Orange Cranberry Bread

Cranberries and oranges make up an excellent combination. An orange cranberry cake that I had made few days back, was absolutely moist and flavorful. You may also check out the recipe of orange cupcakes. But when you can recreate almost similar taste and flavour in a yeast bread with less sugar and fat content, isn’t that wonderful? Since I have started baking breads, I read lot of recipes on various blogs and try to make them in my own style. One such in my to-do list was this

orange cranberry bread. You may shape this as a loaf or make it like a braided bread. Either way it’s going to look and taste spectacular.

The method to make this bread is very similar to any other bread. You can use any flour of your choice. But honestly, sweet breads taste better with all purpose flour. But a small amount of whole wheat flour is surely not going to make much difference and will definitely help us to reduce our guilt of using refined flour. Knead the flour with orange juice. You can add orange zest for additional flavour. You can even add some finely chopped candied orange peel along with the cranberries. You can replace cranberries with raisins or sultanas or black currants.

Since there are not many takers for sweet breads at my place, I have made a small loaf. You can double the recipe and make a standard 9 by 4 inches loaf. Of using fresh yeast, use around 1.5 to 2 teaspoon (around 6-8 gm) and activate it before adding to the flour. I have used 240 ml cup. Try to use fresh orange juice. The sweetness can be increased or decreased by a tablespoon or so. And lastly, do not forget to share your feedback with me. Happy baking.

Ingredients:

• All purpose flour 150 gm
• Whole wheat flour 50 gm
• Milk powder 1 tbsp
• Salt to taste
• Sugar 1-2 tbsp
• Instant yeast 1/2 tsp
• Orange juice 1/2 cup (120 ml)
• Milk 2-3 tbsp
• Butter 1-2 tbsp
• Orange marmalade 1-2 tbsp
• Orange zest 1 tsp
• Cranberries 1/4 cup

Method:

• Mix the flours, salt, sugar, milk powder and instant yeast in a big mixing bowl. (If you are using active dry yeast, then take around 1 tsp of active yeast and activate it using a spoon of sugar and 3 tbsp of lukewarm water. Once the mixture gets frothy, add it to the dry ingredients).

• Squeeze the juice of one big orange.
• Add the orange juice to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Also add the zest of one orange to the mixture
• Slowly add lukewarm milk and start kneading the dough.
• Add butter in between and knead using the stretch and fold method.
• The dough should be very soft, elastic and supple. Knead around 10-12 minutes till it’s bouncy.
• Transfer the dough into an oiled bowl and cover it with a moist towel.

• Allow the dough to double in size. The dough might take more time to double because of the sweet content I sugar and orange juice.
• Meanwhile chop the cranberries into small pieces.
• Grease a small loaf with butter and keep it ready. I have used a small 7 by 3 inches bread tin.
• Once the dough is doubled, punch out the gases and knead for a minute.
• Roll it neatly into a rectangle. Now smear the rectangle with the orange marmalade.

• Sprinkle the chopped cranberries on top.

• Roll the rectangle into a tight loaf and pinch the ends.

• Place the rolled loaf into the bread tin and press it so that it fills the tin evenly.

• Cover with a big dome like lid or place the tin in a big plastic wrap and allow it to double in size.

• Meanwhile preheat the oven at around 180-190 degree Celsius for atleast 10 minutes.
• Bake the bread for 30-35 minutes or till it looks done. If the top gets browned too quickly, cover with a parchment paper or aluminium foil.
• Remove the bread from the oven and allow it to cool in the tin for say 3-4 minutes.
• Transfer the bread onto a cooling rack and apply some butter on top.

• Cover the bread with a moist towel while it’s cooling. Cool for atleast 3-4 hours before slicing.
• Slice and enjoy it.