They say practice makes perfect,this is one bread that gave me quite a hard time in my attempts to get it right,most of the breads I have tried out,I usually get them right on my first attempt,it was not business as usual with this cinnamon raisin bread.
3 is the number of times i tried to hack this one,it was either too heavy,too soggy, too sweet, the cinnamon filling tasting all raw,the list is endless.
I however am not the type to back down easily on a challenge and after a few tweaks here and there I did it justice,I couldn’t be any more proud of myself,this is a bread I now hold close to my heart,not to mention it being the best bread I have done so far,it was sweet and full of flavor, totally worth all the effort.

INGREDIENTS.
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
2 eggs
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter/margarine 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
5 cups flour
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon
41/2 teaspoons yeast

INSTRUCTIONS.
I usually start by activating my yeast before starting up on anything else.
In a bowl I mixed in 1/2 cup warm water,two tablespoons sugar and my yeast.I set this aside and let the yeast activate ,this takes about 8 minutes.
The yeast will eat up the sugars and a froth will form, this is what we are looking for.

Just in case your yeast doesn’t foam up,discard and set up another batch.
I proceeded to mix my dry ingredients.  In a separate bowl I mixed together my flour, 1/2 cup sugar,salt and raisins,set this aside.
I then mixed up my warm  milk,margarine and eggs till consistent.
To make my dough,I went ahead and poured my activated yeast and my creamed butter,milk & eggs into flour mixture.
Mix this up and knead for close to 8 minutes,your dough should me smooth and elastic, good dough should stretch and not break apart when pulled.

I greased a large ‘sufiria’ and set my dough inside,I covered it up with a dump cloth and let it rise for 1 hour in a warm dry place until doubled in size.

I proceeded to punch this down and knead it for a further 4 minutes.
This recipe makes two loaves of bread,so I cut my dough into two equal halves. (You can work with the whole dough and cut it up when finished but my small working surface couldn’t allow me)
I Dusted my working surface with flour, using a rolling pin,roll out your dough to a rectangular like shape,apply melted butter all over the surface generously, mix together 1/4 cup sugar & the cinnamon ,sprinkle half of this on top of your battered dough.

Proceed to roll down the dough tightly.(roll up the long way)

Roll this completely sealing the ends by folding them together to the bottom

Place the folded ends downside and the neat one facing up.
I then went ahead and placed this in my greased bread tin,folded side down.

Place this in a warm dry place and let it rise for about 40 minutes.I use my oven for this.

After 40 minutes our dough would have Rosen and doubled up in size.
This is totally optional but I usually mix 1 egg with 2 tablespoons of water, I then brush my bread with this egg wash, this will give your bread that nice golden look.
Bake this in a preheated oven at 175°Celsius for 45 minutes.
Let your bread cool for 10 minutes before shaking it off the tin.

This recipe makes for two loaves
ENJOY.