No Knead Bread with Cranberries

Written by Published on in Bread, Sweets

Simple, No Knead Bread – add dried cranberries, and a sweet snack is born!  This was an easy break into baking. 

During the 2020 quarantine season, I had participated in various virtual activities, including learning to bake from scratch.  A plain no-knead bread was the very first item we learned to make during these sessions.  Prior to this, I thought any kind of bread had to be kneaded, a laborious process.  

5 ingredients in all, it was easy to make, and I’ve since modified it to create variations, including adding cranberries, coming up with ingredients to make it less dense etc.  This takes about 10 minutes to prepare, let it rise, and bake!  

What was the first thing you learned to bake?  Be sure to leave comment + rating on this recipe, and I’ll love to see your creation.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for sprinkling – this should be about 1 pound
  • 2 teaspoons of salt – depending on your appetite for salt, could be 1/2 teaspoon less
  • 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
  • 1/3 cup of dry cranberries – if making sweet bread option 
  • Equipment needed – Dutch oven or oven-safe baking dish with oven-safe lid;  large mixing bowl; parchment paper

Directions

  1. Make a wet, shaggy dough: Mix flour, salt, yeast, (and cranberries) in a large bowl. Create a well in the center, and add water into the well. Combine with hand until it forms a shaggy dough – you can use a spatula to stir, but I’ve preferred using hands to manage how combined it gets. ADD Cranberries into the mix at this stage to ensure fully incorporated when the dough rises.
  2. Cover the dough ball and let rise for 6-8 hours. Cover the bowl with either plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size and bubbly – I have had better success with letting dough rise for at least 7 hours.
  3. Shape the dough and let rise for another hour. Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper in baking container (Dutch oven or large Baking pan with lid) – I use 2 cake baking pans (see images below).  NOTE:  ADD Cranberries at this stage as well, if it does not go into Step 1 above.
  4. Turn the dough out onto the parchment, folding the dough over on itself at least once while you do so. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for one more hour.
  5. Preheat the oven 450F (232C).  About 30 minutes before the final hour of bread rising is up.
  6. Transfer the Dutch oven or Baking pan, which already has the loaf in 4) above, into the preheated oven. You can make a slash or shallow cut in the top of the loaf so the bread can expand while baking – I’ve found that it expands fine on its own
  7. Cover and bake for 35 minutes. With the lid on. 
  8. Uncover and bake for 10 more minutes. Watch for hot equipment in the oven.
  9. Cool and slice the bread. Remove from oven, and let cool for at least 15 minutes before slicing. Slice and enjoy!

Note: image shows no-knead bread without cranberries
 

Tags

I’m Oiza (pronounced Oy-yee-za) … Corporate Finance professional by day, and Foodie at all times! I love to cook, visit new food establishments, and explore avenues to discover or invent. A new food blogger as of 2021, I plan on sharing my adventures in the kitchen, and look forward to this evolving into a forum for an exchange of fun ideas. Being born in Atlanta Georgia, growing up through my teenage years in Nigeria, West Africa, and privileged to travel the world during my adult years, I’ve become exposed to various cuisines over the years. In Nigeria, my siblings and I experienced having a little farm behind our house, with all sorts of vegetables, the likes of corn, greens, and tomatoes. On Saturdays, we were co-farmers prepping, planting, tending to, and harvesting crop, which didn’t feel like a chore (most of the time ;). Spending time in the kitchen, I wanted to be front and center, quickly getting accustomed to mixing things up in a sauce pan, and becoming savvy at making certain dishes. Fast-forward many years, I got to travel for work/leisure to all but 2 continents, and have seen a good amount of the US, including neighboring Islands. While on these travel escapades, seeking out the best places to eat made (makes) for fun adventures. I’ve picked up tips here and there, finessing likes/dislikes … recently learning how to bake from scratch! (I’m more of a Cook than a Baker). All in all, I couldn’t help but gain an appreciation for good food through-out my life. Recently spending time with family over the holidays, my brother prodded me to share the love I have for cooking … And a few weeks later, here we are with www.mycraftymeals.com Blog.

3 Comments

  1. Jeffrey Brown
    July 29, 2022 at 11:03 am  ·  Reply

    Hello

    I just wanted to see if you would be open to getting a Full-Time Virtual Assistant for one week FREE, and the best part is, there is no obligation to continue, and no credit card or payment required to try us out.

    Plus! If you decide to move forward after the one-week trial period, we have plans starting at just a few hundred dollars a month for a part-time assistant. That’s about the same you spend on coffee for 2 each month.

    But this offer is only good this week, for the first 20 clients, so you need to claim your Virtual Assistant Now, before you miss out.

    Click Here to Get Started ( https://va.yodaddyapps.com/myaa-va-8338 )

    Our Virtual Assistants Can:

    • Handle a variety of tasks and projects for you so that your day is more productive
    • Follow up on internal/external resources to ensure that there is daily progress
    • Give you back time to focus on building your business instead of admin tasks

    … and much, MUCH more!

    Imagine for a minute, if you can get the help you need to manage your day-to day task and ongoing projects at a fraction of the cost of hiring an onsite assistant.

    Click Here to Get Started ( https://va.yodaddyapps.com/myaa-va-8338 )

    Best,

    Jeffrey Brown

     
    • O.G.
      August 27, 2022 at 12:51 pm  ·  Reply

      Hello Jeffrey – Yes, I’ll consider this when I officially begin to promote and actively run the site. I’ll keep you posted. thanks!

       

  2. Pingback: Simple Italian Bread (Focaccia), Love all things Italian

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*