Walnut raisin bread

I love my bread machine! It's a compact 750gm loaf size one (Sunbeam BM2500) with a single paddle - just the right size for a small loaf to be finished within 2-3 days.

Here's a recipe that I make a couple of times a week. It is a soft milk bread that can be made plain or with nuts or fruits of choice.

Summary of recipe 

- place ingredients in bread machine in the following order, I.e., liquid first unless your bread machine works otherwise:

125ml or half cup water roux*

125ml or half cup fresh milk

1 egg

45gm or 3 Tbsp butter

1/2 tsp salt

3 1/2 Tbsp sugar

2 1/2 cups high grade flour/bread flour/high protein flour

2 1/2 tsp Edmond's Surebake active yeast mixture

Select French setting (goes for a total of 3hrs 36mins)

When the bread machine beeps to add fruits, add the following optional item(s):

- 3/4 cups walnut; or 1/2 cup walnut + 1/4 cup raisins/cranberries; or 1 Tbsp linseed; or a combination of nuts/fruits/seeds to make up 3/4 cups or no more than 1 cup.

Cool completely before slicing although I know sometimes warm bread is hard to resist!

*Water roux:

Mix 25gm bread flour + 125ml water and cook in medium heat until the mixture reaches 65° Celcius (when mixture starts to thicken and lines appear; the texture should be like yogurt). Remove from heat and let it cool before using.