When I am shopping and I see raisin bread on the shelf, I have this moment of wish fullness every time. I want a loaf of raisin bread that tastes amazing. That isn’t dry. Or a dessert in disguise. But the bread never tastes how I wish it did. It’s often so very dry and the loaf is so tiny. It’s a disappointment that costs $5 to 7 now.

Kirk had found a great buy on raisins so my pantry was stocked to use them this fall. So I got to thinking and pulled out my bread machine.

Raisin Bread

Ingredients:

• 1½ cups water*
• 2 Tbsp avocado or similar oil
• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 520 grams of all-purpose or bread flour
• 2 Tbsp dry milk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 cup raisins
• 1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

Directions:

Add to a Zojirushi bread machine in the order listed, starting with water and ending with the flour. Sprinkle the yeast on top.

Add 1 Tablespoon flour to the raisins in a bowl and gently stir until fully coated.

Place the raisins on the top and edges, as in the photo above. Keep them off of the yeast.

Set a loaf for standard white bread with a medium crust and, if needed, a 2-pound size.

Check during the first kneading cycle to make sure everything is mixing. The dough should be slightly tacky to the touch.

Remove after baking, and let cool on a rack.

Once fully cooled, store in a sealed bread bag and use within 2 days for best results.

Makes 1 loaf.

Notes:

Zojirushi bread machines warm the ingredients for you, where other brands of bread machines use warm water instead, at the temperature called for, usually around 110*, and stack the ingredients as called for in the manual. Follow your machine’s manual. Items with * should be warmed up if using a standard machine.

As you might note, I put the raisins in with everything else instead of adding them when the machine beeps for “additions.” There are a couple of reasons for this. I don’t stick around once the first kneading cycle is done, so I won’t remember to add them in. The other is that if you toss the raisins in flour and make sure they are separated, they will mix in well in the first kneading cycle and shouldn’t sink to the bottom. Work smarter, not harder, right?

~Sarah

A very basic, enriched loaf of sandwich bread that is quick to pull together, and let the machine do the hard work for you. It has a tender crumb and is a nicely dense loaf, that is easily sliced. A little butter on a slice, and it’s perfect.

I made this loaf in our Zojirushi Home Bakery Supreme bread machine, which uses 2 paddles, and produces a normal looking loaf of bread. I’ve had this machine for a long time, almost a decade now, and it is a hard working appliance – and with how cold our house is in fall and winter, it ensures the bread turning out, versus making bread the old school way.

Bread Machine Sandwich Bread

Ingredients:

• 1 cup water*
• 1/3 cup milk*
• 3 Tbsp unsalted butter, sliced into 3 sections*
• 450 grams all-purpose flour
• 3 Tbsp granulated sugar
• 1½ tsp fine sea salt
• 1½ tsp activated dry yeast

Directions:

Zojirushi bread machines warm the ingredients for you, where other brands of bread machines use warm water instead, at the temperature called for, usually around 110*, and stack the ingredients as called for in the manual. Follow your machine’s manual. Items with * should be warmed up if using a standard machine.

Add ingredients in order listed, placing the yeast on top where it doesn’t touch any liquid.

Set loaf for standard white bread, medium crust, and if size is needed, 2 pound size.

Check during the first kneading cycle, to make sure everything is mixing, and if a sprinkle or two more of flour is needed, for the dough to be slightly tacky to touch.

Remove after baking, let cool on a rack.

Once fully cooled, store in a sealed bread bag, and use within 2 days for best results.

This loaf slices well for freezing.

We take out slices at night, to thaw on the counter sealed in a plastic bag or in a sandwich bag.

Makes 1 loaf.