Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread

I was going to make another batch of french bread but then saw this interesting recipe on some yeast I have. This yeast is not the Rapunzel brand I typically buy from Whole Foods but another brand they offer, Red Star. So, I decide to give it a try as the recipe did look interesting. The recipe is below, I must note that I did alter a few things that I felt would work better. Enjoy!

5 to 5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used 6.5 cups)
2 pkg Red Star Active Dry Yeast (however I’m sure any active dry yeast will do)
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup butter
2 eggs

FILLING
1 cup sugar (I thought this was too much and used 1/2 cup + 2 TBSP)
2 TBSP cinnamon
1 cup raisins
2 TBSP melted butter

In large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/2 cups flour, yeast, sugar and salt, mix well.  (I used my stand mixer and mixed the flour, sugar and salt without adding the yeast. Next I put 1/2 cup WARM water in a two cup measure. Then sprinkled the yeast into the water. Let stand about 5 to 8 minutes so the yeast could bubble up. Then add to flour mixture) Heat milk, water and butter to 120 degree to 130 degrees, butter does not need to melt (I only heated the milk and butter since the water is being used for the yeast. I also made sure my butter was melted. Heat the milk on a VERY low temperature in order to not scald.) Add to flour mixture (I poured the milk into a measuring cup and added in a stream a little at a time because I didn’t want to cook the yeast mixture). Add eggs.   (I beat the eggs first and then added to mixture). Blend at low speed until moistened, beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, gradually stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.  (I let my stand mixture do the work and just added the cups of flour until the dough began to pull away from the sides of the bowl. It’s going to be a lot of dough and some flour mixture may spill over the top of the mixer.) Knead on floured surface until smooth and elastic, 5 to 8 minutes.  Place in a greased bowl, turning to grease top. Cover, let rise in warm place until light and doubled, about 1 hour.

Prepare filling;  Combine sugar and cinnamon, set aside. Punch dough down. Divide into 2 parts. On lightly floured surface, roll or pat each half to a 14″x7″ rectangle. Brush with 1 TBSP melted butter to within 1″ of edges; sprinkle with half of cinnamon mixture and 1/2 cup raisins over buttered dough. Starting with shorter side, roll up tightly, pressing dough into roll with each turn. Pinch edges and ends to seal. Place on greased 9″x5″ bread pans. (I rolled my “log like” and just used my round and flat pizza stone to bake the loaves). Cover and let rise in warm place until indentation remains after lightly touching side of loaf, about 45 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes until golden brown. Remove from pans, cool.