Serves: 6-8
Prep time: 20 hours {10 minutes active}
Cook time: 50 minutes

I grew up vacationing in South Carolina, and some of my best memories are from our family trips down there. And some of the tastiest {comfort} food I’ve had was down there, too.  At every meal we ate out, we were served hush puppies and honey butter. So today’s recipe is a homage to that delicious dish. I have a rule not to deep fry food at home, so I got to thinking about what I could pair with delicious honey butter. And cinnamon raisin bread came to mind immediately.

This recipe is based on a plain no knead artisan bread recipe from Frugal Living NW. While last night was the first time I ever made my own variation, I make the artisan bread recipe every other week. It freezes really well, and so too should the cinnamon raisin bread. It will only keep for a couple of days, so serve it at brunch, or slice and freeze it. You can take it out and defrost a couple of pieces as you need them. It will last up to six weeks in the freezer {maybe even longer, but my bread has never lasted that long!}. I usually do two layers – plastic wrap and then a ziploc bag. Yay for cinnamon raisin bread every weekend!

Ingredients

For Cinnamon Raisin Bread:

3 C flour { 2 C bread or all-purpose, 1 C whole wheat}
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
3/4 C raisins
1 T sugar
2 T cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 C cool water

For Honey Butter:

4 T butter, softened
1 T honey

Directions

1. Combine flours, yeast and salt in a large bowl.  Then add raisins, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

2. Mix-in cool water. Keep mixing until you get a lumpy, play doh-ish mixture. Its not easy to mix, so put your weight into it!

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 14-18 hours.

4. After the mixture has risen, set bread on a floured surface and shape it into a round loaf.

5. Set a dish towel flat on the counter. Then layer it with wax or parchment paper. Sprinkle flour and set dough on top. Fold the towel/wax paper and let rise for 2 hours.

6. After a little over an hour, preheat oven to 425. Place empty 3 qt dutch in oven for 1/2 hour. Then add the dough and place lid on top. Bake for 40 minutes. After 40 minutes, remove lid and cook for an additional 10 minutes until the crust is a golden brown.

7. Remove the bread from the dutch oven, and let it cool for about 45 minutes on a wire rack. This cooling time is critical to letting the air bubbles pop. Otherwise, you will end up with an immensely dense bread. You’ll be pleasantly surprised that the bread will still be warm when you slice it open after 45 minutes!

7. To make honey butter, whip butter with a hand or stand mixer until it reaches a creamy consistency. Then add honey and whip again, for about 30 seconds. Spoon into a serving dish and serve. Pop it right back into the fridge if you don’t use it all in one sitting!

This dish makes a perfect evening snack or a great addition to breakfast. It tastes great when served warm {45 minutes} out of oven or toasted.

Hungry for more great recipes? Explore more Lawyer in the Kitchen!