(Recipe can be found on the Cooking Light site here.)
Step by Step Instructions:
To create this delicious bread, the following ingredients are needed: Salt, Cooking Spray, Egg Substitute, Skim Milk, Raisins, Brown Sugar, 2 Tablespoons of melted Butter (divide into 1 tablespoon amounts before melting), Active Dry Yeast, 1 Egg (only the whites are needed), All-Purpose Flour, Ground Cinnamon, and Sugar
Begin by putting 3/4 cup of raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water. Let them stand for about 10 minutes.
In the meantime, put 3/4 cup of skim milk in a sauce pan and heat it until it’s between 100-110 degrees. Use a digital thermometer to ensure that you are at the right temperature or the yeast won’t activate properly and your bread won’t turn out.
Once the milk is at the appropriate temperature, add 1/3 cup of packed brown sugar and 1 packet (or about 2 1/4 teaspoons) of active dry yeast.
Then stir the milk until the sugar dissolves. Let it stand for about 5 minutes.
By now, your raisins should be done, so go ahead and drain them.
In a large mixing bowl combine 4 cups of all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon.
By now, the yeast should have bubbled nicely in the milk mixture.
To the milk/sugar/yeast mixture, add 1/2 cup of egg substitute and 1 tablespoon of cooled, melted butter and stir it to combine.
Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir until you have a soft dough ball.
Then turn out the dough onto a clean, floured surface. Knead it for about 8 minutes until it forms a smooth, somewhat elastic ball.
This kneading action is such a great use of burning some calories and relieving stress, so enjoy these few minutes and in the end you’ll end up with this lovely ball of dough.
I then placed my dough in a glass bowl that I sprayed with cooking spray and covered it. Let it stand for about 10 minutes.
Then put the dough back on a lightly floured surface and add your raisins.
Then knead the dough until the raisins are fully incorporated. I thought this was such a neat way of getting the raisins into the dough, rather than just adding them with the cinnamon sugar. It makes for a moister dough and then you don’t get a ton of raisins in one bite.
Then spray the glass bowl again and place the dough ball in the bowl and then flip it over so that both sides get coated with the cooking spray.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Then cover the bowl and place it in a warm area. (I usually do a back burner of my stove as I preheat my oven so that i know it’s fairly warm but not too hot, so be aware of which burner get warm but not hot during the preheating process.) Let it rise for about 40 minutes until the dough has about doubled in size.
After 40 minutes, the dough should have risen, and if you poke two fingers into the dough, it should hold those marks as you see in the photo. Then you know it’s ready. There is something so neat to me about yeast and how dough rises…I feel like I’m a scientist sometimes!
Time to take out a little aggression by punching down your dough. Then let it rest for about 5 minutes.
While the dough was resting, I used a pastry brush and buttered the inside of my bread pan with 1 tablespoon of melted butter. I didn’t end up using the entire tablespoon of butter.
Then I combined 1/4 cup of sugar and 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to make my cinnamon sugar mixture…yum!
At this point, the dough was done resting, so I rolled it out onto a lightly floured surface until it was a 7″x 14″ rectangle. I then sprayed the top of the dough with cooking spray.
Then I sprinkled my cinnamon sugar over the top of the dough. The cooking spray is used in place of butter to give the sugar mixture something to adhere to.
Using a sheet of plastic wrap, which I laid across the dough, I pressed the cinnamon sugar into the dough. The plastic wrap was a great non-messy way to ensure the cinnamon sugar stayed in place.
Then the dough gets rolled up tightly by starting at the shorter end and once it’s rolled up, seal the seams and the ends by pinching them together.
Transfer the dough to the buttered pan with the seam side down. Cover the pan and place it in a warm, dry place (I used the same spot on the stove) for about an hour or until the bread has doubled.
The bread is really starting to look (and smell) delicious right about now! If there are any raisins on the surface of the bread, go ahead and remove them.
Then, using a pastry brush, apply one beaten egg white to the top. This will help it get a lovely crust on the top. Bake the bread at 350 degrees for about 50 minutes or until it’s a deep brown on top and sounds hollow when you tap on it.
It will come out with this gorgeous brown crust on it, and at this point it was all I could do to not dive in…but I restrained myself, barely.
Cool the bread by removing it from the pan and placing it on a wire rack. Now I applaud you if you can wait until the bread is fully cooled before you cut into it. I could only wait 10 minutes, which I’m sure isn’t recommended, but seriously, I couldn’t help myself! Be sure to share with your friends and family, and you will be an instant hit with everyone! So delish…Enjoy!
Cinnamon-Raisin Bread
Makes 10 Servings
Ingredients:
3/4 cup raisins
3/4 cup fat-free milk
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (about 19 ounces)
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided
1/2 cup egg substitute
2 tablespoons butter, melted, cooled, and divided
Cooking spray
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
Preparation Instructions:
1. Place raisins in a small bowl, and cover with very hot tap water. Let stand 10 minutes; drain well.
2. Heat milk over low heat in a small, heavy saucepan to between 100° and 110°; remove from heat. Combine warm milk, brown sugar, and yeast in a large bowl, stirring until yeast dissolves. Let stand 5 minutes.
3. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 4 cups flour, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon.
4. Add egg substitute and 1 tablespoon butter to milk mixture; stir well with a whisk until combined.
5. Add to flour mixture; stir until a soft dough forms. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands. Lightly coat dough with cooking spray; cover and let stand 10 minutes. Knead in raisins.
6. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes.
7. Brush a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan with 1 tablespoon butter.
8. Roll dough into a 14 x 7-inch rectangle on a lightly floured surface; lightly coat surface of dough with cooking spray. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Sprinkle sugar mixture evenly over dough; lightly recoat with cooking spray. Cover dough with plastic wrap; press to help sugar mixture adhere. Remove and discard plastic wrap. Roll up rectangle tightly, starting with a short edge, pressing firmly to eliminate air pockets; pinch seam and ends to seal. Place roll, seam side down, into prepared pan. Cover and let rise 40 minutes or until doubled in size.
9. Preheat oven to 350°.
10. Uncover loaf; carefully remove exposed raisins, and gently brush dough with egg white. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until loaf is browned on bottom and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove from pan; cool on wire rack.
Nutrition Information:
Serving size = 1/10th of loaf
Amount per serving
Calories: 172
Calories from fat: 8%
Fat: 1.6g
Saturated fat: 0.7g
Monounsaturated fat: 0.6g
Polyunsaturated fat: 0.2g
Protein: 4.6g
Carbohydrate: 34.9g
Fiber: 1.4g
Cholesterol: 4mg
Iron: 1.8mg
Sodium: 165mg
Calcium: 27mg
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