Cinnamon Cranberry Bread

Just like how I was late to the matching lounge set party, I’m late to the make your own bread party. I saw so many people making bread, especially sourdough, when quarantine first started, but I just never did. But, I was sent an advanced copy of the new book, Bread, recently and I had to try to make something out of it! The cookbook is actually out today!

One of the recipes in the book is Cinnamon Raisin Bread, but I didn’t have raisins I used dried cranberries and made Cinnamon Cranberry Bread instead. I took photos of the whole process, but you’ll have to check out to book for the exact recipe!

For this recipe you’ll need:

dark raisins and golden raisins (I used dried cranberries)
dried currants (I didn’t use these either)
brandy (I used orange juice)
water
light brown sugar
active dry yeast
all-purpose flour
ground cinnamon
kosher salt
bread flour
1 egg
turbinado sugar (I didn’t have turbinado, but used sugar still)

After all the mixing and kneading, I let my dough rise in a covered bowl in my oven. It wasn’t on, but it’s warmer than leaving it out in the kitchen where there’s a draft. After about 2 hours, it doubled in size and was ready for me to divide it and braid it. My dough braiding skills need work, but it worked well enough. Then after brushing it with an egg wash and sprinkling it with sugar, I covered it again and let it proof. I baked it at 375 for 30 minutes. You’ll know it’s done with it is golden and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom.

The recipe says to soak the raisins (dried cranberries for me) in brandy overnight or for at least a few hours. I soaked them in orange juice overnight.

It came out great! I had a bad batch the day before (it didn’t rise enough and was too dense) but the 2nd time was much better. It tastes just like a cranberry walnut bread that my dad used to buy when he worked in the city before he retired. Next time I’m going to add in walnuts!

Bread is available now and has 100 recipes!