Light and Airy Cinnamon Raisin Bread

My oldest daughter asked if I could send cinnamon raisin bread to school with her for her kindergarten snack. Not being a huge fan of store bought bakery items, I searched the web for my favorite and modified it to my liking. This is particularly easy because I let the bread machine do all the heavy lifting.

Ingredients

3/4 cups milk

1/4 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup water (neither hot nor cold)

2 eggs

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 cups all-purpose flour

1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast (scant tablespoon)

2/3 cup raisins

1/4 cup white sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoons butter, melted or well softened

Directions

1. Microwave the milk in a Pyrex in the microwave for 90 seconds. It should smell lightly scalded when you remove it. Add the 1/4 C. softened butter, stirring well until it's either fully melted or at least really soft. Add the 1/2 C. water and stir. Dump this into the bottom of a bread machine.
2. In the same Pyrex, lightly beat your 2 eggs, then add to the liquid in the bread machine.
3. Add the 1/4 C. sugar and 1/2 t. salt to the bread machine.
4. Add the flour to the top of the liquid (sequencing matters here) then create a little well. Put the yeast on top of the flour into this well.
5. Turn on the bread machine on the dough setting, then let it do its thing for 60 min.
6. Lightly butter your 9'x5" (or slightly larger) bread pan.
7. After an hour (the dough cycle likely won't say it's done yet), turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. It will be sticky. Stretch, pat, or roll it into a rectangle, the width of your bread pan.
8. Top with either premixed cinnamon sugar, or mix the 1/4 C. of sugar with the 1 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon in a bowl, and spread this across the rectangle. Spread out the raisins evenly, not forgetting the edges.
9. Roll up the dough tightly so that the rolled up dough is the width of the bread pan. The roll should be about 3 inches in diameter. Transfer the dough roll into the bread pan, seam side down, and tucking ends under if necessary.
10. Spread the remaining butter onto the exposed surface of the dough roll. Cover with a damp cloth. Allow to rise again about 1 hour. I like to do this in an oven that's been heated up to 200 degrees, then turned off. The residual warmth is a perfect rising location. Do not put this dough into an oven that's on or you're likely to start cooking it.
11. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 45 minutes, or until bread is lightly browned and sounds hollow when knocked. If it looks like it's getting too brown too quickly, cover the top with foil.
12. Remove loaf from pan, and brush again with melted butter. Let cool before slicing.