Raisins Bread (Stafidopsomo)

As I have told you in the past, here in Greece we still have bakeries that sell bread, cookies and other sweet treats. In every neighborhood one can find several of them.

I make my own bread now, so my visits to my local bakery are limited. Last time I went there, was to buy for my son a piroski with sausage, something he likes very much. In my rare visits to the bakery, I always buy raisins bread, which I love very much. It is a sweet bread with raisins and now that I started being familiar with the yeast and dough, I thought that I, perhaps and I emphasize perhaps, would be able to make my own raisins bread.

So, the other day I was in a mood for bread again-it starts becoming a habit of mine lately-and I said to myself that this would be the ideal time to try and make it. And so I did. And it was really very good. And I am going to make it again. Most definitely. It brought a smile on my face and for this, I will do it again. And my next yeast project will be the piroski, which is a savory treat with sausage eaten a lot in Russia and all the countries that surround it! I will keep you posted, literally.

In the mixer put the flour, yeast, sugar, all spice mix and salt.

Pour the water, the milk and the margarine and start mixing for about 10 minutes until the smooth ball is gathered around the hook.

Take a bowl and oil it. Place the dough either in a warm place or in the oven for an hour.

After the hour has passed deflate the dough and let it stand for another hour.

After these two hours of rising, take the dough split in two and incorporate the raisins to both of them by hand. Just knead a little bit until the raisins are inside your dough.

Form to balls pressed on top to flatten and place them on a pan covered with parchment paper.

Let them rise for ½ hour and in the meantime preheat your oven to 175° C.

Bake them for at least half an hour or until they become golden brown.

Turn off the oven and let them in for another ten minutes, so as to completely dry inside.

They can be eaten warm-I like this very much-and cold. You can toast them and add honey or marmalade and it is totally decadent!