Cranberry Orange Yeast Bread

Instructions

1. In a 73°F kitchen, my dough needed 1.5 hours for the first rise, and 1 hour for the final proof. Your rise times may vary due to different dough and ambient temperatures. See the photo gallery for images of target expansion.

2. Zest a thoroughly washed and dried orange, then squeeze the juice to be part of the liquid that goes into the dough.

3. Holding back the dried cranberries and some of liquid, combine the ingredients in a bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the reserved water-juice mix as needed to make a dough that feels a little too sticky to knead by hand. Some of the excess moisture will be absorbed by the cranberries.

4. Add the dried cranberries to the dough, working them into the dough with your hands.

5. Cover the dough and let it double in size.

6. Dust a work surface with flour and pre-shape the dough into a ball. This will strengthen the gluten and make the final loaf shape more uniform. Cover and let the dough rest about 15 minutes.

7. Flatten the dough into an oval/rectangle, making sure the widest part is still shorter than the length of the loaf pan.

8. Roll the dough into a tube and place it seam side down in a greased or non-stick loaf pan. This recipe is scaled for the medium USA pan, which is 9 x 5 x 2.75 inches. Here is an FAQ on how to scale recipes if your pan is a different size.

9. Cover loosely and allow the dough to rise again until it crests over the edge of the pan.

10. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

11. For a scored crust, cut the dough and then brush the dough with water or milk. Re-score the dough about 7 minutes into the bake to unseal the cut and encourage more oven spring. For a smooth crust, brush the dough with water or milk, don't score and cover the pan with an aluminum foil tent or another pan of the same size. Leave this on for the first twenty minutes of the bake so the crust stays moist and expands without rupturing.