Orange Cranberry Walnut Bread

My inspiration to try this bread came from my daughter.  She recently started eating these cranberry and raisin crisps from Ace Bakery that we bought at Loblaws. I tried them and they were extremely addictive. I figured this could be something we could make at home. Well, the first step was for me to first be able to bake a similar bread that could later be sliced and crisped.

My bread making prowess is limited to a bread machine. I have made the odd banana and zucchini bread in the past, but never just a plain bread. I decided to start with this Orange Cranberry Raisin Walnut Bread I saw on My Kitchen Snippets. I made a few changes to the original recipe. I did not add any raisins as I did not have any. I also split the dough in half and made 2 loaves, and made one without walnuts for my daughter.

I was disappointed that the cranberries and walnuts seem to be more on the outside rather than the inside. I think it might have been caused by me making 2 loaves and rolling them longer than they should have been. My other disappointment was the bread crumbled a bit when sliced. Again, this might be attributed to the thinness of the loaves. Remember I was still hoping to create these crisps. Next time, I will try just making a single larger loaf as well chopping up the cranberry into smaller pieces and leaving out the orange zest for the kids. Despite all this, the bread did taste great!

Orange Cranberry Walnut Bread
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups bread flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 tablespoons milk powder
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1 cup water, lukewarm
Zest of an orange
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup roughly walnuts, toasted
1 cup cranberries

Directions:
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 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.