Golden Raisin Cranberry Whole Wheat Bread

     If you've been following this blog for any time at all, you know I like to make changes to existing recipes. Sunday was no exception. Sundays have pretty much become my baking day. I like to make a bread for us to eat on during the week. Why? The wife LOVES fresh bread. Any kind of fresh bread will do. Sunday I let her pick out what bread I was going to make. She sifted through the cookbooks and pointed out the Nutty Whole Wheat Bread recipe in Taste of Home Everyday Light Meals. There are just a ton of great bread recipes in there; I suggest you get a copy if at all possible.
     Anyways, the wife points out this recipe, then tells me she'd prefer it without the walnuts because she's not a fan of nutty bread. This was not a problem, as we did not have any walnuts in the house. We did, however, have golden raisins and dried cranberries. It worked out better than we could have imagined. The bread was sweet and soft inside, with a wonderful crust. This legitimately looked like something you would buy at a bakery! I will provide the original recipe with, as always, my notes and substitutions printed in blue.

Golden Raisin Cranberry Whole Wheat Bread
(originally Nutty Whole Wheat Bread)

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/4 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted the walnuts and substituted in 1/2 cup each of golden raisins and dried cranberries. I imagine just about any dried fruit could work here. If you try a different one, let me know how it works out)
• 1 package (1/4 ounce) quick-rise yeast
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/3 cup reduced-fat plain yogurt (we went with the plain, but the more I think about it, vanilla might have been really good in here)
• 2 tablespoons butter (we used margarine)

Directions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, walnuts (or dried fruit), brown sugar, yeast and salt. Stir to combine ingredients.
2. In a saucepan, head the water, yogurt and butter to about 120-130F. Add to dry ingredients, beat until smooth (I used the Kitchenaid with a beater attachment). Stir in enough remaining flour to form a soft dough (I ended up using exactly the amount of flour called for in the recipe). Turn out onto floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes (I just left the dough in the mixer bowl and swapped in the dough hook to do the work).
3. Take dough and shape into a ball; place on a baking sheet coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and let rest in a warm place for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 400F. 
4. Bake at 400F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown (mine took 25 minutes to finish. Cooking times may vary a bit). Remove from pan to cool on a wire rack.

See? I told you it looks like it came from a bakery!
Sometimes I feel like I almost know what I'm doing!

Good times!