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Raisin Walnut Bread

3 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon instant or active dry yeast

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 cup whole wheat flour

5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (if you use King Arthur or other high protein flours, you may need to add up to a 1/4 cup more water)

1 cup raisins

1 cup walnuts

2 teaspoons cinnamon

In a 6-Quart Round Storage Container add the water, yeast, salt, flours

raisins

walnuts and cinnamon.

Mix with a Danish Dough Whisk, a wooden spoon or a stand mixer.

Let the dough rise for 2 hours and then you can use it right away or it can be stored for about 7 days.

Pull out a 2-pound piece of dough, about half the dough in the bucket.

Quickly shape it into a smooth oval.

Generously grease and flour the base of the bread baker.

Place the dough into Bread Loaf Baker.

Cover and let rest for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. This will depend on what else you have going on and how chilly your kitchen is.

Preheat the oven to 450°F.

Uncover the loaf and use a Pastry Brush to paint with water.

Because this baker has a lid it traps the internal moisture of the dough, almost like a Dutch Oven, to create a shiny, crisp crust. Since it has the small holes, the crust will also color nicely during the baking without having to remove the cover.

Bake for about 45 minutes. If you open the lid and it is not yet golden brown, let it bake another 5 minutes.

Let the bread cool in the baker for 5 minutes

Turn the loaf out of the pan after 5 minutes and then let cool completely.

After you’ve enjoyed some of your bread you can slip it back into the baker to store it on the counter.

Since the cover has holes the loaf won’t get soggy, but it is protected enough to keep the bread from staling as quickly. It also happens to keep nosey puppies from the counter.

Here is the loaf baked in a regular loaf pan. You can see that the crust is pale and dull looking in comparison. It was still as tasty, but without the trapped steam the loaf just wasn’t as appealing. You’d have to add steam to the oven if you were to bake it in this style pan.

Lesaffre Yeast Corp. (Red Star) provided samples of yeast for recipe testing, and sponsors BreadIn5’s website and other promotional activities. Emile Henry provided bakeware and sponsorship.