Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bread!!

My Cinnamon Raisin Bread!

So I've been making bread for my hubby and I for a couple of months now, using the recipe found in this book (which I highly recommend!) There was one instance where we bought a loaf a few weeks ago, but that was only because of the horrible sinus infection that was kicking my butt!

Usually, I halve the recipe from the book and only make two loaves. About two weeks ago, I made all four loaves and made half of them into cinnamon raisin bread. They didn't turn out as well as I'd hoped and had very little cinnamon taste to them. This week, however, I made half of the recipe and made both loaves into cinnamon raisin bread! I think I may have the recipe down this time and let me tell you, it smells wonderful while it's baking!!

I followed the recipe in the book, for the most part. Here's what I added:
2/3 cup of raisins
2 Tbsp of cinnamon
About an 1/8 of a cup of water
All of that was for half of the recipe. You may want to double it if you intend to make the whole thing.

I added the cinnamon and raisins in after the first addition of flour (1 1/2 cups if you're following the full recipe, 3/4 of a cup if you halved it).

I didn't add the water until near the end when I noticed it was still too dry; not all of the whole wheat flour had mixed in properly. I say about because I was originally going to put it in about a 1/4 of a cup at a time but decided against dumping it all in there at once. I didn't want to ruin the batter by making it too liquid-y. So I just dribbled it in a little at a time until it looked like the previous batters I've made and ended up only using half of the water I measured out.

Then I followed the baking directions and ta-da! Yummy homemade cinnamon raisin bread!! :) I got 12 slices out of the first loaf and 11 out of the second, though those are a little thicker.

My first loaf sat a tiny bit too long in the oven. ;) 

My second one. Not as dark but a bit lopsided. 

I've yet to have this bread go bad, so I'm not sure how long it'll keep in the fridge, because it doesn't last! After about a week, it does get a little dry but popping a slice or two in the microwave for a few seconds usually does the trick! I also do that for my breakfasts during the work week. Depending on the size of the slice, I eat 1 1/2 to 2 pieces with my Breakfast Essentials shake and Greek yogurt.

I store them in reused plastic ice cream cartons. I think the thing I hate the most though, is slicing up the bread. Since I don't have an electric knife like the book recommends, I just use a bread slicer and they never come out even and they crumble on the edges. But I think it just takes practice because nearly every slice would crumble at the edges and now maybe half do. ;) At least the loaves are coming out a little more even. You should have seen the short fat ends I used to make! Haha!

I let the bread cool before putting it away to reduce/ prevent moisture from the condensation.

So if you try my delicious cinnamon raisin bread recipe, please let me know what you think!
Kayley

Saving Money

I think I'm going to try to start posting maybe once in a while about how I've saved us money this week. You know, some tips or tricks I've used. I don't know how often I'll do this though. I've been really into trying to save us money while also trying to fix better meals so we don't always eat frozen dinners or microwave meals every night.

This past week, I searched the ads in the local paper and cut coupons to decide on the grocery list and menu for the next week. I usually do this, but during this past week I was a little more diligent. I found that Publix has their Campbell's soup for $1.39 verses Walmart's $1.50. I checked the ads over several times before going to the store and buying the soup. I didn't want to go through all the trouble and have Walmart not honor the ad. Their AdMatch thing is very particular. It has to be the exact same item or they won't accept it. Which is kind of a pain but oh well. What made this more awesome was I had a coupon for $1 off 3. I know that doesn't sound like much but since I didn't know when they were going to be on sale again, I decided to use it. Plus, I love their Sirloin Burger with Country Vegetables. That one's my favorite. Thankfully, Walmart accepted it. This week, our bill was under $90. Granted, we got a few extra things but we try to keep it under $100 a week.

One of the extra things we got was a hand mixer. My wonderful hubby just randomly decided to get me one this week, though I'd said I just needed it sometime before Thanksgiving so I could make some Snickerdoodles cookies. Except I can never find cream of tartar anymore. So I plan on subbing baking powder for it and the baking soda. I'll let you know how they turn out. Last time I made them, everyone loved them. :) Even though I just completely omitted the cream of tartar. They turned out ok.

At least now I can make his pancakes easier next weekend with the hand mixer and my new mixing bowl set (the other extra thing we got!).
Kayley