Light and Sweet Bread
In my home, we are all bread lovers. Some more than others, but we all enjoy a nice slice of bread with cheese or jam as a quick snack. Couple that with the fact that I love to bake bread, and you’d imagine, quite correctly, that there is always a fresh homemade loaf at the ready.
One of our faves is what is known in our country as a Light Sweet/ Machine Loaf. The light sweet part is fairly self explanatory, but I have no idea why they are called machine loaves! That, however, doesn’t take away from the deliciousness that is this loaf. It actually makes two loaves that should last, say, a day or two in your home if you’re lucky. This bread makes the perfect sandwich and is good on it’s own.
To top it all off, it is very easy to make. There are many iterations of this recipe and this is but one that I found:
Light Sweet Loaf
Equipment
- mixing bowls
- Stand Mixer
- 2 9×5 loaf pans – greased
Ingredients
- 1 cup water warm, 95 degrees F
- 1 cup milk warm, 95 degrees F
- 1 ½ tbsp instant yeast
- ½ cup sugar granulated
- 6 cups flour all purpose
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ½ cup butter unsalted, room temperature
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 egg beaten, for egg wash
Instructions
- Mix together the warm water, milk, sugar and yeast and let stand for 10 minutes until bloomed.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer, fitted with the dough hook, mix the flour, spices and salt together.
- With the mixer running, slowly add the yeast mixture and allow it to fully incorporate into the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Add the butter to the dough and mix in well. If the dough is too sticky, add flour, one tablespoon at a time until the dough is smooth and elastic.
- Add the raisins and knead into the mixture until well incorporated.
- Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for a few moments. The dough will be soft but not sticky
- Place in a greased bowl and cover with cling wrap and then a damp kitchen towel. Place in a warm spot to rise for an hour or until doubled in size.
- After the bread has risen, remove cling wrap, gently deflate and shape into two loaves of equal size. Place in greased tins and cover with cling wrap and allow to rise in a warm spot for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- After 30 minutes, the bread would have risen once more. Remove the cling wrap and gently brush with egg wash.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes, watching to ensure the bread does not brown too quickly. Bake until golden brown in colour. The loaves are finished when the bottom sounds hollow when tapped.
- Allow to cool in pans for about 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edges of the bread to loosen before turning out onto cooling racks to finish cool down.
- Slice and enjoy!
Try it with a slice of cheddar cheese, with jam, peanut butter or assemble a delicious sandwich with it – perfection in every bite!
Let me know if you give this a try and how it worked for you.
Happy baking!