Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Orange Raisin Bread with Walnut Glaze.



I cant believe that I am actually writing a blog post. In my quest to get back on the wagon of baking and blogging, I decided to start with this bread. I think that my family: myself, husband and my 2 young sons go through at least 3 loaves of bread per week. Instead of spending money, why not just bake them myself? so, that is my goal. for today, just to make sure I still could do it, I started with just one loaf.

This bread was a great way to get back into the rhythm. and, now, I cant wait to bake more.














 
 
Orange Raisin Bread.
 
adapted from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Bread.
 
2.5 cups flour
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
3/4 cups water
1/4 cups milk
zest of one orange
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 teas salt
1 egg
3/4 c raisins
 
Glaze:
1/2 c powdered sugar
1 teas butter, softened
1/4 c finely chopped walnuts
3 Tablespoons Orange Juice
 
In a bowl, mix 1 1/2 cups of the flour with the yeast.
over heat, in a saucepan, heat the water, milk, orange zest, butter, sugar and salt until butter melts and mix is warm but not hot to the touch. (around 115 degrees)
pour over the flour and mix to partially combine, and then add egg and mix to combine.
add the flour, little by little until you get a dough that comes together.
dust a counter surface with a little flour and knead the dough for 10 minutes until it is no longer tacky, but take care to add only a little flour at a time to avoid over drying the dough.
place in bowl and let rise for 90 minutes.
punch down, shape into a round and let sit for 20 minutes on the counter, below a cover.
then, shape into a log and place into greased loaf pan.
let rise around 60 minutes.
preheat oven to 375.
bake for 40-50 minutes until the loaf is nicely browned.
while the loaf is baking, mix the glaze ingredients to a slightly runny consistency.
when loaf emerges from the oven, glaze using a pastry brush.
 
cool, then devour.
 
 

- Posted from bed using blog press for iPhone..