Tuesday, December 08, 2009

Orange Cranberry Raisin Walnut Bread

Have you start your Christmas baking yet? I’ve already baked my fruitcakes and now it is sitting on my kitchen counter aging away. I will give it a dose of rum every now and then until I cut into it on Christmas day. Yea, I am a fruitcake fan but not the pre-packed kind that you get from the supermarket shelves. I just hate those fruitcakes. I only like the homemade kinds with loads of fruits in it. You can check out my fruitcakes recipe here

Before I can have some of my fruitcake, I baked this Orange Cranberry Raisin Walnut bread to get over my craving. This loaf with the flavor of cranberry, raisin and a hint of citrus fragrant tasted great when toasted and with a little spread of butter they are just perfect for breakfast.

Ingredients:

2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tbsp milk powder
3 Tbsp butter, at room temperature
1 cup water, lukewarm
Zest of an orange
2 tsp active dry yeast
3 tbsp sugar
1tsp salt
½ roughly walnuts, toasted
1 cup cranberries
1 cup raisins

1. Sprinkle the yeast to the lukewarm water, stir well and leave it to froth for about 5 min.
2. Place the hook attachment to the mixer. In a mixing bowl, add in the flours, sugar, milk powder, salt and orange zest. Mix well. Slowly add in the yeast mixture. Knead until the dough pulled away from the bowl.
3. Add in the butter, cranberries, raisins and walnuts. Continue to knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.
4. Form the bread and place them on a baking sheet and cover again and let it rise again to double its size.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 400 degree F. Bake the bread until golden brown and sound hollow when tapped with your fingers.


Note : The winner for the Xagave Giveway is comment No: 5


I will get in touch with you Zoe.

17 comments:

Reanaclaire said...

wow..u have another great blog over here.. i think i gonna visit here more often.. will u now in my caring blog..

3 hungry tummies said...

wow you are so organised :)

tracieMoo said...

It looks great, soft and fluffy even with whole wheat flour. I love breads.. Yum.

ann low said...

Now is already past midnight. Can I have some of this fresh bread for my morning breakfast?

HS Kitchen And Hobby said...

Hi, This is my first time visit your blog. Your blog is great! This bread looks so yummy. Thanks for sharing.

Cat Cat said...

Gert,
I haven't started baking christmas cookies yet - I think I'm going to bake some sugar cookies with ginger breadman shape for the girls.. Hope they will like it.

Elin Chia said...

Gert, I haven't started anything yet but this weekend will be baking the fruitcake using your recipe :p. I have looking around a few but since you recommended this, I will try yours out :)) Dark rum, what brand should I use?

Ohhh please do get me some of the herbs seed that you think will be able to survive in our hot climate :) Thanks in advance :))

Sonia ~ Nasi Lemak Lover said...

This bread look healthy and yummy, today I baking some gingerman cookies.

Ju (The Little Teochew) said...

WOW! Your bread looks really nice. Like you, I hate those storebought fruitcakes. Waiting to see pic of your homemade version. Sounds delicious already.

Food For Tots said...

This is such a wholesome bread incorporating all the healthy ingredients. Perfert for my breakfast too!

Cheah said...

This bread looks delicious and healthy too. I've never used the dough hook eversince I had my mixer, normally make bread with breadmaker. Think high time I should try out the dough hook. Thanks for sharing this recipe.

Noob Cook said...

looks really wholesome & healthy!

ICook4Fun said...

Reanaclaire, thank you.

3 hungry tummies, thank you.

TracisMoo, this bread is not as soft but it tasted great when toasted.

Anncoo, too bad you are so far away if not I will share it with you :)

HS, thanks for stopping by and thank you.

Cat, I just baked the cake but not the cookies yet.

Elin, you can use any type of rum or brandy. I will get tbe herbs seed for you.

Sonia, this bread is pretty healthy especially with all the nut, dried fruits in it.

Ju, I hate those fruitcakes. Too sweet and too much fruits in it.

Foof for Tots, thank you.

Cheah, I used the dough hook as I don't have a bread machine :)

Noobcok, thank you.

Little Corner of Mine said...

Looks great and I bet your fruitcake tastes delicious! I think I am getting lazy. :P

Lyly said...

I've tried to make this bread last week. The bread came out with great taste but some in the midle of bread still not cook through even thought I bake it 30 minute and out side almost burn :( It does not look good as your bread. Could you please advise what did I do wrong?

ICook4Fun said...

Lyly, may I know what type of oven you used? Is it the little counter top oven? Every oven works differently. Maybe the next time you can lower down the temperature to 350 degree F and if the top get too brown you can always cover it with a foil.

lyly said...

Thank you for your reply. I use the big oven, not the counter top one. I forgot to ask you that in your recipe, you just proof the bread for 1 time only and bake? not twice like other recipe? Please advise.