Grab some fresh cranberries and make this Cranberry Orange Bread! It’s a quick loaf bread that is super moist, and it’s a delicious choice to make for a fall breakfast. This recipe makes one loaf, which you can cut into 12 slices and display on a platter for easy grab-and-go.
How to make Cranberry Orange Bread:
Dry ingredients are whisked together in a bowl. This allows the dry ingredients to distribute evenly. In a separate bowl, you’ll combine sugar, water, orange juice, oil, egg and orange zest. Since you’ll be using orange zest anyways, take the time to squeeze a couple of oranges to use freshly squeezed orange juice instead of store-bought. It’s so much better! The wet ingredients are then stirred into the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Don’t over-mix! Fresh cranberries are then stirred in. I like to cut them in half, which is easier to do when they’re frozen. If you’re a fan of nuts, you can stir in chopped walnuts too.
Do cranberries freeze well?
Yes, they do! In fact, I buy several bags of cranberries in the fall so I can keep them all year long. Just throw your bags of cranberries in the freezer. They’ll stay good for a very long time. You can just use them frozen in your recipes and they will thaw out very quickly.
And then you can bake your cranberry orange bread in a loaf pan for 50 to 60 minutes.
How to keep the center of your bread from sinking:
Spraying the bottom-only of a loaf pan helps to prevent the center of the loaf from sinking in the middle. This allows for the batter to cling to the sides of the pan while baking and form a rounded top. Don’t over-mix the batter. Stir the wet and dry ingredients just until they are combined. Use the pan that is suggested for this recipe: a 5×9-inch loaf pan. If you try to use a smaller pan (4×8-inch), it’s not always successful. If there is too much batter in the pan, when it bakes and reaches the top of the pan and still needs to rise… it’s in danger of collapsing in the middle.
Note: The photos here show that my bread sank a little bit in the middle because I didn’t follow my own tips and baked it in a smaller loaf pan! 🙂
The result is a lightly sweetened orange bread that is studded with tart cranberries. It’s wonderful. Enjoy!
Here are a few more bread recipes you might like to try:
Dutch Apple Bread Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Bread Nutella Swirled Banana Bread Applesauce Oatmeal Bread Mom’s Banana Nut Bread Cinnamon Roll Quick Bread Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread Peanut Butter Bread
