Cranberry Ginger Loaf

Cranberry Ginger Loaf

Adapted from Beyond Basics with

 Natural Yeast by Melinda Richardson

Yield 2 loaves

Ingredients

2 ½ C Water

½ C starter

2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp. coconut oil

¼ C Honey

1 tsp ground ginger (or to taste)

5-6 C whole wheat flour

1 C quartered fresh cranberries

Setting up the Dough (at least 10 hours before baking)

Combine the water, starter, salt, coconut oil, honey and ginger in a mixer.

Add the flour 2 cups at a time allowing the mixer to incorporate the flour before adding more.

Continue adding flour until the dough cleans the sides of your mixer bowl.  (There may be residual bits near the top and here and there along the sides, but the lower half of the bowl should be clean.)

Once the sides have cleaned, allow the dough to knead for 10 minutes.

While the bread is kneading, prepare your cranberries.  I use the quartered berries as they are but here are a few tips: If you want your berries to bleed more color into your loaf, toss them lightly in a tablespoon of sugar and let them sit for a few minutes before adding them to the dough.  For less bleeding, toss the in a tablespoon of flour before adding them.

A few minutes before the end of kneading, dump your cranberries into the mixing bowl.

When the dough has been kneaded long enough to pass the windowpane test, remove the dough and make sure any loose berries and all flour is incorporated.  Knead a little by hand if needed.

Place the dough into a greased bowl with a lid, greased plastic wrap or wet towel.  Make sure towel doesn’t dry out during sponge time.

Place on the countertop to rise overnight or all day. (6-12 hours)

Does your starter need to be fed?  Now is the time!

After a minimum of 6 hours, turn the dough out of the bowl onto your work surface.

Use a dough scraper or sharp serrated bread knife to cut the dough into 2 equal pieces.

Set pieces aside and grease your pans.  Let the dough relax for a few minutes before shaping.

Shape each piece into sandwich loaves, artisan boules or rolls.

Allow to rise in a warm place for 2-2 ½ hours or until the dough slowly returns a gentle finger print.

Preheat oven to 350’

Bake for 35 minutes, or until a thermometer inserted into the bottom of the loaf reads at least 180’.  You can also invert a loaf out of the pan onto your gloved hand and thump the bottom.  Hollow sound indicates bread is done.  Rolls will be lightly brown on top and bottom.

Remove from the pans and allow to cool completely before cutting.