Whole Wheat Raisin Bread Recipe

1. In large bowl, mix together whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.
   

2. Add water, milk, molasses, butter, and raisins. Mix well.
   

3. Mix in bread flour until dough is formed.
   

4. Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for about 8 minutes, adding more flour to the dough in small amounts as needed.
   

5. Put dough in greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the dough top is also lightly greased. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen cloth and let rise in warm place for 1 hour.
   

6. Punch down dough.
   

7. Turn dough out onto board and knead for another 5 minutes.
   

8. Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Shape dough into 2 loaves.
   

9. Put loaves in two greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until double in size.
   

10. Bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when you tap on it.

Like all yeast bread recipes, there are certain things you can do to change up the recipe so that it suits your diet.

You can replace the whole wheat flour in this recipe with buckwheat flour.

The sugar can be replaced with brown sugar. If you are vegan, you can use coconut sugar instead of regular granulated sugar.

Don't be afraid to test out different gourmet salts in your bread recipe. I like to use sea salt.

You can use any kind of milk in this recipe. This includes low fat and powdered milk. If you are vegan or are allergic to dairy, you can replace the milk with coconut, cashew, soy, or rice milk.

Butter can be replaced with a vegan alternative. I use Smart Balance butter because my youngest child is allergic to dairy and their butter is easy to get used to.

You can use any kind of raisins in this recipe or replace the raisins with chopped dried apricots or with dried cranberries.

Finally, avoid using water that has been chlorinated or has gone through a soft water system. Use bottled water to prevent killing off the bread yeast.