In-between

Walnut Cranberry Bread

Tell me a greater joy than biting into a hunk of still warm, freshly baked bread. Maybe biting into a hunk of still warm, freshly baked bread dipped into olive oil. But that’s about it. When Sajjad was travelling a couple of months ago, he ate a walnut cranberry bread at a restaurant and couldn’t stop talking about it. When I mentioned it to mum, she wanted to replicate it, and this is her version.

RECIPE: Walnut Cranberry Bread

Ingredients
2 cups flour 
2 tbsp milk powder
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast 
1 tsp salt 
1/2 cup water
1 egg 
40 g unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped into small pieces
1/2 cup dried cranberries 

Method
If using a food processor, add the flour, yeast, milk powder, sugar, salt, egg and water and process until it forms a sticky dough. Add butter towards the end, and process again. Use a dough hook. 

If mixing by hand, to a small bowl, add the water, yeast, egg, milk powder, sugar, butter, salt and give it a quick stir.

In another, large mixing bowl, add the flour. Pour the wet ingredients into this and mix to create a sticky dough. 

Transfer to a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. 

Move it into a bowl with deep that has been oiled. Cover and allow to proof for an hour or until it has doubled. 

Once risen, divide into 2, and roll each of these into a smooth ball. Cover and rest for another 15 minutes. 

Now, using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a rectangle that is 1/2 inch thin. 

Add half the cranberry and walnut mixture to each of the rectangles, and then folding from one short corner to another, form an oblong shape. Pinch the edges and underside closed. 

Proof again for 45 minutes. 

Bake at 180 C until browned on the outside.