This recipe was wonderful; I used it to make 32 good-sized rolls. Although you could make this recipe by hand, I looked it over & decided to mix it in my stand mixer like I would a brioche dough. (A bread machine would work, too.) For brioche, you mix everything together except the butter: fat interferes with strong gluten formation in the dough. You want to develop a strong structure first, and then add the butter—soft, but not melted butter—which lubricates the gluten strands and makes a smooth, supple, almost luxurious dough. I mixed the dough for about 10 minutes on low speed (anything higher will strain your mixer). I used the paddle attachment, rather than the dough hook, just because it was convenient and worked with a wet, sticky dough. I added room-temp butter a few tablespoons at a time, mixing on speed 2, until it was all incorporated. I added the raisins and turned the dough out into a buttered bowl. After the first rise, I punched it down and divided it into rolls. Baking time was about 20 mins. Other notes: I used butter, and cut the sugar down to 1 cup. Next time I might cut it down to a ½ cup, because I thought it was plenty sweet.

This tastes so good and it's really easy to make as far as egg breads go. I recommend it highly if you are new to baking egg breads; this is a good introduction. I added 2 T. gluten.

I'm really glad I found this recipe! I used my Kitchen Aid and got scared when the dough stayed incredably soft and sticky. I kept going without changing a thing and it turned out perfect. Actually, the only thing I changed was the first rise time. I waited 1 1/2 hours. I used two 9x5's and the bread almost poured out! It should've been three. Try it.