Versatile Bread Mix

I keep my favorite (very versatile) bread recipe on the refrigerator as it is my go-to recipe. This week I added half cup oats to the recipe and put all in a quart jar as my bread mix. I do up about twelve quarts when I still have three or so mixes left.

Either I make regular bread, cinnamon rolls, rolls, or hamburger buns. The sky is the limit with what you can do. But today I made cinnamon swirl bread. 

I can do bread by hand but this time I used the bread machine. I put one and a fourth cup of water and put it in the bread machine bucket then I dump in my jar contents and set the bread machine on the dough setting.

When it is kneading, I check for flour in the corners of the machine and carefully use a rubber spatula to scrape. Once the sides are cleaned I let it go and walk away.

It takes about two hours in a colder kitchen and one and a half hours when the kitchen is warm. 

I let it rise near the bucket top and take it out. I spray my work surface slightly and spread the dough the length of the bread and about ten inches in the other direction. Then I spray or spread butter on the dough and sprinkle with sugar then heavier with cinnamon and I put raisins on. 

I start at the short end and roll, stretch, roll, stretch the dough until I get to the other end, the stretching gives me more of a swirl. Then I spray the bread pan and top of the loaf then cover with plastic wrap to let rise until the loaf is about an inch over the side of the pan. Takes thirty to forty minutes, depending on how cold the kitchen is.

Preheat the oven during that time to 350 degrees. Bake for forty minutes, remove from the pan and let cool. I throw a cotton dish towel over it as it cools. Once cooled, I slice it using an electric knife that I only use for slicing bread. 

Enjoy!