Rustic Cinnamon Raisin Bread

So for all of you who "complain" about how we always blog about food, you can stop reading now. And really what's wrong about food? :)

Anyways, I've been messing around with my bread baking and this was my second loaf of cinnamon raisin bread. The last one last one didn't last long enough to photograph, since we ate it so quickly.

I'm using the basic 6-3-1.5-1.5 recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes and replacing one cup of flour with whole wheat. Then after letting it rise, I use a portion of the dough and roll it thin. It isn't perfect, but that's part of the fun. Then dust the top side with a generous amount of cinnamon and some fair trade sugar and then a liberal amount of raisins. Then you roll it like you would cinnamon rolls, but instead of cutting it into rolls, just form a loaf with it. Then just before baking, brush the top with melted butter and add a bit of sugar on top.

And really isn't so tasty! I'm thinking I could make some insane french toast with it, but it doesn't last that long.

Here's a photo of the bread and the smile it puts on my face.

I'm baking bread now!

So I've been interested in baking bread for the past few months, but honestly was a little intimidated with the bread making process. My mom's a great bread maker, but I remember all the time it took. So when I saw the post on Lifehacker on how to make artisan style bread in five minutes, I jumped at it. The recipe is taken from a great book "Artisan Bread In Five Minutes A Day" by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois. Jamie's mother showed us another bread she cooked in a dutch oven, so I looked up their website and found how to do this with their recipe. It's super easy just like their bread. The bread is so good and we've already devoured our first loaf and have made our second one. Here's a photo of the results while cooling. I'm looking forward to enjoying this loaf too! :)