Sourdough Cranberry Bread

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Weekly bread baking has continued at our home with even more enthusiasm now that the weather has cooled down and all things cozy are in order. This Sourdough Cranberry Bread is so delicious, especially when a thick slice is toasted and slathered in butter. When I was in college, bagels were all the rage, and I used to go to the college coffee shop and order a cranberry bagel toasted with butter every time. It was the BEST. This bread takes me back! The cranberries definitely give it holiday vibes and it would be perfect for gifting to neighbors and friends.

This recipe makes a lot of bread. I either make two standard-size loaves (10.5 by 5 inches), or one standard-size loaf and four mini loaves (6.75 by 3.75 inches). You can also just make one loaf of bread by cutting the recipe in half. But since it freezes and gifts so well, I like to make two at a time since it’s the same amount of work as making one loaf.

Additional Resources

If you are just starting out your sourdough journey, these are some great places to begin your research. Emilie from The Clever Carrot has a very helpful post about getting started, and a great cookbook to add to your collection. King Arthur Baking has well-written articles, baking supplies, and many recipes.

Let’s make bread! To start our dough, we mix active, bubbly sourdough starter with lukewarm water, measuring precisely in grams with a kitchen scale. Tare or zero the scale in between each addition of honey, oil, salt, flour, and dry malt powder. To this batch, we are also adding our dried cranberries.

These are all the ingredients we need to make sourdough bread! Whisk the ingredients together to form a shaggy dough. You may still have some bits of flour that won’t quite incorporate. You don’t have to worry about getting everything perfectly smooth at this point. Cover the dough, and let it rest for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes have passed, we will start our “stretch and folds”. This will strengthen the gluten in our bread, allowing it to have a good structure and rise well in the oven. I think of the dough in four quadrants for this part. All you need to do is pull each corner of the dough up as far as you can, and then fold it over the top and tuck it under.

Repeat this for the remaining three “quadrants” or corners of the dough. Then cover the dough, and let it rest in a warm place for another hour. Repeat the “stretch and folds”, cover, and rest. And then do it one more time for a total of three “stretch and folds”.

After the third “stretch and fold” the dough is ready for its bulk rise. Cover the dough, and let it rise for 4-12 hours. It needs to double in size, and the warmer the environment is, the faster it will rise.

Note: You can also pause or delay your bread proofing process if needed by keeping the dough in the refrigerator. You can keep it chilled for up to three days before resuming the process and baking. This time in the refrigerator will count as your “bulk rise”, so when you take it out it is ready for shaping.

Once the dough has finished its bulk rise, use a dough scraper to pull it out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Pull it into a loose rectangle shape, trying not to flatten the air out of the dough. Fold the short ends of the rectangle toward the center, and then roll the dough from the long end closest to you to the opposite side. Place the shaped loaf into the greased loaf pan.

Note: This is another point you can delay baking the bread if needed. If you didn’t place the dough in the refrigerator for the bulk rise, you can place the shaped dough into the loaf pans, cover, and chill until ready to bake for up to three days. I usually bake one loaf that day and place one shaped loaf in the fridge to bake three days later.

If you want to bake the same day, then cover the loaf pans, and let them rise in a warm place one more time. This time we need the dough to rise about an inch over the top of the pan.

Notice the difference in the pictures above. On the left is the dough before letting it rise. On the right is about six hours later. This part takes patience. I have sadly ruined a few loaves by baking them too soon. The bread will be very dense and won’t bake all the way through in the allotted baking time.

When the dough is ready to go into the preheated 375 degree oven, move the rack down to the center or lower third so it’s not too close to the heating elements. When it is baked through, the top will be a deep golden brown. Let it cool in the pan for 5-10 minutes and then turn it out onto a cooling rack. If it seems to resist, run a knife around the edges of the pan to loosen it.

Helpful Tools

Kitchen scale – I would not attempt to make sourdough bread without a kitchen scale.

Dough Whisk – This tool is very helpful in bringing any dough together, not just sourdough.

Bowl scraper – I love using a dough scraper because there is less dough waste, and it makes cleaning up easier.

Bench scraper – This tool is helpful in cutting dough into portions, transferring shaped loaves to the pan, and cleaning up a floured work surface. I use this tool almost every day!

Dry Malt Powder – This ingredient is very helpful in giving your breads better lift in the oven. It also helps with flavor and browning. I keep it in the fridge and it lasts a very long time. Some bread flours may already have malt added to them, so check your ingredient label.

Tips and Tricks

Oven Proof Setting

Whenever the dough is rising, it needs to be in a warm place (about 85 degrees). I find that using my oven proof setting is perfect. Usually, I will turn it on for the first hour or two of the rise, and then turn it off, but leave the oven door closed to hold in the warmth. You can also try just keeping the oven light on.

Sourdough Starter

There are a few ways to obtain your sourdough starter. You can ask a friend who keeps a starter for a 1/4 cup or so of theirs, you can buy it online, or you can try to make your own.

When your starter is active and bubbly, you know it’s ready to use. If it has doubled in size since feeding, it’s ready. It will also float on top of the water when you are making your dough.

Bread Flour Versus All-Purpose Flour

I always use bread flour when making sourdough. It has a higher protein content, which will help with gluten formation. This results in a better texture in your baked bread.

Freezing Sourdough Bread

You can freeze a completely cooled, well-wrapped loaf for up to three months with great results. I like to slice my loaves into thick slices and freeze them so that I can just take one slice out at a time and put it straight into the toaster to thaw and toast.

Possible Timelines – One Day

8am – Dough is mixed together

8:30am – Dough has its first rest

9am – Stretch and Fold #1

10am – Stretch and Fold #2

11am – Stretch and Fold #3 and then bulk rise

4pm – Dough is shaped and placed in loaf pans, then second rise

7pm – Dough is ready to bake

7:30pm – Bread is cooling overnight and ready to slice in the morning

Possible Timelines – Two Days

8am – Dough is mixed together

8:30am – Dough has its first rest

9am – Stretch and Fold #1

10am – Stretch and Fold #2

11am – Stretch and Fold #3 and then bulk rise (4-12 hours)

4pm – Dough is shaped and placed in loaf pans, then covered and placed in the fridge until ready to let rise and bake (1-3 days later)

When ready to bake anytime in the next three days, place the shaped dough in a warm place to rise, then bake as directed.

The dough can also be placed in the fridge anytime during the bulk rise, to resume rising at a more convenient time.

Did you make this recipe?

Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and share a picture on Instagram with the hashtag #lovelylittlekitchen

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