I’ve always loved cinnamon raisin bread but the kind from the store is usually expensive and full of preservatives. I’ve really been craving it lately and stumbled upon this recipe from King Arthur this past weekend and I was totally blown away!

Not only because of how delicious and light and airy it turned out but because I got these delicious results from using 100% ground whole wheat from my wheat grinder at home with hard white winter wheat berries.

When you grind your own wheat, you know what I’m talking about.

Of course it’s way more worth it because it’s healthier and the taste has so much more flavor but you really have to work at it to get more gluten into your bread than you would if you simply used all-purpose flour from the store.

So I did take a shortcut and use my Bosch mixer. I just couldn’t get the gluten action had I tried to attempt it kneading by hand… Especially when I’m attempting to quadruple the recipe with 12 cups of flour! The Bosch is a workhorse and after 8 minutes of kneading the gluten was pretty apparent as the dough was extremely sticky and stringy. Which makes for fantastic rising and soft and airy bread!

Also this does call for sourdough from a sourdough start that you need to already have on hand. It gives the dough a slight tart flavor which complements the sweetness from the raisins and cinnamon-sugar. However, I’m sure with slight modifications you could leave out the sourdough and be just fine since it’s the active yeast in this recipe and the gluten that give this bread it’s lovely attributes such as height and structure.

Here’s the recipe! I made a whole bunch and passed it out along with my other homemade Christmas presents. Normally I get a little shy about passing out food because I’m afraid it’s not good enough but I was proudly hucking these loaves at friends and family- You gotta try this bread!!