Bread Machine Baking: Barley - Raisin Bread

We grew up with the notion that barley is a diuretic (and it is) and is used only when the need arose. :) Neither any of our family members nor I therefore never ventured into the barley world so far.
When Kiran asked me whether I could contribute to her event, I gathered online info about this grain. This multipurpose, cereal grain dates back to the Stoneage. It has been a source of food for both humans and animals in Europe and Asia from thousands of years besides being used in production of certain alcoholic beverages. The barley berries look like wheat berries and are slightly smaller in size and lighter in color. While berries are used to prepare soups / stews, the flour is used to make breads.
I just had a vague idea about the barley java (soup) that some consume and I bought pearled barley with the intention of preparing something based on it. However, I ended up grinding the berries into nice flour and added it to the raisin bread I regularly bake. Barley flour has a slightly sweet taste, soft texture and has to be used in combination with wheat flour to bake breads because of  low gluten content. This bread tasted almost like my regular raisin bread but was a tad denser. This can be toasted or used in PBJ sandwiches.

Ingredients for 1 lb loaf:
3/4 cup water
1 & 1/3 cups bread flour / all purpose flour
2/3 cup barley flour *
2 Tbsp sugar
2/3 tsp salt
3 Tbsp butter
1.5 tsp rapid rise yeast
1/2 cup raisins
* For raisin bread, barley flour can be eliminated from the recipe and replaced with bread flour / all purpose flour. Then, totally 2 cups of flour is needed to make a 1 lb loaf.



Baking:
1. Precisely measure the ingredients and add them all except the raisins into the baking pan in the order listed above or as your bread machine manual suggests. Make sure the yeast does not touch any liquid and to sprinkle it on the center of the flour.
Raisins can be added later when the indicator beeps or at the end of the first kneading. If added at the beginning, they would be well blended into the flour mixture.
2. Select the 'quick baking' course (or the equivalent on your machine.).
According to my bread machine manual, the rapid rise yeast need to be replaced with about 1 tsp of active dry yeast in this recipe if 'quick baking' setting is not selected. 
3. Bake according to the manual instructions.

This goes to
1. Kiran's CWF-Whole Grains : Barley.
2. Champa's Bake - off event

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