Raisin Bread Recipe

How far our knowledge can reach in the ever expanding universe or does it matter? Make a raisin bread to find the answer of all times.

Ignorance is bliss, yet it seems that we can’t help ourselves digging deeper and deeper in knowledge that was once prohibited to us. It’s like using baking powder all in our life then suddenly the secret to baking with fresh yeast falls onto our lap.

How deep can knowledge reach?

We instantly recognize the folly we have been living and may even rue the past days that we’ve spent without our newfound knowledge. With power in our hands, we eagerly set out to explore the unknown, expanding our knowledge as much as possible in the shortest possible time.

Knowledge is as fascinating subject as the universe itself.  Similar to the universe, knowledge doesn’t fill any void that is waiting to be filled but creates its own space once it expands there.

If we never learn about something that will never exist in our mind, the same way if our universe stops expanding the space outside, it will never exist.

It’s quite a mind-blowing concept to grasp for somebody who is bound to limits from the moment it is conceived even just as an idea. It’s almost as excruciating as grasping the fact that fresh yeast doesn’t require sugar or activation at all.

How much dough is out there?

Once we open our minds and spend some time to understand the world around us, we can unlock incredible powers previously reserved only to the wise.

More knowledge though – just like the ever-expanding universe doesn’t create more substance as it expands – doesn’t create more answers. Knowledge only creates more questions just like the void is expanding between what matters the most.

The matter in our universe is constant since its first moment and it will not get more or less but it’s ever the same.

What’s between the dough?

It seems that our knowledge has a ceiling to reach, yet our questions about it can grow without limitations. Probably for now, we are saved from hitting a wall but growing without substance is not necessary a good thing though.

Space between matter called vacuum because there is literally nothing there, except by a couple of stray atoms like 1 in every 1cm3. Let’s not get into quantum theories, virtual particles that pop in and out of space-time like our resolutions about not eating a second slice of the cake anymore.

As without matter, we can’t build anything, we can’t grow either without getting answers to our questions. Although questions seems to be infinite and our time as limited to answer them as the matter in our universe, it’s better to focus on those that yield the best results.

What matters most?

Although general questions like why the bread haven’t turned out as it supposed to, may steer our sight into the right direction, they won’t give us the necessary information to form a stellar outcome.

Much like forming a star needs a critical mass where the particles can get so close to each other that they collapse into a huge ball of fire, we need to collect our question, centered more on the problem we face.

Focusing on yeast quality, temperature, and the time the leavening needs, will bring us closer to understand the intricate world of dough, and through bread the whole universe too.

It’s fascinating that as enormous as the universe, we can observe its inner workings without leaving our kitchen at all.

Is raisin bread about the universe?

With only a handful of raisins -or maybe a bit more- as The United States  Code of Federal Regulations strictly states the raisin’s weight must be 50% of the flour used in raisin bread – we can sneak a peak at the big bang up close.

As our universe was a blob of things before expanded so should look our dough when knead together properly with all the ingredients. Although not as fast as our universe (10 -43 second) but the dough will go through an initial expansion period.

Once we give the dough its final shape, it slowly goes on to be even bigger moving the raisins like galaxies ever further away from its center. We don’t know if we can translate our experiences with raisin bread back to the universe or it will ever stop expanding like raisin bread does.

We can only hope though, that we won’t be baked like raisin bread does when it’s done.

Ingredients

(for 2 rolls)

• 5 cup / 600g Flour
• 2 Eggs
• 8 tablespoon / 120g Butter
• 1 cup / 240ml Milk
• ⅓ oz / 10g Fresh yeast
• 10 oz / 300g Dried fruit
• 1 Egg or better just egg yolk for eggwash

How to make Raisin bread

1. In a large bowl add the flour, eggs, butter, yeast, milk and the raisins.
2. Knead them together.
3. With oiled or floured hands gather the dough into a ball then gently apply a thin coat of oil on it that will prevent it from drying out.
4. Cover it then put it to a 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C place to rise for 60 – 120 minutes. Most likely it won’t double due to the weight of the raisins but it should be raised and softer than at the beginning.
5. This recipe is for two loaf so cut the dough into two.
6. Gently form the dough into a log and put it into a bread pan.
7. Cover the dough again and put it back to the 68°F – 81°F / 20°C – 27°C place to rise for 30 – 60 minutes.
8. Whisk egg yolk with a bit of water or vanilla extract and brush it on top of the dough.
9. Put the dough onto the bottom rack of a preheated 365°F / 180°C oven and bake it until its top is getting a lovely golden brown color, for about 30 – 40 minutes.

Enjoy!

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