Rosemary Raisin Bread with the BBB

This month, our Bread Baking Babes host kitchen has chosen a wonderful sourdough bread, great for beginners because it has the insurance of added yeast.  Of course it is perfectly acceptable to let it be completely sourdough risen if you so desire and at least one of the Babes did choose that option.  It's also a forgiving recipe because only now as I write, do I realize that I left out a portion of flour!  And it still turned out great!  I had planned on doing half bread flour and half freshly ground sprouted spelt for the bread flour portion, and completely forgot the additional whole grain flour portion.  Fortunately I had withheld a little water due to the spelt, but my dough was still on the sticky side and I was okay with it being that way.  The little loaves turned out beautifully soft, but with plenty of structure still.  Wonderful fresh with butter, brilliant toasted.  I made a half batch and divided that into two small loaves, using golden raisins in one and dried blueberries in the other.  Both were wonderful but I suspect the blueberry option would be elevated properly by the addition of some lemon zest next time.  A half batch would probably fit into a 9x5" loaf pan for a generously sized loaf.  I liked my two little loaves baked in two 8x4" pans, especially since I was using two different dried fruits.  Which, by the way, our host kitchen has given permission for changing up the herb and fruit combination if you like.  I do love the golden raisins, love how the blueberry turned out, and would love to try dried cranberry as well.  I was also very extended on the initial rise time because it was quite hot and I wanted it to cool down before I turned on the oven.  I definitely more than doubled, probably tripled,  but the dough happily complied and rose again nicely for the final shaping.

We would love for you to try out this recipe and join in as a buddy baker this month!  This is a great and easy sourdough to try out, wonderful fresh and toasted, with great flavor and versatility.  I imagine it would make fabulous french toast!  Definitely worth making.  You don't have to have a blog to participate, a picture will do.  Just send a picture or your post of your finished loaf to Judy's Gross Eats by the 29th of this month.  Be sure to put BBBuddy in the subject line.  You will receive a Bread Baking Buddy graphic to keep or add to your post, and be included in our Buddy round up at the end of the month.   New recipes are posted every month on the 16th.  Check out our Facebook group to see the participants' baking results during that time.

Rosemary Raisin Sourdough Bread

(Recipe can be halved or doubled)

28 oz bread flour (794 grams) (I used half bread flour, half sprouted spelt)
8 oz whole grain flour (227 grams) (Oops, forgot!)
1 oz Kosher salt (28 grams) (I used a bit less, 12.3g for half batch)
2 tsp. active dry yeast (6 grams)
2 oz honey (57 grams)
4 oz olive oil (113 grams)
4 oz raisins (113 grams) (I used more, I like my raisins well stocked! 70g per loaf, 80g blueberries)
1/8 cup chopped fresh rosemary
16 oz sourdough starter (100% hydration) (454 grams)
16 oz room-temperature water (454 grams)

Combine all the dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add remaining ingredients and mix until just combined into a shaggy dough.  Cover and let mixture rest for 10 minutes.  

Using a dough hook, knead dough for about 10 minutes, until it is smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for 1½ to 2 hours, or until doubled.

Remove dough from bowl and shape as desired.  Place on baking sheet or in loaf pans, cover and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

About 20 minutes before baking, heat oven to 450˚F.  Add steam if desired and bake at 450˚F for 10 minutes.  Reduce oven temperature to 400˚F and continue baking until top is brown and the internal temperature is between 190-200˚F, about 15-20 minutes.  Watch the bread carefully so it doesn’t get too dark (adjust oven temperature accordingly).  (After the first 10 and 15 minutes, I removed the loaves from the pans and baked for another 5 minutes directly on the oven rack to finish.)

Remove from oven; let cool on rack before slicing.

Thumbs up from all family members!

The rest of the Bread Baking Babes

• Blog from OUR Kitchen – Elizabeth
• Judy’s Gross Eats – Judy
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories – Karen
• My Diverse Kitchen - Aparna
• Bread Experience - Cathy
• Thyme for Cooking - Katie
• My Kitchen in Half Cups - Tanna
• Feeding My Enthusiasms - Elle

Approximate nutrition per slice for my small loaves: