good plain.

I still had one more ball of dough left…


So I decided to make Cinnamon Rolls.



Making Cinnamon Rolls

Spread out the dough the same way as for the loaves, but make the rectangle a little bit bigger.  Then sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top.

And roll it up into a very tight jelly roll.  Then cover it with plastic and place it in the refrigerator for a little while to make it easier to cut.  I ended up keeping mine in the refrigerator overnight because I ran out of time (well mostly energy).

When you're ready to bake the rolls, take the jelly roll out of the refrigerator and cut it into 1-inch pieces.

Place the rolls on a greased baking sheet and cover them with plastic. Let them rise for about 90 minutes or so until they are doubled in size.

Bake them in a 350 degrees oven for about 25 minutes.

Then dribble white fondant (glaze) over the tops.  This is the best part!  I made the fondant with about 2 cups of powered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of orange extract and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of warm milk.  Delicious!

These cinnamon rolls were really good.  They taste like cinnamon raisin bread with a delicious glaze on top.

I really liked this dough.  It’s very versatile and tastes great!  I especially like the addition of the cinnamon powder and the extra raisins.  I think walnuts or pecans would enhance it so maybe I’ll try that next time.

Thanks for joining me in the bread-baking blog.  Check out the blog BigBlackDog to see the May 15th Bread Braid roundup.

Happy Baking!
Cathy

About the HBinFive Baking Group

The HBinFive Baking Group, started by Michelle of Big Black Dogs, is baking through all of the breads in the Healthy Bread in Five Minutes book. For more information on the new HBinFive baking group, check out Michelle's blog.