This is a fabulous cinnamon-scented breakfast bread, studded with moist raisins and bursting with flavor. Follow the instructions very carefully for a real, swirled loaf.

1 c warm milk

1/3 c warm water

1 package active dry yeast

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 egg

1/4 tsp salt

3 Tbsp margerine, butter or shortening, softened

1/2 c raisins

1 Tbsp cinnamon

2 c (8oz or 227g) Better Batter Gluten Free Flour PLUS 1 c (4oz or 113g) BBGF flour, for shaping

STREUSAL

1 1/2 tbsp milk

1/2 c powdered sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon

1 1/2 tbsp butter, margarine, or shortening, melted.

water, optional.

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9×5 inch loaf pan.

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the milk and water in the bowl of your mixer. Let stand about 10-12 minutes, or until thick and foamy (it will look almost spongy).

Add the egg, butter or margarine, salt, raisins, and cinnamon to the mixture, and beat until combined.

Add the 2 c flour gradually, until combined, then turn the mixer to high and beat 3 minutes. Meanwhile in a saucepan, melt the milk, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and margarine. This should make a thick paste/streusal. Optionally you can thin this with water until it is a spreadable-but-still-thick paste, or leave it as streusal for a less uniform swirl with pockets of concentrated cinnamon.

On a Silpat or parchment paper/plastic wrap spread the remaining cup of flour, using a little more if necessary, to make sure the whole sheet is covered.

At this point your batter should be the consistency of chocolate chip cookie dough. This is very important to the shaping! Take the batter and gently pat all sides in the flour on the board, taking care not to press hard or knead. This should make the dough unsticky, with a hand feel (on the surface only!) of play dough. DO NOT KNEAD! The inside of the dough will still be sticky. This is VERY IMPORTANT.

Pat out into a 1/2 inch thick, using floured hands. Spread or sprinkle the streusal/paste all over the dough then, using floured hands, roll the dough into a spiral and seal the seams. Tuck the ends and quickly and gently (cradling the entire loaf) place into the greased pan.

Oil the surface, preferably using a solid shortening that’s been softened (we like coconut oil or butter).

Let rise for about an hour, or until doubled in bulk. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes. Loaf should be golden brown. Let cool on racks completely before slicing and wrapping.

Feel free to double the streusal topping, pat the dough out thinner, and have more swirly goodness!