Cinnamon Raisin Crunch Bread

What You Need:

3 cups bread flour (good news, you can use gluten-free flour)

1 1/2 cups warm water (110-115 degrees)

1 3/4 tsp instant yeast

3 Tbsp brown sugar 

1/2 tsp sea salt

2/3 cup raisins

2 1/4 tsp cinnamon

For Top:

1 egg (beaten)

2 Tbsp milk

Generous Sprinkle of sugar in the raw

What You Do:

Add yeast, sea salt and warm water to the bowl of an electric mixer and stir until combined. Let sit for 5 minutes so the yeast activates. Add brown sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and flour to the yeast mixture and using the dough hook attachment begin to mix all ingredients on low speed. Watch for it to come together, pull away from sides of the bowl and have a smooth somewhat elastic texture. If it’s too wet, add a Tablespoon more flour. If it seems too dry a Tablespoon more warm water. Form dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl. Cover with a clean dry towel and place in a warm spot to let it rise for 1 hour! (I like to heat my oven to 250 degrees and then turn it off and place the bowl ON TOP of the stove…so its nice and warm). After an hour the dough should have doubled in size. Adjust oven rack to the middle spot Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Transfer dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and brush with egg/milk wash. Sprinkle top of dough with a generous dusting of sugar in the raw. Lift the parchment paper by the edges and transfer dough to a dutch oven. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. uncover and bake an additional 8-10 mins….or until crust is deep golden brown. (if it seems to be browning too fast adjust the oven rack to one spot lower when you remove the lid of the dutch oven). Remove from oven and let cool for 10 mins then DIVE RIGHT IN!! I like mine with a smear of salted butter :