This bread reminds me of my childhood and Christmas all rolled up into one pretty little loaf of bread.  My mom used to bake loaves upon loaves of cardamom raisin bread at Christmas time. She would send my sister and I to school with beautiful loaves of fresh baked bread for our teachers as their Christmas gifts.  I imagine the teachers must have loved getting those loaves.

While this isn’t my mom’s exact recipe, it does include the cardamom and I think it is just as wonderful.  I’ve carried on my mother’s tradition, with this bread.  I share it with neighbors, teachers, and anyone who stops by our home for the holidays.  It freezes beautifully, so you can make a big batch ahead of time, freeze the loaves and distribute to all of your neighbors when it is convenient.  And by the way, it is the absolute best toasted.

When you are shaping the loaves, you can either make one large loaf, or three smaller loaves. I usually do three smaller loaves for sharing. Just divide the dough into thirds and then thirds again (if you are going to make three loaves). Roll each third into a long snake and braid it up all pretty. Let rise and then brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with turbinado sugar. The sugar makes it all sparkly and pretty – which is just what we need when we are doing holiday baking, right?

If you don’t have home milled whole wheat flour, my recommendation is to skip the whole wheat flour entirely and use a good bread flour, such as King Arthur (red or blue bag work well). If you are using bread flour, you can skip the dough enhancer and vital wheat gluten.

Enjoy!