A slice of toast is always a great complement to breakfast foods, especially egg dishes, whether I’m eating at home or out at a diner. Whole wheat and sourdough make great toast, but I would have to say that cinnamon raisin bread makes better toast still. Most cinnamon raisin bread – including this homemade cinnamon raisin bread – has a buttery, sweet flavor to it to begin with and is just dense enough to soak up a lot of butter when you slather it onto a freshly toasted slice. It’s a small indulgence, but a good one.
Homemade cinnamon raisin bread is a great thing to make because you not only get to enjoy the taste of a freshly toasted slice, but you get to smell the bread while it bakes. The bread is easy to make and bakes in a loaf pan. You can do the initial kneading in a stand mixer with a dough hook attached if you don’t want to do it by hand, but you will need to clear some counter space to form the loaf by hand before its final rise. The dough is rolled out and spread with a brown sugar and butter mixture before being rolled back up into that final loaf. It’s a thin layer that only makes a small swirl in the finished loaf (it’s easy to see in person, however), but it does add a lot of flavor. I like to incorporate the cinnamon and the raisins into the bread dough, rather than trying to stick them only into the brown sugar swirl in the loaf so that they are well-distributed.
This loaf will keep well for a couple of days if you store it in an airtight container, or well-wrapped with plastic wrap on the kitchen counter. It is best to wait until it has cooled completely before slicing, but is easy to slice and makes a delicious piece of toast.
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