Country Loaf Bread

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This recipe is one of my favorite bread recipes and I have been making it for about 20 years!  It is my “go-to”, quick bread recipe – by that I do not mean a quick bread.  It is quick because I do not soak the flour overnight.  Originally I made this bread with a combination of wheat and white flour, have made it with sprouted flour – but this time I was out of sprouted flour, none at the local health food store – so I used a combination of spelt, white and wheat.  Stella requested that I do one loaf with raisins in it, which I had never done before!

This is an easy yeast bread recipe that is great for sandwiches, with soup, toasted or just plain!

Country Loaf Bread

Ingredients

1 Tbl yeast (1 package)
2 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tbl sugar, honey or maple syrup (I used honey)
1 Tbl Sea Salt
6 – 7 cups flour (combination of spelt, wheat and white)
1/2 cup flax meal (optional)
1/2 cup raisins
1 – 2 Tbl cinnamon
Sesame, Poppy or Hemp seeds ( I used hemp)
Butter
Cornmeal
1 egg

1. Mix the yeast, water, honey and salt in a large glass or stainless steel bowl.  I use the bowl for my Kitchen Aide.

2. Add 2 cups of flour and beat for two minutes.

3. Continue adding 1 cup of flour at a time, mixing after each addition add the flax meal if using.

4. Turn out onto a floured board, keep adding flour until a smooth ball is formed.

5. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in bulk – about 1 hour.

6. Grease 2 loaf pans with butter and sprinkle with cornmeal. You can also grease a cooking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal.

7. Punch the dough down and divide into two balls.

8. Place one ball into a loaf pan, spread out .

9. With the other ball knead in the raisins and cinnamon. I put the raisins in hot water to plump. Place in the other loaf pan and spread.

10. With a sharp knife, make cross slash marks on the top of each loaf.

11. Brush with a egg wash – 1 egg with 1 Tbl of water.

12. If you want you can sprinkle sesame seeds, poppy seeds, hemp seeds, etc on top.

13.  Allow the dough to rise again, about 45 minutes.

14. Bake at 350 degrees for about 40 – 45 minutes.

Take out of the loaf pans and cool on a wire rack.   Delicious warm with a good slathering of butter!  The raisin addition to the bread was a HUGE hit!!!

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