With the orange zest and cranberries in the dough, this bread is a TREAT! I gave my friend a loaf the day before her birthday and she texted me, “this is better than birthday cake!”
This dough is the perfect canvas to use for things like French toast or bread pudding. The dough contains more sugar in it leading to a soft end product. Sugar and fat's role in a bread dough is to tighten up the crumb (how big the holes are) as well as make it more tender and extend the shelf life of it being a soft bread.
I love to have a thick slice of this with some jam, next to my warm cuppa. If you want more goodies to have a tea time spread, I recommend some honey-sweetened cut out cookies. And while you've got the jam out, it's perfect on top of plain sourdough scones.
Why You Need This Recipe
- Sourdough is super easy on the tummy, and then add the orange and cranberry and WOW!
- You can easily fit this into your schedule with how much hands-off resting time the dough needs.
- Make extra and freeze so you can repurpose as bread pudding, French toast, anything!
Key Ingredients
Starter - Use an active starter that's hoppin to make bread, or make yourself up a levain 8-12 hours ahead.
Milk - This is where the bulk of our sugar and fat come from, so I don't recommend skimping!
Flour - Using AP or bread flour will keep this light and airy.
Sugar - Granulated sugar to feed our natural yeast as well as add preservatives to the bread.
Add-ins - Grating orange zest adds a good, bright flavour and then the dried cranberries are just sour enough to contrast the sweetness.
How to Make Cranberry Sourdough Bread
***See recipe card below for precise measurements and instructions.***
Step 1: Mix the sugar into your starter to make it happy.
Step 2: Add butter and milk and set aside.
Step 3: Combine dry ingredients plus your mix-ins. Then add wet to dry.
Step 4: Stir until combined. This is a bit wetter of a dough but it should be super gloppy when kneading.
Step 5: Divide into two loaves and let proof in the pans.
Step 6: Bake, swapping the pans around halfway for even baking, then use a thermometer to confirm they are done.
Tips and Tricks
Milk: If you're hard pressed, you can swap in water, but that's removing some fat and sugar. It would be best to add a tablespoon or so each of your fat and sugar (on top of the called-for amounts) to your measuring cup before topping up with water.
Eggs: Got extra eggs? Reduce the milk by 100g and use two eggs stirred into the starter.
Flour: You could go up to half of the amount in whole wheat flour if you truly wanted, but keep in mind it will create a denser loaf.
Mix-ins: Use any dried fruit. You can even sub some of it out for nuts, maybe chopped walnuts?
f you want a new family treat, use this dough as the base for cinnamon rolls. Use my recipe or your own favourite for the filling, rolling, and baking. Add more orange zest to the filling!
FAQs
If you have fed recently, and it is bubbly and doubling, but has not yet begun to fall, you're golden. But I also love to make this as a levain, where I measure out 50 grams starter, 100 grams water, and 125 grams flour and let feed/sour for 8-12 hours before using.
There's nothing worse than slicing into a fresh loaf to find a gummy center. Or as it cools you are watching it sink in the middle. I always, always use a thermometer to tell if my bread is done. You can't go by colour! And while it is usually hollow-sounding when thumped, I prefer to use the scientific method of checking for at least 180°F in the center.
You can do it either like muffins and coat them in flour first, or you can mix in at the end with the wet ingredients. Because bread dough is sticky, compared to a wet muffin batter, the cranberries suspend just fine no matter when you mix them in. They won't be sinking to the bottom like you risk in muffins or quick breads!
Photos by Dante from Shire by the Sea
More Sourdough Recipes
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Cranberry Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
- 250 grams active starter see notes
- 125 grams sugar or swap for 60 grams honey
- 50 grams butter, lard, or oil
- 500 grams milk see notes
- 10 grams salt
- 650 grams all-purpose or bread flour
- Zest of 1 orange
- 120 grams dried cranberries or other dried fruit
Instructions
- Mix starter and sugar in a bowl.
- Warm butter in a pan, then add milk and salt when butter is melted (about body temp, almost like for dry yeast).
- Mix milk and starter mixtures together.
- Add flour, zest, and cranberries and stir til roughly combined.
- Let sit for 20-30 minutes then knead until smooth. Add some extra flour if needed. It should be a little sticky but not gloppy.
- Let rise until doubled. This depends on house temp and how active your starter is, about- 6-12 hours.
- Shape 2 loaves. Let rise until doubled again, about 2-3 hours.
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Bake for 40 minutes, and I turn the loaves around halfway. They should be about 180°F with an instant read thermometer on the inside to know they are done baking.
Notes
- On your starter: I recommend feeding 50g starter with 100g water and 125g flour 8-12 hours before you want to make this like a levain/preferment method. Use this OR use 250 grams of starter alone at time of mixing.
- Milk is best, but if you swap in water I'd add more butter and sugar to make up for it, a tablespoon or so of each to your measuring cup before adding water.
Bonnie Elder
This is delicious! It's definitely a winner. I can't believe how easy this is. I'm a baker from way back, and I'm just now getting into sourdough. Right now I'm waiting for my jalapeno cheese bread to rise.
Meg
How long should I need?
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It's best to knead until you can do the "windowpane" test. Or usually around 10 minutes.