No Knead Cinnamon Raisin Bread

This week in the bread-baking blog, I’m continuing my series on making breads using the Kneadlessly Simple method and I’m also participating in Bread Baking Day #22: Sweet Breads

The bread I’m making is Cinnamon Pinwheel Raisin Bread. It is made with the dough from Country Fair White Bread. The recipe is very easy and it tastes great! In fact, my taste tester said it was the best cinnamon bread he had ever tasted.

This will be my first time submitting an entry for the monthly BBD. i’m excited about submitting this particular bread because not only is it a sweet bread, but it is made using the unique Kneadlessly Simple technique.

7/11/09 Update: My taste tester and I were unable to decide which cinnamon bread we liked better. We tasted the no knead cinnamon bread and the BBA Challenge Cinnamon Bread and it’s a tie! Both breads are great!

Let’s get started…

If you would like to bake along , turn to page 66 in Kneadlessly Simple to locate the recipe and list of ingredients.

Cinnamon Pinwheel Raisin Bread
Makes: 1 large loaf (12 to 15 slices)

First Step: Make the County Fair White Bread dough (p.61)

Get all of the ingredients together. Stir the dry ingredients together in the bowl until well mixed. Stir in the water, scraping down the sides and mixing just until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.

If the mixture is too dry, add additional water, a little bit at a time. Or, if necessary, add a little extra flour until it forms a fairly soft dough. I added a little extra flour. Brush the top with butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

First Rise: Refrigerate the dough for 3 to 10 hours. I refrigerated it for 10 hours overnight.

Then let the dough rise at cool room temperature (about 70 degrees F.) for 15 to 20 hours. If convenient, stir the dough about halfway through the rise.

Here is the dough after 15 hours

This is the dough after stirring part way through

then letting it sit for another couple of hours

Preparing for the Second Rise:

Stir the butter, milk powder, and beaten egg thoroughly under blended. Vigorously stir the butter mixture into the dough until evenly incorporated and smooth.  It takes awhile to mix it thoroughly.

Gradually mix in 2/3 cup or enough flour to yield a very hard-to-stir dough.

Using a well-oiled rubber spatula, fold the dough in towards the center, working all the way around the bowl. This will help develop the gluten and make it easier to shape the loaf.

Now, we’ll take the County Fair White Bread dough and make cinnamon raisin bread out of it.

Vigorously stir in the raisins until the dough is fluffy and the raisins are evenly incorporated.

Set the dough in the refrigerator to rest for 10 minutes. I think it needed to rest a little longer because the dough was a little to soft to roll. It’s very humid in Atlanta so that could also be part of the problem.

Spray a 16-inch-long sheet of parchment with cooking spray and generously dust it with flour. Turn the dough out onto the center of the parchment and evenly dust with flour.

With flour-dusted fingertips, shape the dough into a 9 x 14-inch evenly thick rectangle. Dust with more flour as needed.

Brush beaten egg evenly over the dough to within 1/8 inch of the edge.

Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the dough to within 1/4 inch of the edge. Reserve 1/2 tablespoon of the cinnamon-sugar for garnish.

Sprinkle the bits of butter over the sugar.

Shaping the loaf:

Using flour-dusted hands, tightly roll up the dough from a 9-inch-wide side to form a pinwheel log. Lift up the parchment to assist the rolling as you work.

This part was a little bit tricky. The dough was a little too soft and kept sticking to the parchment. I put it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes, but I ended up just plopping the somewhat-rolled loaf in the pan.Next time, I think I’ll leave the dough in the refrigerator longer than 10 minutes or put it back in after I sprinkle the butter bits so it has a chance to harden a little bit before rolling it up.

Transfer the loaf, seam-side down, to a well-greased 9 x 5-inch baking pan. Brush or spray the top with oil.Cover the pan with plastic wrap coated with nonstick spray.

Let the dough stand at room temperature for 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours. Continue the rise until the dough reaches the plastic. Remove the plastic and continue with the rise until the dough reaches 1/2 inch above the pan rim.

Preparing to Bake:

15 minutes before baking time, place a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Evenly brush the top of the dough with egg wash. Wipe away any that pools around the pan edges so that the dough won’t stick to the pan when you try to remove it.

Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon-sugar mixture over the top of the loaf.

Baking the bread:

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the loaf is nicely browned. Then cover with foil and continue baking for 25 to 35 minutes longer and test with a skewer inserted in the thickest part until the skewer comes out with just a few particles on the end.  Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes more to make sure the center is completely done.

Cooling the bread:

Cool the loaf in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.  Turn the loaf onto the rack; cool thoroughly.

Serving and Storing:

Serve warm, or cool, or toasted. The bread slices best when cool if you can wait that long.

Be sure to cool completely before storing in plastic or foil. The bread will keep at room temperature for 2 to 3 days. It may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months. I decided to freeze half of the bread since it’s such a large loaf. This way, we’ll have some for another day.

Happy Baking!
Cathy