Cinnamon Raisin Bread

My whole weekend was EXTREMELY lazy. This coming week is finals so everyone was studying and taking it easy. My finals, however, are going to be easy and so this left me with a lot of time for myself. It also snowed this weekend so that cut out a lot of the outdoor activities that would have otherwise been possible. So...I baked, read, studied a little, did yoga, and stayed home. It was nice and I may have finally gotten rid of the cold that has been hanging on for the last couple weeks.
I had the urge to bake bread and found a recipe for cinnamon raisin bread from thefreshloaf.com. I thought I'd try to adapt it for the bread machine and then bake it in the oven-because mixing and kneading bread in my kitchen proves very difficult. Unfortunately, it wasn't very successful but I was able to salvage it. I ended up having to take it out of the machine and mix and knead it...on the floor. My counter tops are too high for me to get any leverage so I just moved a cutting board to the floor and it actually worked out well.

The bread turned out amazingly, with a super crispy crust and moist nutty center. It made the whole apartment smell wonderful. I've been eating it toasted with peanut butter for the last few days...pretty delish. I posted the recipe below...definitely commit to making it by hand or in a stand mixer. I would suggest halving the recipe as well. Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread
from thefreshloaf.com
Makes 3 loaves
24 oz (5 1/2 cups) bread or all-purpose unbleached flour
8 oz (1 7/8 cups) whole wheat flour
5.3 oz (1 5/8 cups) rolled oats
20 oz (2 1/2 cups) water
3.5 oz (3/8 cups) milk
2.4 oz (3 tablespoons) honey
2.4 oz (5 1/2 tablespoons) vegetable oil
.7 oz (1 tablespoons plus 1/2 teaspoon) salt
.37 oz (1 1/4 tablespoon) instant yeast
.5 oz (2 tablespoons) ground cinnamon
10.6 oz (2 cups) soaked and drained raisins

Begin by soaking the raisins in warm water for 30 minutes. The oats should be soaked in a separate bowl with the water (1/2c. should be reserved if using active dry yeast, to proof) for about 20-30 minutes. Mix the flours, yeast, milk, honey, oil, salt, and cinnamon into the oats. Stir until everything is incorporated, then knead by hand for 5 minutes or in a mixer for 3. Drain the raisins and then knead them in until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and let rise 1 hour.
Remove dough from bowl and gently release the gas by folding the dough into thirds. Fold one more time in thirds from the other direction. Place dough, seam side down, back into the bowl and allow to rise for another hour.
Divide dough into thirds and shape loaves. Place seam side down in greased loaf pans. Brush tops with water and sprinkle more oats on top. Cover and allow to rise for another 1 1/2 hours. Preheat oven to 450-degrees. Bake five minutes, then reduce temperature to 375-degrees and bake another 20 minutes. Rotate loaves 180-degrees and bake another 15-20 minutes. Loaves should be nicely browned and they should sound hollow when the bottoms are tapped.