Walnut Raisin Whole Wheat Bread

Submitted by Sharon123

"Wonderful flavor and the walnuts and raisins give it great texture. Try this bread lightly toasted with a sharp farmhouse Cheddar cheese for breakfast! Adapted from the New Basics Cookbook."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs 30mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 2 loaves

ingredients

• 1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1⁄2 cup yellow cornmeal, plus
• 2 tablespoons yellow cornmeal
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3 cups coarsely chopped walnuts
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 1⁄2 - 3 cups unbleached white flour

directions

1. Combine yeast, warm water, and milk in a large bowl. Let the mixture stand until the yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes.
2. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup cornmeal, butter, walnuts, raisins, salt, pepper, whole wheat flour, and 2 cups of the white flour. Beat well. Move the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for 2-3 minutes, adding the remaining white flour as necessary to make it workable. Let the dough rest, covered loosley with a towel, for 10-15 minutes.
3. Knead the dough again, until it is smooth and elastic, 8-10 minutes. Sprinkle with extra flour if you need to keep it from sticking.
4. Oil a large bowl and turn the dough in it to coat with the oil. Cover the bowl and let dough rise in a warm place till doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
5. Punch dough down and divide in half. Shape the halves into round loaves. Sprinkle a baking sheet with the remaining 2 tbls. cornmeal, and put the loaves on it, seam side down. Cover with the towel, and let them rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 350*F.
7. Place the baking sheet on the center rack of the oven, and bake until the bread is well browned and sounds hollow when the bottom is tapped with your finger, 45 minutes.
8. Cool bread on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Reviews

[JERSEY FLOURCHILD]

This was a delicious bread with a nice texture. I have been looking for a recipe to mimic the walnut raisin loaf I used to get at the bakery. Seems like this "flavor" has gone out of vogue, but that doesn't mean we still done want to eat it, right? My family loved to have it along with chicken salad, to us the combinations was perfect and now it still can be enjoyed. While the two loaves were cooling, half of one magically disappeared while sitting on the cutting board. Funny how that happens when there is HOT bread in the house. Thank you for sharing your recipe Sharon.

 

[Wenstar]

This is a wonderful recipe. I have been making this for years. I was going to put it here for safe keeping and was happy to find it already here. It is wonderful served with cheeses especially sharp cheddar and makes a wonderful breakfast toast. My kids always loved it when we took a trip and packed these loaves along. They loved tearing off hunks of bread with their hands and eating "barbarian" style, and they still do. Thanks for posting this. P.S. I am making this bread tonight for a trip tomorrow

 

[Annacia]

I made this in a 1 loaf amount and then made that into a dozen dinner rolls. They are for a Bday dinner tomorrow night and I think that they will be great with the roast beef. I sampled one and the raisins provide plenty of sweetness without any added sugar. I love the addition of the ground pepper!. I omitted the nuts because DH and DS (the Bday boy) both prefer no nuts. The recipe works very well and gives a good rise with the whole wheat.