Cinamon Raisin Bread

When ever I'm looking for a recipe I use allrecipe.com it's got a great search and has a ton of recipes.

Dear J.,

You can go to the local library and check in Italian recipe books first, then in the baking books. Also, write to that new girl that has a cooking show on TV. She is really perky, you probably know who I mean. I think that she may be Italian. She probably would know where you can search further. C. N.

Hi J. -
I know you don't want the store bought stuff, but there is a WONDERFUL heavy bread at the Whole Foods Market called "Old World Muesli" Bread that has raisins and nuts in it and is so delicious you will love. My son loves it too.

Hope that helps! - L.

J. ~ I've looked through my favorite cookbooks to see what I could come up with and unfortunately, I found nothing. So, I went with modern day methods and searched marthastewart.com here is a link. I read the ingredients and it sounds like it would be a good one. Of course, nothing like your grandmothers, but perhaps close or at least good. You can always tweak recipes to make them your own, just trial and error. If this doesn't work out, I would also try the Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten) on the Food Network. Good luck.
L.

marthastewart.com.
http://www.marthastewart.com:80/portal/site/mslo/menuitem...

Hi J.. I usually try two different places. The first one is www.epicurious.com then if I cannot find it there I go to www.allrecipies.com
They both are great sources. You can also google Italian bread and see what comes up. Good luck.

I wonder if it's possible that she was making Panettone for you - a sweet "cake" from Italy that is most commonly served at holidays. Like most good bakers do, she may have tweaked the recipe to make it her own based on what she and her family enjoyed - traditionally it does not have cinnamon. Or she may have added cinnamon to "Americanize" it - perhaps she had eaten cinnamon raisin bread here that wasn't to her liking and decided to take something she knew - Panettone - which is very light and airy and full of raisins and bits of candied citrus peel and nuts and make an American version of it without the citrus or nuts and by adding in the cinnamon.
Anyway, I hope you find what you're looking for.

Here is a recipe :) Hope its as good as your Grams :)

Cinnamon Raisin Bread

INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast
3 eggs
1/2 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup raisins
8 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
DIRECTIONS
Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Let cool until lukewarm.
Dissolve yeast in warm water, and set aside until yeast is frothy. Mix in eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, salt, and raisins. Stir in cooled milk. Add the flour gradually to make a stiff dough.
Knead dough on a lightly floured surface for a few minutes. Place in a large, greased, mixing bowl, and turn to grease the surface of the dough. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise until doubled.
Roll out on a lightly floured surface into a large rectangle 1/2 inch thick. Moisten dough with 2 tablespoons milk. Mix together 3/4 cup sugar and 2 tablespoons cinnamon, and sprinkle mixture on top of the moistened dough. Roll up tightly; the roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Cut into thirds, and tuck under ends. Place loaves into well greased 9 x 5 inch pans. Lightly grease tops of loaves. Let rise again for 1 hour.
Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until loaves are lightly browned and sound hollow when knocked. Remove loaves from pans, and brush with melted butter or margarine. Let cool before slicing.

Hi J.,

I ALWAYS use cooks.com when I'm looking for a great recipe. They have EVERYTHING from Lemon Aide to something called "Better than Sex Cake" to Elaphant Srew. For a quick laugh, look up "Asprin Cake" on their site. When I looked up "Raisin Bread" I got 2,250 results, 32 with "Italian Rasin Bread". With that many, something has to be close to grandmas recipe.

Enjoy your private bake off! -Janell-

Well my FAVORITE cooking web site is
http://www.recipezaar.com

I like it because I can find just about everything there. There are different ways you can search, such as By a certian recipe, or by ingredient ect. You can save recipies to your own cookbook for free and also you can look in others cookbooks for ideas. Another thing I like about this site is that other users rate the recipes on a 5 star scale, as well as leave comments about the recipe. I hope you find the recipe you are looking for. I know how that is, there were a few recipes I had looked for from my childhood and I actually found them there on that site. I am in love with that site and have even posted one of my own recipes as well. (and you can post your own recipes and people will rate your recipe also, or even just post it so you can just have a quick reference for later) The web site is free to search and save, but to get premium services there is a yearly fee, something like $24/yr. I just use in the in free mode and is just a great! Good luck!

Try www.AllRecipes.com They have some of the best and even unusual recipes.

Do you have a breadmaker? If so, Williams Sonoma has an amazing cinnamon raisan bread mix. Then drizzle it w/ 1cup confectioners sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract & 1/4 cup milk (all mixed together).