Raisin bread

When we lived abroad, one of the things I loved to buy at the store was raisin bread. Biting into plump, juicy raisins in every mouthful was nothing short of a delight. When I saw the recipe for this bread at Suhaina's Singapore kitchen, I knew that I just had to make it. I have made very few changes and that too, only because I didn't have some of the ingredients on hand and am trying not to use maida these days. The bread is absolutely delicious and has been packed away for us to carry on our weekend outing tomorrow.

What you need:
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Fresh yeast - 2 tsp (Can be substituted with active dry yeast which will need to be proofed first)
Sugar - 4 tbsp
Salt - 1 tsp
Milk - 1 tbsp
Raisins - 1/2 cup soaked in 3/4 cup of water overnight
Oil - 2 tbsp
Vegetable shortening/vanaspati - 1 tbsp

Rub the sugar into the fresh yeast until it dissolves. Add the flour, salt, milk, oil and shortening. Mix well. Now add the raisins along with the water in which it soaked and knead to a smooth, pliable dough. If needed, add a little more water at this stage. Cover and set aside until it doubles in volume. Punch the dough down. Grease a loaf pan and spread the dough evenly in the pan. Cover and leave for 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 175 degrees centigrade for 25-30 minutes.
When completely cooled, slice and dig in.
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