Bread Machine White Bread (Raisin Gluten Free)

You can say goodbye to store-bought cinnamon raisin bread forever with this favourite recipe simply made in your bread maker. It hits all the right notes with the cinnamon-sugar flavour, a chewy crumb and plump, juicy raisins. Toasted and slathered with butter, you couldn’t ask for a better breakfast. But don’t count this recipe out when hosting a breakfast or brunch - it’s certainly nice enough for company. After all, who doesn’t love homemade bread? Plus, the aroma that goes with it will make your home as fragrant as a bakery. While making bread in a bread machine, make sure to consider:

- The proper way to measure flour using measuring cups is to aerate it first. This is done either by sifting flour, or aerating it by fluffing it up and whisking it well, then spooning it into the measuring cup, then carefully removing any excess flour with a knife. If you just stick that measuring cup in the bag of flour and scoop some out, you will get a lot more flour than what the recipe calls for. Do aerate the flour, or you will end up with dry dough.

- Use bread flour, not regular all-purpose flour. Bread flour contains a higher percentage of gluten than regular all-purpose flour. Using bread flour will produce taller, less dense loaves. If you use all-purpose flour (which has smaller percentage of gluten than bread flour), your loaves will be flatter and denser.

Wet Ingredients:
¾ cup dairy free milk
2 Tbsp. flax meal and 6 Tbsp. warm water, mixed and let stand for 5 minutes
1½ tsp. apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. vegan butter (Earth Balance)
1½ Tbsp. pure maple syrup

Dry Ingredients:
1⅔ cups brown rice flour
¼ cup corn starch
2 Tbsp. potato starch
1½ tsp. xanthan gum
1 Tbsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. sea salt

Yeast:
1 tsp. active dry yeast

Mix-in:
½ cup raisins

Mix together flax eggs and let stand for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a separate dry bowl mix together dry ingredients (brown rice flour, corn starch, potato starch, xantham gum, cinnamon and salt).

Add wet ingredients to the bread machine (milk, flax eggs, apple cider vinegar, vegan butter, maple syrup).

Add the dry mixture on top of the wet mixture in the bread machine, completely covering the liquid.

Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture and add the yeast in to the well (making certain it doesn't touch any liquid).

Recommended Settings:
Cycle: Sweet
Crust: Medium or Dark

At mix-in beep - if there is any flour stuck to the walls, use a spatula to knock it down, then add the raisins.

Remove immediately when the bread is done (it has the tendency to burn if left for a long time in the bread machine). Put on cooling rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Will keep about 4 days, or longer if stored in the fridge.

Serve lightly toasted.

Cook's Notes:

• Resist the temptation to slice the bread right away. The steam trapped by the crust is still baking the bread inside and releasing that too soon can result in slightly underbaked or crumbly bread.
• The bread will keep for a few days when stored in a bread box or airtight container at room temperature.
• You can freeze the bread for up to a month.
• If you don't have bread machine yeast, you can use active dry yeast, but it needs to be dissolved in water before being added to the machine.
• When your bread machine has been kneading for a few minutes, check the dough. If it seems too stiff, add a little bit of water and continue checking until it seems soft enough. If too wet, add more flour in small amounts until it seems to be soft yet not sticky.