Papa Fiasco's Breakfast & dessert bread. ================================================ This really isn't a recipe. It's more of a construction article. Or, what to do with leftover dough from making our bread recipes... ================================================ I'll admit right up front that I'm one of those people who "add a little more". If a recipe calls for a level teaspoon, I make it a well rounded one. 1 cup, I make sure that cup can't hold a single grain more... So when I make bread, I get the two loaves and then enough left over for a couple of rolls or a small loaf. A few months ago I was holding this 'extra' dough in my hand trying to decide if I should make some rolls or a nice small loaf. Standing there, looking down at the board, thinking what a nice looking rolling pin was sitting there looking back up at me. And this is a nice rolling pin! I made this for Mama a while back out of maple. It's about an inch and a half in diameter and maybe 18 to 20 inches long. One of those nice thin ones that'll roll anything... Anyway, I remembered that years ago I used to make a "breakfast bread" all by itself. Then I remembered how much I missed that bread... So I grabbed that roller and started 'construction'. It's simple to do and the rewards are beyond description... Just take a ball of dough (leftover or not) from any of our bread recipes. Oh, a ball about 6 inches in diameter should do it. That's "6 inches" _after_ it's been punched down, after the first rise. Roll this ball out in a decent rectangle. About 9 inches wide and maybe 14 inches or so long. As long as it's about a quarter inch think, maybe even a little less... Once rolled out, sprinkle a healthy amount of cinnamon on the entire surface. It does help to stay away from the outer half inch though. Now sprinkle a good amount of brown sugar over that. Turbinado sugar is better if you've got it since brown sugar has a lot more moisture in it (and it's artificially manufactured). Now sprinkle a nice amount of dark raisins over this. All you have to do now is start rolling from the end. Keep the 'roll' as tight as you can until you reach the other end. Once all rolled up, pinch the ends tight and leave the seam on the bottom. Let this rise an hour or so like any other loaf and pop in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes. Once it's done, you'll have the best breakfast bread you ever tasted. When you slice this bread and see the spiral of cinnamon and raisins, you know you're in for a treat! If you toast a slice, it's almost as good as right out of the oven. A little butter doesn't hurt either... You might have noticed that I never mentioned any amounts. Just 'sprinkles'. Well, exact amounts would be real hard to judge because we're talking about 'leftover' dough so the size varies, as does people's tastes. I can offer some suggestions, but experiment on your own and you'll see how easy it is to judge that 'sprinkle'. I never measure these amounts, so don't hold me to them.... But here goes... About 3-4 tablespoons cinnamon. Maybe a half cup of sugar and a half cup of raisins? That's about as close as I can get. I can say that you'll probably need a bit more cinnamon that you'd think. Seems like more turbinado sugar than brown, but maybe that's because turbinado doesn't stick together so much? Now about that cinnamon... Last time I made this, I was so busy and rushing to get things done, and excited that we had just replenished our stock of Sunflower seeds that I forgot to put the cinnamon on the bread... At least I remembered the Sunflower seeds... I thought for two hours that I had ruined the loaf, until it came out of the oven and we tried a piece. Wow! What a great raisin-bread! So don't worry, just try it and experiment and have fun... And in case you didn't catch the Sunflower seeds above, that's a good clue to having fun. Add something else. Seeds, nuts, dates, even dried fruit. If you think you'd like it, try it. If it doesn't work, don't worry. I wont tell anyone! ;-) A little more on construction... Make sure you've got some flour under the dough before you start rolling or you'll never be able to get it off the board to roll it up. You could also flour the top and rolling pin, but I get much better results with a light coat of corn oil on the rolling pin. It keeps anything from sticking. This works on the board too instead of flour, but probably only because it's wood. I know some people prefer other work surfaces and oil may not work right on them. When I make this loaf, I put it on a piece of parchment paper. This allows me to move the loaf without crushing it and even put it in and out of the oven easily. I've also made these loaves in the stoneware loaf pans just like any other loaf. Works great... Try it, cook, eat, enjoy! Papa... © 2000 Fiasco Farms http://www.fiascofarms.com Any reproduction or distribution prohibited without prior authorization in writing.