BBA Challenge Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread

Some of my family asked to be here when I bake the cinnamon rolls, which would be next in our sequence of baking for the BBA Challenge, so we agreed to make the Cinnamon Raisin Walnut Bread now and the rolls when they could be here later in the month.  This was a pretty easy bread to make.  As usual, there were some decisions to make, though.  First I kneaded the bread by machine.  Then I turned it out onto a board to knead in the raisins and walnuts:

It was hard to believe all the fruit and nuts would mix into the dough, but it did:

Now I had to make a decision--should I make the cinnamon sugar swirl or leave it as it is?  I decided to make the swirl.  After mixing the 1/2 cup sugar with the 2 tblsp. cinnamon, I thought it looked like an awful lot to spread in the breads.  I used about a third of the mixture per loaf.  It still looked like an awful lot:

I went with it and rolled it up:

After the second proofing, I baked the loafs and faced one more decision:  should I butter the tops and sprinkle on yet more sugar and cinnamon or call it enough???  I split the decision and did both:

I can never let the bread cool as Mr. Reinhart recommends because someone here always speaks up and says, "Cut me a one-inch piece and put some butter on it!" as soon as it comes out of the oven, so here is how it looks hot and fresh out of the oven:

Final thoughts:

This is DELICIOUS.  I wouldn't put sugar on top next time--it didn't need that extra sweetening for us.  I would put a little less in the swirl, but would definitely make it with the swirl again.  It gives it that intense cinnamon flavor that you get in a really good cinnamon roll.  And it's simply a really nice bread even if it didn't have the swirl of extra flavor.