Raisin bread explained

Raisin bread
Type:Sweet bread
Main Ingredient:Grain, Raisins, Yeast[1]

Raisin bread or fruit bread (also known as fruit toast or raisin toast in New Zealand and Australia)[2] is a type of bread made with raisins and flavored with cinnamon. It is "usually a white flour or egg dough bread".[3] Aside from white flour, raisin bread is also made with other flours, such as all-purpose flour, oat flour, or whole wheat flour. Some recipes include honey, brown sugar, eggs, or butter.[4] Variations of the recipe include the addition of walnuts,[5] hazelnuts,[6] pecans[7] or, for a dessert, rum or whisky.[8] [9]

Raisin bread is eaten in many different forms, including being served toasted for breakfast ("raisin toast") or made into sandwiches.[10] Some restaurants serve raisin bread with their cheeseboards.[11]

History

Its invention has been popularly incorrectly attributed to Henry David Thoreau[12] [13] in Concord, Massachusetts lore, as there have been published recipes for bread with raisins since 1671.[14] Since the 15th century, breads made with raisins were made in Europe. In Germany stollen was a Christmas bread. Kulich was an Easter bread made in Russia and panettone was made in Italy.[15] The earliest citation for "raisin bread" in the Oxford English Dictionary is dated to an 1845 article in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine.[16] In England, raisin bread became a common element of high tea from the second half of the 19th century.[17] In the 1920s, raisin bread was advertised as "The Bread Of Iron", due to the high iron content of the raisins.[18] The bread became increasingly popular among English bakers in the 1960s.[19]

Varieties

European versions of raisin bread include the Estonian "kringel"[20] and the Slovakian "vianočka"[21] and "stafidopsomo" in Greece. A similar food is raisin challah, a traditional Jewish food for Shabbat and holidays.[22] It has been suggested that Garibaldi biscuits were based on a raisin bread that was eaten by the troops of Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi.[23]

In Australia and New Zealand, buttered raisin toast is common for breakfast.[2]

Production

The United States Code of Federal Regulations specifies standards that raisin bread produced in the country must meet. This includes a requirement for the weight of the raisins to be equal to 50% of the weight of flour used.[24] Raisin bread is one of five types of bread for which federal standards have been outlined.[25]

In cosmology

The ways in which individual raisins move during rising and baking of the bread is often used as an analogy to explain the expansion of the universe.[26] [27]

See also

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Book: Charel Scheele. Old World Breads and the History of a Flemish Baker. October 12, 2011. iUniverse. 978-1-4620-5472-5. 86.
  2. Web site: Fruit bread – Eat Well Recipe . 2022-04-08 . NZ Herald . en-NZ.
  3. Book: Mark Bricklin. Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet. 1994. Rodale. 978-0-87596-225-2. 80.
  4. Book: Mark Bricklin. Prevention Magazine's Nutrition Advisor: The Ultimate Guide to the Health-Boosting and Health-Harming Factors in Your Diet. 15 August 1994. Rodale. 978-0-87596-225-2. 80.
  5. News: Delia skims the goalpost. The Independent on Sunday. 25 June 2000.
  6. News: Miers. Thomasina. Party season's big dippers. The Times. 15 December 2007.
  7. News: Richardson. Belinda. 'We could be in the lounge bar of an ocean-going liner'. The Daily Telegraph. 25 June 2005.
  8. News: 10 top spots near the shops. The Times. 15 December 2007.
  9. News: Ferrier. Clare. The Royal Oak, Brookland. The Daily Telegraph. 13 September 2008.
  10. Book: Hensperger, Beth. The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. 2000. Harvard Common Press. 978-1-55832-156-4. 449.
  11. News: Mclean. Neil. If this is a diet, count me in. The Sunday Times. 27 June 2004.
  12. Web site: What Did Thoreau Really Eat? You Might Be Surprised. NPR. July 11, 2017. National Public Radio. July 11, 2017. Fain. Jean.
  13. Dolis, J. (2005) Tracking Thoreau: double-crossing nature and technologyp.32. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press Retrieved January 2012
  14. Book: Ken Jennings. Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs. September 12, 2006. Random House Publishing Group. 978-1-58836-552-1. 168.
  15. Web site: History of Raisins and Dried Fruit . Sun Maid . November 26, 2013.
  16. Web site: raisin, n.. Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press. 26 November 2013.
  17. News: Wilson. Bee. There's nothing 'high' about high tea. The Times. 9 March 2002.
  18. News: The Bread of Iron (advertisement). November 26, 2013. The Sunday Oregonian. September 18, 1921. Portland, Oregon.
  19. News: Woodland. John. Price blow to raisin traders in UK. The Times. 20 October 1967.
  20. News: Brûlé. Tyler. Things to do, places to go. The Financial Times. 27 December 2008.
  21. News: Gill. Jaime. A winter affair. The Guardian. 22 November 2008.
  22. Book: Phyllis Glazer. Miriyam Glazer. The Essential Book of Jewish Festival Cooking. March 29, 2011. HarperCollins. 978-0-06-204121-0. 127.
  23. News: Vallely. Paul. Garibaldi: The First Global Action Hero. The Independent. 30 June 2007.
  24. Web site: Section 136.160 – Raisin bread, rolls, and buns. Code of Federal Regulations. 26 November 2013. 1 April 2005.
  25. Taking the wraps off bread. May 1982. Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc.. 40. Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine. 1528-9729.
  26. Web site: What does it mean when they say the universe is expanding?. Everyday Mysteries: Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress. November 26, 2013. August 23, 2010.
  27. Web site: Tests of Big Bang: Expansion. WMAP's Universe. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. November 26, 2013. NASA/WMAP Science Team. March 25, 2013.

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