Orange and cranberry bread

Orange and cranberry bread

To be honest I have never seen a fresh cranberry all my life and had never tasted one a few weeks ago. I came across a bright red and shiny pack of dried cranberries while doing my regular grocery shopping. Curious and fascinated I lost no time in buying it and I am glad I did. I have been hooked to it ever since.

I ate it just like that most of the time and added it to salads a couple of times. But never got along baking with it until yesterday evening. For the base flavor I chose Orange .Thinking vanilla would be too standard and I think I got it right as the loaf vanished in no time. I used fresh orange juice to knead the dough and the zest lent a strong flavor which is awesome with the sweet and tart cranberries. The aroma of the oranges lingered long after the bread had been baked and eaten.

The bread tastes very much like a fruit cake albeit a little less sweeter. It makes a wonderful accompaniment to a steaming cup of chai or also to milk, for that matter.

Ingredients

·      60 grams bread flour

·      2 tsp dry yeast

·      1/2 cup lukewarm water

·      1/2 tsp salt

·      orange zest from 2 oranges

·      4 tbsp honey

·      1/4 cup (60 ml) vegetable oil

·      3/4 cup (180 ml) freshly squeezed orange juice

·      3 1/2 cups (420 grams) bread flour

·      3/4 cup frozen cranberries

·      1 tbsp flour

Instructions

1.   In a mixing bowl, combine 60gms of bread flour with yeast and lukewarm water. Mix well and leave it for 5 minutes or till it takes up a sponge like consistency.

2.   To this sponge, add the orange zest, salt, honey, vegetable oil and orange juice. Now use this mixture to knead the dough. Gradually add the three and half cups of flour, combine and then knead for a good ten minutes. The resulting dough should be elastic and smooth.

3.   Place this dough in a greased container, cover and keep in a warm place for it to rise and double in size.

4.   Meanwhile take the remaining tablespoon of flour and sprinkle on the frozen cranberries. Mix to coat the cranberries well so that they don’t settle at the bottom when incorporated in the dough.

5.   Once double in volume, take the dough out of the bowl, place it on a working area, flatten it with your fingers and add the cranberries on top of it. With your hands, start kneading the dough until all the cranberries are incorporated.

6.   Preheat the oven to 200degrees.

7.   Shape the dough into a log and place it in a greased mould.

8.   Bake the bread in preheated oven for about 25-30 minutes or till sounds hollow when knocked.

9.   After baking, I generally like to remove the bread from the mould and cool so that all the moisture from the bottom of the bread gets evaporated and it doesn’t become soggy at the bottom.

10. Make your chai, slice the bread and you are on the staircase to heaven!