Ingredients
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar (if you can find fine sugar, use it)
2 eggs
2 tbs. Scotch or Cognac
4 cups flour
2 tsps. baking powder
2 tsp. salt
2 tbs. caraway seeds
2/3 box raisins, preferably baking raisins
1 cup milk
1 tbs. cider vinegar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsps. Vanilla
Preparation
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Set shelf in middle of oven.
With an electric mixer, mix and set aside: 1 cup butter, melted 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 tbs. Scotch or Cognac
Sift and set aside: 4 cups flour 2 tsp. baking powder 2 tsp. salt 2 tbs. caraway seeds
Heat milk in microwave-fave deep bowl or 4-cup measuring cup; add 1 tbs. cider vinegar to curdle milk
Mix: 1 tsp baking soda 2 tsps. vanilla
Add to soured milk and stir vigorously until soured milk foams.
Mix soured milk mixture into sugar-egg mixture. Mixture may look like it separated or curdled. Do not worry.
Slowly add flour mix cup by cup. Blend thoroughly. Add raisins by hand to finished dough, separating them and mixing them in so they do not clump together. Dough will be thick.
Scrape into prepared pan. Bake in oven for 1 hour, until brown. Test doneness with toothpick, which should come out clean.
Cool for 10 minutes on rack. Then turn out bread onto rack. Remove brown bag from bottom. Let cool. Gently slide bread off rack (or it may split).
