Cranberry Walnut Bread with Sourdough Discard

4.45 from 9 votes

Cranberry Walnut Bread with Sourdough Discard

Mom's favorite Cranberry Walnut Bread recipe, golden crust filled with cranberries, walnuts, and sourdough discarded for a moist center.

Prep Time4

Cook Time40

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings:

Calories: 204kcal

Author: Lizzy Cascalheira

Equipment

6-quart dutch oven
use parchment paper
oven mitts - good ones!
stand mixer with hook

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

2 cups all purpose flour ¼ cup for floured surface or 3 tablespoons as needed
1 cup bread flour
2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 teaspoons sea salt
½ cup chopped walnuts

Wet Ingredients

1 cup dried cranberries - soak in hot water
1 cup water at room temperature add ¼ cup water if needed
3 tablespoons honey
½ cup sourdough starter this will make it ferment and moist

Instructions

In a large bowl, place the cranberries with hot water, and let them soak for 10 minutes.
Take the large mixing bowl of the mixer add all of the wet ingredients and mix all together.
Add flour, one cup at a time and mix, then add the rest, including the walnuts and mix on low speed on the mixer.
Drain the cranberries and place into the flour mixture until they're distributed evenly throughout.
The dough should feel wet and sticky at this time. Oil a casserole dish with a lid, place the dough and cover for 15 minutes.
Wet your hands then grab the edge of the dough to start the sets of stretch. Pull one end up, stretching it out as you pull upwards. Then place the dough that is in your hands back into the center. Turn the bowl a quarter turn repeat another stretch and fold. Place back in the bowl with the cover and wait 15 minutes each time to complete 4 rounds of stretch and folds.
Place the dough in a large bowl with plastic wrap and shower cap and place in a warm place. (My bread took 2 hours for the bread rise to double in size. This will depend on the weather and the temperature in the home.)
After the dough has risen once, preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place a larger Dutch oven with the lid on into the oven and let it heat up with the oven temperature.
On a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, put some flour in the hands and remove the dough gently from the bowl so as not to disturb too many of the air bubbles. Shape the dough into a loaf or round shape depending on the shape of the Dutch oven pot.
Once you have a shaped dough, let the dough rest for a second rise on the flour parchment paper. Cover with a tea towel or a plastic cake cover with a lid and let the dough rise for about 1 hour. The preheated oven should be on along with the pot inside at this time so it can warm up.
Flour the top of the loaf and spread evenly. Take a razor or a knife and make a crisscross design so it can inflat in the oven.
Remove the preheated pot from the oven lift the lid and place it on the side.
Carefully grab the parchment paper to put evenly in the center of the pot. Squirt some water on the inside side of the pot so it can steam inside when the bread is cooking.
Place the lid on the pot and return it to the oven for about 20 to 30 minutes depending on your oven. Don't open the oven during this time.
After 30 minutes have passed, remove the lid from the pot and continue baking for another 15 minutes. Once it is golden brown on top, which is about 15 minutes, remove the bread from the pot and let it cool on a wire rack to cool.
Wait until the bread cools a bit before cutting a slice. The bread continues to bake on the inside after it has been removed from the oven. If cut too soon the slice can be gummy inside.
Serve with butter or honey and enjoy!

Video

Notes

I don't use fresh cranberries because they can be too soar for the bread.
Orange zest or orange juice can be used to give it more of a seasonal taste. Add the grind and squeeze the orange just substitute the ½ the water portion of the recipe.
I always talk about bake time on my blog because ovens are so different from one another. The best way to find the temperature of the oven is to keep the temperature inside when cooking.
This bread is wet so depending on the climate add 1 tablespoon of flour at a time

Nutrition