Wild Yeast

Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

My New Thanksgiving Cranberry Bread

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[Susan’s note: I first published this post in 2010. Since then, we’ve all had a few more shakeups, and I continue to be thankful beyond words for the family and friends who break bread with me, on Thanksgiving and through the year. ]

This is the recipe I said I would not post. It’s the recipe for the cranberry bread I’ll be serving for Thanksgiving this year.

Three years ago I wrote (and re-posted for the two years following that) about why I never changed Thanksgiving dinner, why it had been the same reliable cranberry bread for years (along with the same turkey, the same stuffing, and the same potatoes), and would be for years to come. It was the recipe from the back of the bag of Ocean Spray cranberries; you could get it there if you wanted it, and I wasn’t about to go messing with it.

So this year, I messed with it, a little. Added some whole wheat flour. Took away some sugar. Made the loaf a little bigger. Converted everything into grams because that just feels better to me. Call it fine tuning.

In the scheme of things, it’s not that big a deal. And by the scheme of things, I mean that for the past year — and for the first time ever in my life — my household has consisted of just me. Throw a new home, graduating from baking school, and becoming adept at toilet repairs into the scheme, and messing with a cranberry bread recipe is just not that big a deal.

It’s all good, because even really fine, reliable traditions can use a little fine tuning every once in a while, and even really fine lives can withstand some major turbulence.  Because even when the bread changes, the house changes, the life changes, and the plumbing breaks, I still have so much to be thankful for. (And if it makes anyone feel any better, I didn’t change the stuffing recipe at all.)

Have a beautiful Thanksgiving, everyone!

Susan

 

 

Cranberry Bread

This bread freezes well. I suggest slicing it before freezing; once thawed, wrap it in foil and put it in a 350F oven for 10 minutes right before serving.

Yield: one 10 x 5-inch loaf

Time:

  • Prep and mix: 15 minutes
  • Bake: 55 minutes

Ingredients:

  • 169 g flour
  • 135 g whole wheat flour
  • 200 g sugar
  • 6.6 g (1-1/8 t.) salt
  • 2.5 g (1/2 t.) baking soda
  • 6 g (1-3/4 t.) baking powder
  • 31 g butter, melted
  • 55 g egg (one large), beaten
  • 195 g orange juice
  • 6 g orange zest (from one medium orange)
  • 188 g cranberries, very coarsely chopped
  • 65 g walnuts, very coarsely chopped

Method:

  1. Preheat the oven to 350F, or 325F if you have a convection setting.
  2. Butter a 10 x 5-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper and butter the parchment.
  3. In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
  4. Add the butter, egg, orange juice, and orange zest; stir to combine.
  5. Add the cranberries and walnuts; stir just until evenly distributed.
  6. Spread the batter in the prepared pan and use a spatula to smooth the top.
  7. Bake for about 55 minutes, until a bamboo skewer poked into the center of the loaf comes out clean.
  8. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then remove and finish cooling on a wire rack.

CommentsLeave a comment

  1. Happy Thanksgiving to you, too- it warms my heart and I am thankful to know that you are still baking, even with minor tweaks to recipes and to life.

    Mark

  2. Hi Susan, almost had a minor anxiety attack when I couldn’t get into your blog yesterday! I must write down your tips and recipes! I have just started baking sourdough bread because I wanted to learn it for awhile and am waiting to hear if I’m successful in getting a work visa and it’s been taking ages so I am in a “stuck” situation where money is tight and I can’t afford to go to a bakingcourse. I have taught myself with great help from your blog, you have been a great inspiration and guide. Just want to wish you happy thanksgiving and thank you for sharing selflessly. I am baking with minor success now and it feels really good to be tactile-making something amazing from my bare hands with just flour and water-cheap ingredients. It gives me a little minor victory in life when the chips are down. We fall and we rise sometimes, just like bread. I wish you the best !

  4. What a pleasure it was to see a blog post after so long. Still regularly go back to Wild Yeast as a reference. Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

  5. Hi Susan – so great to hear from you! I remember fondly our wonderful times at SFBI. Thanks for surfacing again!!!

    Happy Holidays,
    Jeanie Brown

  6. OMG ~ Welcome back – missed your emails very much – so nice to get them again. Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!!

  8. what a wonderful surprise to see a new post from Wild Yeast!

    with a beautiful bread, ‘en plus” 😉

    good to always think the many things we have to feel grateful for – even with all the ups and downs of life

    HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

  9. You’re back! I took some time off from baking so much myself. Have wondered what happened and was so happy to see an email that you posted something new! Happy thanksgiving!

