Braided Cinnamon Craisin Bread

In a large bowl, whisk together yeast, sugar, salt and 2 cups of the flour. Heat water until hot (I just run the tap water until it is hot), yet bearable to the touch. Whisk hot water into flour mixture along with the eggs and melted butter, until smooth, about 3 minutes.

With a large spoon (or you can use your dough hook and stand mixer if you’ve been blessed with one of those) stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough (max 6 cups of flour, but you likely won’t need much more than 5 cups…too much makes the dough too stiff and the bread less soft).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes, adding flour if necessary to keep it from being too sticky. If you have a stand mixer, some of the kneading can be done with the dough hook on your machine. You can also add the dried cranberries and let the machine knead them in. If using the dough hook and machine, you will still have to do the final kneading for about 5 minutes by hand. If kneading by hand, knead cranberries into dough.

Place dough into a large, greased bowl, turning once to grease all over. The bowl must be big enough to allow dough to rise to at least double in size. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place (a sunbeam works great) for 1 hour.

Sprinkle the cinnamon on a large cookie sheet. Punch down the dough and divide into 6 equal pieces. Roll each piece into an 18″ rope. Roll ropes in the cinnamon. Lay 3 ropes side by side. Braid each set of ropes from the middle out to each end; tuck the ends under.

Place loaves in 2 greased 9″x5″ loaf pans. (Do not use smaller pans). Cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise ½ hour.

Bake at 350ºF for 30-35 minutes, or until loaves are nicely browned and they sound hollow when tapped on bottom. Remove from pans and let cool on racks.

Call your family to ooh and aah at your impressive handiwork! These loaves freeze well, but are most delicious fresh and warm!