Cranberry Walnut Artisan Bread

This cranberry walnut artisan bread is perfect for cozy fall mornings at home. A quick starter packs plenty of flavor and gives our bread a beautiful rise with a crust that just won’t quit. Little hands on time means you can have a great bread with little effort.

There are endless way to make a bread. This technique to this cranberry and walnut boule is one of my favorites. I use a quick starter method (sometimes called a sponge, biga or poolish) to give lots of depth of flavor and a little kneading because I genuinely find it fun to punch around some dough now and then!

Not interested in kneading dough today? That’s OK too. Give a no-knead bread a try, like this rosemary and garlic bread or pepperoni bread.

Ingredients

We only need a handful of ingredients for our bread. I started with a more complicated version with brown sugar and walnut oils and I created a cake, whoops, not a bread! So I fine tuned and landed on this delish crusty bread.

• Bread flour. I nearly always prefer bread flour. I use King Arthur Flour bread flour which has a high protein count and makes for a really strong bread.
• Whole wheat flour. A little whole wheat flour in the starter helps to feed the yeast and gives us a great starting point.
• Instant yeast. Yeast can be found in almost any grocery store baking aisle. Usually on the top shelf in little packets. Store the extras in the freezer to keep the yeast active for literal years.
• Salt. Bread is awful without the salt. Please don’t skimp on this.
• Ground cinnamon. Technically this is optional, but it really pairs well with the cranberries and walnuts.
• Dried cranberries. Do not use fresh cranberries, they are too wet. I used lightly sweetened dried cranberries, but you can use unsweetened too.
• Walnuts. Buy whole or prechopped, but be sure to give them a toast before adding to the dough to bring out the flavor.

Substitutions

This bread is very customizable:

• Not a cranberry fan? Use raisins, dried apricots or even chocolate chips (yes, I said that) instead.
• Instead of walnuts try pecans or pistachios.
• Leave either out if you like too!

Sponge

I mentioned above this bread uses a sponge-style starter. There are many different types of starters, like bigas, levain, poolish, or you’ve probably heard most about sourdough starter. The type heavily relies on the amount of liquid to flour (that’s called the baker’s percentages).

I am not going to get in the weeds on a bunch of ratio math here today. You’re welcome. But a quick note to take – the more water to flour the more open your bread will be. It will also be harder to work with.

So what is a sponge? It’s kinda like it sounds. It’s a soupy, airy mixture of a little flour, water and yeast that acts as a fermentation KICK START to our bread. By letting this sponge sit for about 3 hours, we let tons of flavor and gases build up with zero effort.

Our sponge is going to be very soupy, but don’t worry, we are going to add more flour before working with this.

Turning the Sponge into Bread

Once our sponge has had a chance to do it’s thing, it’s time to turn it into something we can work with. This is not a very airy dough because we want something the cranberries and walnuts can stick to!

We are going to add a relatively decent amount of flour in the baker’s percentage world. It will make the bread easy to knead, no extra flour should be necessary on the table.

The bread will start looking a little rough and craggy, but as you knead, you will see the dough become elastic and smooth. You should be able to hold a little section of the dough up and stretch it thin enough to see the light shine through.

Kneading Methods

There’s two ways I like to knead bread. And I switch back and forth while working, 10 minutes is a long time! Just make sure you are always using both hands or you are doing half the job as my culinary professor would say.

Method 1. With your dominant hand, pull the farthest edge of the dough to the middle and press down and away. You are basically smooshing the dough in half. Use the palm and base of your hand instead of your fingertips to really add strength. Using your second hand, turn the dough about a quarter turn and repeat. And repeat and repeat until your dough is smooth.

Method 2. Using the palm of one hand, push the dough diagonally across the table, letting the dough roll slightly beneath. Switch to your other hand and push the other direction, criss-crossing in front of you.

Everyone has their own kneading technique, if you end up with a smooth dough, your technique is perfect!

Adding Fillings

Near the end of your kneading work, it’s time to add the fillings and prepare for the bulk ferment. The bulk ferment is the initial rise of the dough before it is properly shaped.

To add the fillings, stretch the dough out as flat as possible. Scatter the cranberries and toasted walnuts to nearly the edge and roll the dough as if you were making a cinnamon roll.

Tuck the edges in to seal the filling inside and create a ball shape again. Continue kneading until the fillings feel settled and the dough is smooth.

Let the dough bulk ferment until it can be poked and the hold does not rebound. The dough should be approximately doubled in size.

Shaping & Baking

Once your dough has a chance to rise, it’s time for the final shaping and prepping for the oven.

Gently deflating the dough slightly will remove the gas pockets and release the carbon dioxide and allow for a better final rise. You may have heard the term “punching” down the dough. Please don’t literally, just a gentle smoosh down will do.

The final shaping the key to a tall, lovely loaf. It’s important to get the dough very taught for a good oven spring.

I gently punch the dough down into a rectangle shape. Gently. Then I fold the dough into a letter shape, fold in the two sides to create a ball and flip.

Rotate and pull the dough toward you for a twisting motion that creates a lot of tension.

When the dough is ready to bake, I like to lightly dust the top with a little flour (for that artisan look) and give one deep slice for the classic boule style.

The slice is more than just decorative, it gives a controlled place for the gas to escape when baking so you don’t end up with a burst side!

Steam Baking

Commercial ovens have steam injections that create that crazy crusty shell. We will create a similar environment with a hot pan (old cast iron is great) and water.

Helpful Tools

There’s a few things that I recommend for bread making to make a life easier, but nothing is required!

• Danish dough whisk. Great for combining bread ingredients. A wooden spoon or spatula will also work.
• Bread lame. Used for scoring the dough. A sharp paring knife will also work, but a lame is much thinner and can cut more deeply and cleanly. It’s one of the best, inexpensive investments you can make for your loaves. Just don’t be tempted to use an x-acto or razor blade that is not food grade. They usually have a non-edible coating.
• Silicone baking mat or bread sling. Parchment paper will also work, but this will ensure no sticking and no concerns over the high-baking temperatures.
• Cast iron. Any heavy pan will work for the steam, or you can spritz in water with a spray bottle every few minutes. But a cast iron will keep it’s heat really well and keep the steam going. A cheap cast iron pan from an antique store is great for this.
• Digital thermometer. Great for testing the internal temperature of the bread.