  10. Hi Susan. Great to receive a post from you out of the blue after so long. You probably won’t recall me, but in the earliest stages of my SD adventure I posted a few basic queries about getting a SD starter going in the cold of winter. You helped, and your version of Hamelman’s Vermont SD bread (I think – it’s a while ago now) was my go-to for ages. Also, your blog was my main resource for all sorts of beginner info, and your modus operandi of using a 10L oblong plastic container in which to do the bulk proof is something I adopted and still use.

    Well, I have been baking SD bread, pizza and other goodies for 10 years now, and that’s about how long it’s been since I’ve bought a commercial loaf. The “adventure” has been life-changing, and you are a significant part of it. I thank you. And I wish you all the best for Thanksgiving and the new chapter in your life.

    Cheers
    Ross

  12. HAPPY THANKSGIVING…..
    so happy your back I was sad when you stopped posting on your blog.

    Thank you for all the recipies and teaching me how to make the best bread ever.

    God bless you and yours

  13. Happy Thanksgiving Susan! I am thrilled reading that you are well, and baking! In my kitchen, thoughts of you and your blog are baked into many a bread. You are still inspiring me. Thank you! And I wish you many years to be thankful for.

  15. This is yet another “you have been royally missed” comments, and that comes from my heart. I hope you will stay, but no guilt trip if you need more time off. Sometimes you just needed that for yourself. But please…do come back when you’re ready.

  16. It is wonderfull see a new post.
    I came across your blog in 2015 when I decided learn to bake. I start with panetone because I was craving for the fresh stuff and could not find in my city. It was very intimidate read all those steps but I baked the best panetone ever. I follow to the ts.
    I am here today to read the recipe again bc Christmas is around the corner.
    All the best.

  17. What a pleasant surprise! I came looking for a recipe because I lost my printed copy and was delighted to see a new post. Merry Christmas and I wish you a 2018 filled with joy.

  20. The cranberry loaf sounds delicious. Can I use dried cranberries instead of fresh ones? If I let the dried cranberries soak in some warm water or warm tea before, do you think it will be OK? Thank you.

  22. Hi Susan,
    I will chime in here with the others too with my delight at finding a new posting from you..
    I began my baking odyssey in 2010 over on TFL and was quickly directed to your blog due to my never ending quest for new formulas to try out; what a treasure trove.
    Like others have said, baking has helped me survive these past years in a way I never could have imagined. Want to let you know your were/are a part of that baking community that has helped me keet my wits about me – or what is left of my wits anyway 🙂
    A belated thanks to you because you were ‘gone’ before I ever got to post anything here….I am older and it took me awhile to figure out how to converse this way.

    Anyway, thanks for everything and for your latest formula.
    Take Care,
    Janet

  23. I could make a corny joke about sourdough and life, but as this New Year starts, blessings on your journey as you have blessed mine.

  24. Looking for the recipe for your sourdough cornflour soup bowls, I was surprised and delighted to see your new post. I have been grateful in the years you have been away that you left the blog accessible rather than deleting it as so many others have. Wild Yeast is a marvellous source of recipes and techniques, your own and the huge catalogue of information in ‘Yeastspotting’.
    Now that you have graduated, are you baking full-time/commercially?
    Very best wishes for a happy and peaceful 2018.

  26. I adore your blog and recipes! They have brought so much joy to my life. My family thanks you as well! So delighted to hear from you. Happy New Year! Blessings
    Dana

  30. I am a big fan of your website and my family have enjoyed breads from it on many occasions – baking the whole wheat starter Miche as I write this. Can’t tell you how delighted I am to see that you have posted something new. Thank you!

  31. Just found you and see that I miss out on the party. I have a lot of catching up to do. Thank you for Wild Yeast, and allowing us to come along on the ride. Hope you continue to post.

  33. I too am happy to see a new post. I found this blog a couple months ago (maybe just a few days before this post), when I started to think about creating a sourdough starter. I loved the look of your recipes, and I was sad when I looked at the homepage and saw that the blog looked abandoned. I saved the link anyway so that I could bake what you had posted. I finally got my starter successfully started a couple weeks ago, and am feeding it up for this weekend’s bake, and I decided to come back here to help me find a new recipe. If you decide to come back to your blog I’ll be thrilled, and will move you from the specific recipes subfolder of my food blog folder, to the main list that I check regularly for new content. 😀

  35. Susan, what joy it brings to see that you are posting again. I checked the site often and always sent positive thoughts for whatever was happening. Rock on! Single isn’t so bad as long as we have bread.

    Stephanie (another SFBI grad)

  38. Fresh cranberries or frozen for that matter are not always easy to ind here in New Zealand could you use dried cranberries and rehydrate them some before using them? Sounds a totally yummy recipe

  41. I’m actually planning to do something very similar since one of my friends convinced me to do so, so I’d also greatly appreciate any advice that anyone has on this topic!

  43. Are you really back? I’ve been camping out on your blog for years, waiting for whispers of your beautiful bakes. I am so glad to see you back!!

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