Skip the bakery, make our Crusty and Chewy Cranberry Walnut Bread right at home! This easy No-Knead recipe requires just 7 ingredients with almost no hands on time. It’s the perfect artisan bread for your Thanksgiving and Christmas spreads!

 

I know many are intimidated when they think about making homemade bread. If that happens to be you, let me change your mind. This Cranberry Walnut Bread made with yeast is so incredibly simple. In fact, I would say it is a great “beginners bread”.
This artisan yeast bread recipe is as simple as my No Knead Dutch Oven Bread Recipe.

After making this No Knead Cranberry Walnut Bread, you will realize how simple it is to make homemade yeasted bread. The loaf is basically a no fail, foolproof recipe with a perfectly crispy crust, springy interior and tasty flavors. Just take the time to read my post for tips and suggestions for making this bread the BEST! Ok, enough of my gabbing about how easy it is to make, ha ha.

I LOVE Cranberry Nut Bread all year long. The crusty exterior, slightly sweet interior from the honey, bit of crunch from the walnuts and the sweet tart craisins mingle in perfect harmony. It’s perfect for toasting in the toaster and enjoying with honey butter, Homemade Cinnamon Butter or with my Raspberry Jam. During the holidays, this is the prefect crusty homemade bakery-style bread for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

It’s best to make homemade artisanal bread in a pre-heated dutch oven with added ice cubes. Dutch ovens retain their heat. This simulates the high temperature steam ovens used in most commercial bakeries. Using this process will allow your Walnut Cranberry bread to rise and form spring as well as a delicious crisp crust.
If you do not have a dutch oven, place your bread dough loaf on/in whatever high heat tolerant pan you can that can have another deep pan or lid on top that will allow the bread to “rise”. Do not forget the ice cubes.

Cranberry Walnut Bread Ingredients

Easy bread recipes like this Cranberry and Walnut Bread with honey are great because they don’t need many ingredients to make them. A lot of these are staple pantry ingredients and you might even have walnuts and cranberries on hand already if you love holiday and fall baking recipes. Just in case you need to make a quick grocery run, here’s all you need:

• Flour – You can go with an all-purpose flour or a bread flour here. I like to use King Arthur Organic Bread Flour. The reason for this is… flour is the main ingredient in bread making, this is where the bread gets it’s structure. What is the difference between bread flour and all-purpose flour? Bread flour tends to have more protein in it, which gives bread that “chewier” bread texture.
• Sea Salt – In a pinch- get it, like a pinch of salt- you could use any other sort of iodized or table salt instead. I use Redmond Real Ancient Sea Salt for my bread recipes as it is what most high end bakers tend to use.
• Instant Yeast – Avoid using any expired instant yeast packets you have tucked in the back of your spice cabinet. They might still work, but the bread won’t rise as fast or as strong. The brand I use is Saf Red Instant yeast. I have found it to be my favorite yeast to use when baking.
• Chopped Walnuts – Any store brand or name brand walnuts will be completely fine. If you only have whole walnuts, go ahead and chop those up into pieces.
• Dried Cranberries – You can usually find these sold at stores as “Craisins.” I DO NOT recommend fresh cranberries. The water content in fresh fruit will make your dough much sticker to work with. You could additionally consider using raisins if you are not much of a craisin fan.
• Honey – Go with your favorite brand. I used a Cotsco organic that my family likes. The honey adds just a very small touch of sweet, and also gives the bread a bit of springy texture.
• Warm Water – your goal is about 95 degrees for this bread recipe. We will let the bread rise much slower than other yeasted breads.

See recipe card for quantities.

How to make Cranberry and Walnut Bread

If you’ve made a lot of homemade bread then the process for making our Cranberry Walnut Bread should come pretty easily. As an added bonus, this is a no knead bread recipe- which makes it even easier! But, if you’re not an experienced bread maker, don’t worry- here’s all you have to do, step-by-step:

• Add flour, salt, and instant yeast to a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.

• Over in a measuring cup, measure warm water and add honey. Stir to mix in.

• Pitch chopped walnuts and craisins into bowl with dry ingredients. Stir with a rubber or wooden spatula to combine.

• Add honey water in with the dry ingredients.

• Use a wooden or rubber spatua to mix everything together into a sticky dough. Once mixed, shape bread dough into a ball (dough will stick to your hands. No mixer needed here. Do not be tempted to add more flour. As mentioned this dough will be VERY sticky.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap.

• Let dough rise at room temperature for at least 12 hours– 18 at most or 24 if you want to let rise in the fridge. You are looking for the dough to roughly double in size with lots of air bubbles. If you have a warmer kitchen, your time for doubling will be less. Allowing the dough to ferment requires no effort. Just set it and forget it while it is fermenting.

• After rising the dough will still be very sticky. Dust your hands with just a small amount of flour. Turn dough onto floured surface. Work and shape into a ball/loaf firmly but gently too. I shaped into a ball. If you have an oplong artisanal bread baker, feel free to shape into a loaf.

• Set loaf on sheet of parchment and transfer back into bowl. Let rest for 30 minutes.

• Using a knife, kitchen scissors or bread lame, score the top of your loaf.

• Carefully transfer loaf and parchment to a preheated dutch oven, carefully slide 3-4 ice cubes underneath parchment, and replace lid. Move to a preheated 475 degree oven and bake for 25 minutes.

• After first 25 minutes, remove dutch oven lid and let bake until bread is a golden brown color and/or 195 degrees internal temperature. This will take about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack for at least 3 hours before cutting and serving. I personally like to let my homemade breads cool for at least 4-5 hours before slicing. If you cut your bread to early, you may have a “gummy” texture to your bread.

Storage / Freezing

Storage: Once you’ve finished baking your Cranberry and Walnut Bread, you’ve got a few options for storing it. You can store it in a bread bag or air-tight container on the counter for 3-5 days. Alternatively, you can keep it in the fridge in a similar manner for 5-7 days.

Freezing: Freezing bread is another strong option for longer term storage. Let the bread cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap and/or aluminum foil. Keep frozen for 3-6 months and either let thaw in the fridge or warm back up in a low oven.

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