At the end of March, , a baker near us at Riverside Lodge in Provo, shared a bread recipe with our readers. Now she shares her recipe for cranberry and almond sourdough that I imagine would make great hot-cross buns, just in time for Easter.

Cranberry and  Almond Sourdough Bread Recipe for 2 Loaves

Ingredients

Cynthia’s Directions
  • scant 5 cups (608 g) warm water*
  • ⅔ cup (167 grams) sourdough starter
  • 1 cup (110 g) sugar**
  • 1 ¼ heaping cups (160 g) whole wheat flour
  • 5 cups (640 g) bread flour
  • 1 scant Tbl (16 g) salt
  • 1 cup (150 g) cranberries or raisins
  • 1 scant cup (100 g) sliced almonds or other nuts
  1. Put sourdough starter and water in bowl and mix all together with your hand. Add flour and mix until flour is all incorporated.
  2. Cover tightly. Let sit 30 minutes to 2 hrs covered.
  3. Add the salt to the top of the dough and mix it up the best you can with one set of stretch and folds. 
  4. Do one more set of stretch and folds, 30-45 minutes apart.
  5. On the second stretch and fold, add the fruit and nuts. Don’t worry if all the fruit/nuts don’t get mixed in right now. They will on the next stretching. Do 1-2 more stretch and folds every 30 minutes. If my dough seems strong, I skip the last; if it seems limp I might add another.
  6. Let the covered dough ferment on the counter or in the oven with the light on in the same bowl for another 2 hours until it is about 1.5 times the size (if my kitchen is cold, I can let it go 3 hours).
  7. Divide dough in half and pre-shape the dough on a lightly floured board into a round. Let sit for 20 minutes covered.
  8. Shape loaves as desired and put into well-floured banneton baskets or floured cloth-lined bowl. (Cloth should be a tea towel or other lint-free towel.)
  9. Place bannetons in a plastic bag that you “blow up” with air, secure it closed with twist-tie. Put in fridge overnight to bake the next day.
    Or to bake the same day, let dough rise another 2 hours, then bake right away.
  10. 30-45 minutes before you are going to bake, turn oven to 475°F (246°C) and place baking vessels in the oven. (Either a dutch oven, combo cooker or cloche). I use cloche bakers.
  11. Score the loaf and place bread in the pan. I use parchment paper to transfer to the pan.
  12.  Bake covered at 475 for 25 minutes and remove the cover. Turn oven down to 400°F (2o5°C). Continue to bake for 15-20 minutes until bread reaches an internal temp of 205°F (96°C). (You might need to play with the temp and time depending on your oven.)

    *This is a 76% hydration dough, increase or decrease to your desired percentage.
    **To make this a regular sourdough, eliminate sugar, fruit, and nuts.

Cynthia says this sourdough “is about as good as it gets for bread—homemade, slightly tangy, chewy crumb. And that crust.

“This is not a normal bread recipe with commercial yeast that is fluffy and soft, made in your mixer, and done start to finish in a few hours. This will take all day or up to 24 hours. It is mostly hands-off, but you do need to be around to stretch and fold the dough. It is artisan bread, made the old-fashioned way.”

In the comment section below, tell us about your favorite Easter/Passover holiday bread recipes.

Author: —I sure love cooking, sewing, my kids, modern machine embroidery, and decorating. I started meringuedesigns.net in 2007, a great place for modern embroidery designs. I live in Utah but I’ll always be a California girl. Visit her blog Deep Thoughts by Cynthia for more baking ideas.