Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

I have a love affair with cinnamon..The spicy and middle eastern smell wafting around the house is one of the best aromas one would like to be greeted upon.  It is one smell that always brings a gentle smile on my face and  nips a tiny opening of the place where I locked  away my youthful dream of becoming a baker/patisserie owner. It is really a dream that even I don't care to admit. And so today is an opportune time to heed that gentle hush of a voice that dreams are made of a whiff of cinnamon, and saccharine longings of flour, egg and milk. (music please  ♫these dreams go on when I close my eyes, every second of the night I lived another life♪♪).  Hehehe.

If you checked my repertoire of recipes, you will know how much I love baking cinnamon buns or breads - in different sizes and shapes - to bits.  If this were not enough proof of my love affair with cinnamon, then I don't know what is...

Lifted from the pages of The Bread Baker's Apprentice cookbook by Peter Reinhart

Make two 1/2-pound leaves

3 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

1 1/4 teaspoons salt

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 large egg, slightly beaten

2 tablespoons butter, melted or at room temperature

1/2 cup buttermilk or whole milk, at room temperature

3/4 cup water, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups raisins, rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped walnuts

1. Stir together the flour, sugar, salt, yeast and cinnamon in a mixing bowl (or in the bowl of an electric mixer). Add the egg, shortening, buttermilk, and water. Stir together with a large spoon (or mix on low speed with the paddle attachment) until the ingredients come together and form a ball. Adjust with flour or water if the dough seems too sticky or too dry and stiff.

2. Sprinkle flour on a counter, transfer the dough to the counter, and begin kneading (or mixing on medium speed, switching to the dough hook). The dough should be soft and pliable, tacky but not sticky. Add flour as you knead (or mix), if necessary, to achieve this texture. Knead by hand approximately 10 minutes (or by machine for 6 to 8 minutes). Sprinkle in the raisins and walnuts during the final 2 minutes of kneading (or mixing) to distribute them evenly and to avoid crushing them too much. (If you are mixing by machine, you may have to finish kneading by hand to distribute the raisins and walnuts evenly).  Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

3. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

4. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and form them into loaves. Place each loaf in a lightly oiled 8 1/2 by 1/2-inch pan, mist the tops with spray oil, and cover loosely with plastic wrap.

5. Proof at room temperature for 60 to 90 minutes, or until the dough crests above the lips of the pans and is nearly doubled in size.

6. Preheat the oven to 350F with the oven rack on the middle shelf. Place the loaf pans on a sheet pan, making sure they are not touching each other.

7. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees for even baking and continue baking for another 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the oven. The finished bread should register 190F in the center and be golden brown on top and lightly golden on the sides and bottom. They should make a hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.

8. Immediately remove the breads from their pans and cool on a rack at least hour, preferably 2 hours, before slicing or serving.

The one and only Moist Carrot Cake (Dedicated to Ada, Renee, Glenys and all the Leslie Robles' out there)

This is a best seller. Period. It is the one that nobody could resist. (Whether you are a carrot cake lover or not).

Ada (click here to know Ada better) said she never stands in line to buy anything but for this cake she will patiently wait and stand in line. Thank you my dear Ada, but this time you will no longer do that - here is the recipe at your beck and call. Because here I am, divulging the recipe - which is meant to be shared, as it is never mine in the first place; having found this through sleeplessinkl blog. 

Through this cake, I can vicariously live my dream of becoming a baker or patisserie owner. But for now, I am a self-indulgent wannabe. :-)

Ada, and other former colleagues of my little boy's,  Glenys  and Renee would humour me by simply having my creations and providing good feedbacks week in week out. They are part of the group that had pushed me to "rev up" this blog and transcendently inculcated the iota of hope in me that I have in fact the makings of a baker or a chef or a cook. I love these girls to bits and I miss having to cook more for my little boy and for them every week. Renee is extremely conscious of her diet all the time and tries so hard not to have any of my food. I always say, Renee is my benchmark and constant challenge. If she ate a certain creation from my food repertoire, then I did very well. Such is the case of this moist carrot cake. She totally digs it and forgets her diet...

This recipe is also dedicated to Leslie, who is a good friend and school mate from high school. She said, "Ate (big sister) I'm a bit scared to use my oven (and perhaps due to lack of time, she is working girl in UK, mommy and wife rolled into one), I haven't really baked." And so I say to her now, "this is your time to shine, this moist carrot cake recipe is the answer." I have been meaning to send her this recipe. Its so long overdue. Here it is, Les.  And for those baker wannabes like me or those wanting to bake for the first time (like Leslie), this recipe is no fail.  It's high time to shine. Lol!

*Inspired by Moist Carrot Cake from www.sleeplessinkl.com

Ingredients:
•    4 eggs
•    1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
•    1 cup white sugar
•    2 teaspoons vanilla extract
•    2 cups all-purpose flour
•    2 teaspoons baking soda
•    2 teaspoons baking powder
•    1/2 teaspoon salt
•    1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
•    3 cups carrots, grated coarsely
•    1 handful walnuts, coarsely chopped
•    1 handful pecans, coarsely chopped
•    1 handful of raisins (I recommend you use golden raisins) and small handful of sultanas


Ingredients for the frosting:

•    1/2 cup butter, softened
•    8 ounces cream cheese, softened (I prefer and use 3/4 of 1 box of philadelphia cheese)
•    2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
•    1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C (conventional oven) or 150 C (fan forced oven). Grease 2 round pans (9 inches) & line sides and bottom of pan with baking paper and grease lightly.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla.
Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
Stir in carrots (use shredder with bigger hole).
Fold in walnuts, pecans, raisins and sultanas.
Pour into prepared pans. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes (if your oven is small and can only take one pan at a time, then bake your carrot cake one pan at a time. Lol!), or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

* If you cant be bothered by two pans, then you can use a 9 inch pan with a baking time of 40-50 minutes. I use two pans as suggested by sleeplessinkl for easy and quick cooking time

To Make Frosting:

In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners’ sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy.
Frost the cooled cake.

Garnish the top of the cake with almond slivers, if desired. You can play up and design your own frosting. For my carrot cake, I used marzipan then rolled my combined red and yellow concentrated food colouring agents through until the color turns into the color of a carrot then stuck some parsley stems on top of the marzipan rolled carrot.