Cranberry Nut Loaf Bread (No Knead, Overnight Rise)

Last year I shared with you this everyday sandwich bread: an easy, one bowl, overnight, no knead, bread recipe that makes one loaf with super soft slices. I had initially started with this recipe: a cranberry nut sandwich bread that had all the same features, but opted to share a plain one first. Now, you get the first iteration of it! 

Recipe origins 

This exists simply because I wanted to give you a non-sourdough version of this recipe. A simple overnight loaf that you could make with just a few steps the night before and bake in the am for a mid-morning breakfast. 

You may notice that I have some sourdough-like steps in this recipe: it is a high hydration bread (80%); I have you do some folds which I learned from making sourdough (courtesy of Tartine); the ice in the pan near the baking bread is there to emulate baking sourdough in a dutch oven which traps steam (thank you random person on reddit for this tip). Also – this recipe taught me how to properly prepare my loaf pans (butter then oil). 

Recipe Ingredients 

Water: cool, filtered tap water. 

Yeast: I use active dry yeast. 

Flour: bread flour with a protein content that’s about 13% (12% will work too or anything between those two numbers). 

Salt: fine sea salt. This dissolves easily into the bread and does not have a ‘too salty’ after taste. 

Dried berries: I use dried cranberries but dried cherries or dried blueberries are another option. 

Nuts: For this bread I think walnuts or pecans are best. I buy raw nuts and toast them on a pan for 10 minutes at 350 F. Once they are cool they can be stored in an airtight container. 

How to make a no knead cranberry nut bread 

Mix the yeast and the water, add the syrup if using: 

Add in the flour and salt and mix until it comes together in a shaggy dough: 

Cover and let rest for about an hour, then do a fold: 

Sprinkle the nuts over the dough, then leave to rest for another hour: 

Fold the nuts into the dough until taut, then leave to rest overnight: 

In the morning, the dough will be very bubbly. Butter and oil a loaf pan and shape the dough to fit into it by doing more folds and tucking in edges to make a rectangle: 

Let rise for 1-2 hours until the dough has risen above the rim of the pan 

Preheat the oven to 425 F and set a pan with ice in the oven 

Bake the bread for about half an hour, until deeply toasted all over (a thermometer inserted will register 190 F). 

Let cool before slicing.

Storing No-Knead Breads 

Once it’s completely cool I tend to wrap it in a flour sack to keep it from drying out. If I’m storing it overnight I wrap it in foil so it stays soft and fresh. 

Recipe for Cranberry Nut Bread (Overnight & No Knead)

Cranberry Nut Bread (No Knead & Overnight Rise)

Soft no knead cranberry nut bread. The recipe includes just a few ‘folds’ rather than kneading and a slow, overnight rise gives this bread excellent flavor. Made in a loaf pan for easy slicing and sandwiching.

Prep Time: 20 minutes mins

Cook Time: 40 minutes mins

Rest Time: 16 hours hrs

Yields: 1 loaf

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Ingredients

• 350g cool tap water
• ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2 TB maple syrup optional, to slightly sweeten the bread
• 430g bread flour
• 1 ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 65g or about ½ cup walnuts or pecans pre-toasted
• 60g or about ⅓ cup dried cranberries

Method

The night before, (I usually start around 7pm: doing a turn at 8pm and another at 9pm)

• Measure the water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Gently stir to combine.
• Measure the bread flour into the bowl and add the salt. Stir to combine until you have a shaggy dough. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 45-60 minutes.
• We’re going to do some folds on the dough: lift one side of the dough and fold it over the center. Turn the bowl 45 degrees and lift from another side and fold again. Keep doing this until the dough starts resisting and you have a tight dough ball. Sprinkle the nuts and berries over the dough and cover with the plastic wrap and set aside for 60 minutes.
• After an hour do another fold, this time lifting the dough and folding while incorporating the add-ins; keep going until the dough starts resisting again and the nuts and berries are mostly neatly tucked into the center of the dough (it’s ok if there are some stragglers). Cover the bowl and leave to rise for 8-10 hours.

The morning of baking

• In the morning the dough will have risen quite a bit and be very bubbly. Butter a 9x5 inch loaf pan and then rub it with olive oil (both butter and oil are necessary so the dough doesn’t stick).
• Like you did the night before, fold the dough over itself (it will deflate - this is ok), until you have a taut dough. Tuck the sides in to make a rectangular shape and set it into the prepared loaf pan and rub the top with oil. Cover with the same plastic wrap. Leave to rise until the dough has risen over the rim of the pan by at least half an inch, this can take up to an hour or an hour and a half depending on the temperature in your kitchen.
• Preheat the oven to 425 F. Once preheated, fill a cake pan (any size - I use a round 9 inch) with ice and set it in the oven. After 5-10 minutes of the ice being in the oven, bake the bread until it has risen considerably and is a deep brown color all over - about 30-35 minutes.
• Transfer the bread to a cooling rack. It’s best to give the bread time to cool out of the oven before slicing it for at least an hour as it continues to ‘cook’ out of the oven and the crumb will be nice and tender.

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