Rum-Raisin Bread

This Rum Raisin Bread is perfect for Sunday brunch. It's filled with rum soaked raisins, and topped with a rum flavored glaze.

 This rum raisin bread is so easy to make, and is such a stunning presentation with the drizzled glaze.

Cinnamon Raisin Struan Bread

This cinnamon raisin struan bread is loaded with handfuls of various grains, giving it a complex flavor. 

This cinnamon raisin struan contains uncooked polenta, rolled oats, bran, cooked brown rice, and buttermilk, along with raisins and a cinnamon swirl. It is a variation of the many harvest breads that Peter Reinhart, author of several books on bread and pizza, has created.

Power Bread

Power Bread got its name from its creator, Peter Reinhart. The bread is high in protein and fiber to "power" you through your day. Ingredients include whole grains, bran, raisins, flax seeds, and sesame seeds.

Flax seeds, in particular, have come into their own as a superfood, as "they are high in alpha-linolenic acid, and essential omega-3 fatty acid" (Reinhart). If you eat them whole, you will miss out on their benefits. In this recipe, they are soaked for several hours to start the germination process and activate their enzymes.

Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal Bread

This cinnamon raisin oatmeal bread is super easy to make, and is the perfect bread for breakfast toast. It is also wonderful for French toast and peanut butter sandwiches.

There's something about toasted raisin bread spread with melty salted butter for breakfast.... and it's full of whole grains... a little healthy with your butter.

Fruit Focaccia | Tuesday's with Dorie

This fruit focaccia is so good for breakfast! It's great eaten unadorned on the day it is baked, and is excellent sliced in half, toasted, and buttered the next day.

The fruit is macerated in hot water for about three hours, and then the resulting liquid is used for the water in the bread. How cool is that?

Granola Energy Bars

Granola Energy Bars filled with toasted oats, almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut, and a mixture of dried fruit. 

Granola energy bars. From my kitchen. With brown rice syrup. Something is completely askew in the universe.

Stollen

Stollen is the German Christmas bread. According to Peter Reinhart, in the book, Bread Baker's Apprentice, the shape of the stollen symbolizes the blanket of the baby Jesus, and the colored fruits represent the gifts of the Magi. Dresden is considered the home of stollen and even hosts an annual stollen festival where they unveil a giant (huge!) loaf.

Golden Raisin and Fennel Sourdough Pocket Bread

These Golden Raisin and Fennel Sourdough Pocket Breads may look like muffins, but they are are actual sourdough breads baked in a muffin tin.

Tuscan Coffeecake

This Tuscan coffeecake was developed by PJ Hamel (of King Arthur Flour fame) after visiting an Italian bakery in Vermont. As she describes it, it was "Italian-Italian, not American-Italian."

While this is called a coffeecake, it is actually a yeasted bread filled with fruit, nuts, and lightly enriched with a bit of sugar and butter.. but not too much. It is brushed with a vanilla sugar mixture prior to baking to give it a nice crunchy glaze. It's reminiscent of panettone, without all of the fuss.

Only issue? How to evenly distribute the fruit throughout the loaf when shaping. I'll have to work on that.

Knowing that certain members of my family who shall remain nameless would probably not like the walnuts included in the original recipe, I substituted chopped dried apricots. I also substituted dried cherries for the dates called for in the original recipe. In addition, I added 1/8 tsp of Fiori de Sicilia, an Italian flavoring that combines the flavors and scents of vanilla and citrus.

Keep in mind that you will need to make the starter the night before making the bread. It can sit out on your counter for several hours to get bubbly and develop flavor. It's super easy so don't let the word "starter" stop you from trying this delicious bread.

This bread was chosen for the Avid Bakers Challenge for February. Each month, we are baking a recipe from the King Arthur Flour website. To see how other bakers fared, check out the Avid Bakers Challenge page. You'll find lots of delicious looking variations.

Tuscan Coffee Cake

Ingredients

Starter

1 cup / 4.25 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or European-Style Flour (I used the European style)
1/2 cup cool water
1/16 teaspoon instant yeast

Final Dough

All of the starter
2/3 cup water
2 3/4 cups / 11.7 ounces King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or European-Style Flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 large egg
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 tsp Fiori de Sicilia, optional

Add Ins

1 cup dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup golden raisins
3/4 cup dried cherries, soaked in hot water and then drained

Glaze

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water

Instructions

1. Mix the starter ingredients in a one quart bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to sit overnight, until bubbly.
2. Mix all of the dough ingredients in a stand mixer or bread machine until smooth, about 7 minutes. 
3. Place the dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise for about an hour (if your kitchen is really cold, you should let it rise longer). If it doesn't completely double, that's okay. 
4. Knead the fruit into the dough, and shape it into a ball. Place the ball into an oiled 9 inch cake pan and flatten it a bit, cover with plastic wrap, and allow it to rise for about 30 minutes. It should just crest over the top of the pan (the loaf will rise even more in the oven). 
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Mix the glaze ingredients and brush the top of the loaf with the mixture. 
7. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the interior of the loaf reaches 190 degrees F. 
8. Allow it to cool in the pan for five minutes. Remove it from the pan and cool completely on a wire rack. 

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