Raisin Breads

Here's something a little different for your characters to have in your novels. We often think of them having bread, buttering their bread or even having toast, but seldom have I read or even wrote about raisin bread. What about you?

Below are some recipes for Raisin bread from the 19th Century.

Raisin Bread.
Pick, wash and seed the raisins, a full pint for an ordinary loaf; put them in a small, covered vessel, and set the latter into a larger one containing boiling water; cover this also, and place over the fire. Let the raisins steam half or three-quarters of an hour; the water that adheres from washing, is sufficient to steam them. Mix and knead the bread, as in either of the preceding recipes; when ready to mould work the raisins in evenly, and set it to rise in single loaf tins. Bake an hour, or till well done, and eat the next day.
Source: Health in the Household ©1883

A RAISIN LOAF—Take a loaf of bread in the dough, add I tablespoon butter, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1 large egg or 2 small ones, and 1 cup of stoned raisins. Mix well together, let rise an hour, and bake in a well heated oven.
Source: Mrs. Owens' New Cook Book ©1897

Raisin Bread Pudding.
Boil your bread pudding in a basin; put the stoned raisins in a circle at the top, and from it stripes down, when ready to serve up.
Source: The Lady's Own Cookery Book ©1844

Bread And Raisin Pudding.
1 quart milk.
Enough slices of baker's bread—stale—to fill your dish.
Butter to spread the bread.
4 eggs.
1/2 cup of sugar.
3/4 pound of raisins, seeded and each cut into three pieces.
Butter the bread, each slice of which should be an inch thick, and entirely free from crust. Make a raw custard of eggs, sugar and milk. Butter a pudding-dish and put a layer of sliced bread at the bottom, fitted closely together and cut to fit the dish. Pour a little custard upon this, strew the cut raisins evenly over it; and lay in more buttered bread. Proceed in this order until the dish is full. The uppermost layer should be bread well buttered and soaked in the custard. Cover the dish closely, set in a baking pan nearly full of hot water, and bake an hour. When done, uncover, and brown lightly.
Or,
You can spread with a meringue, just before taking from the oven.
Eat hot, with sauce.
Source: Breakfast, Luncheon and Tea ©1875