I absolutely love this receipe! However, some helpful hints to include in your directions, this particular dough will double very quickly and you must put it in a large container to prevent it from overflowing! I didn't see the spices recommended for the bread until i read through your reviews, those would have been good to know ahead of time. Also, fresh yeast is hard to come by in my leg of the world so i used dry active yeast in converted equivalency.. works good! I don't have an electric mixer and so I knead it myself which is more difficult but allows you to regulate how much extra flour you knead in. IF you get the dry crumblies, you have too much flour in it, if it doesn't rise, your yeast has died or you didn't use enough. Could also be that your water was too warm or too cold when dissolving the yeast it won't rise either. This is not intended to be condescending just helpful!! I come from a long line of Irish and German bakers and my mom loves this bread! It gets better every time I make it!

Reviewed On: Aug. 16, 2010