Oster Rosinebrot
German Raisin Easter Bread

German Easter raisin bread is not your ordinary raisin bread. It is flavored with orange and lemon zest. This is a fantastic bread to serve for Easter dinner and makes an incredible breakfast bread that can be toasted and served with butter.

Yield: 2 loaves

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours, 45 minutes

Ingredients:

5 cups bread flour, about
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp or 2 pkg. (1/2 oz. total) active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1-1/4 cups milk, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 medium eggs
1 cup raisins
1 Tbsp grated orange rind
1 Tbsp grated lemon rind
Preparation:

In large bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, the sugar, yeast, and salt. Add milk, butter, and eggs. Mix well. Mix in raisins, orange rind, and lemon rind. Mix in the remaining bread flour until a soft dough is formed. You may or may not use all the flour the recipe calls for so add the flour slowly until the dough is formed. Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for about 8 minutes, adding more flour to the dough in small amounts if needed.

Put dough in greased bowl. Turn dough over in bowl so that the dough top is also lightly greased. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or clean kitchen cloth and let rise in warm place for 1 hour. Punch down dough. Turn dough out onto floured board and knead for another 5 minutes. Divide dough into 2 equal parts. Shape dough into 2 loaves. Put loaves in two greased 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise for about 30 minutes or until double in size.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when you tap on it.