Ginger Cranberry Bread
Last month, my husband and I visited his mother in New York for Thanksgiving.
One day at lunch time, my mother-in-law fixed a sandwich for me.
It was a grilled ham & cheese sandwich.
Yes, I know. It sounds ordinary, doesn’t it?
But it was to die for!
What was so special!?
The secret was the Ginger Cranberry Bread she used for the sandwiches :-)
The sweetness of the candied ginger and the tartness of the cranberries together with ham and cheese really works!
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The bread is actually from the Whole Foods Market.
Today, my inner voice says “Hmm, why don’t you make it from scratch???”
So here is my version of Ginger Cranberry Bread!
I got a very nice idea from weekend bakery, called “sweetener”.
So, instead of using granulated sugar, I add “sweetener” into my Ginger Cranberry dough.
“Sweetener” smells fantastic!
Voilà!
Though the shape is perfect, the height looks a bit short to me. I want taller one!
I could put a little more dough in the pan next time.
This bread is very flavorful and fruity, so it is delicious as it is.
But I can’t wait to make my grilled ham & cheese sandwich with this bread!
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Ginger Cranberry Bread
Makes 2 loaves ( 1 pound loaf pan )
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For Sweetener —– Recipe from weekend bakery
40 g Granulated sugar
1 unwaxed Orange zest
1 unwaxed Lemon zest
Mix sugar with Orange and Lemon zest. Store it in the refrigerator.
For Ginger Cranberry dough
8 g Active dry yeast
485 g Milk (warm)
300 g All-purpose flour
16 g Sweetener
16 g Butter (melt)
11 g Sea Salt
440 g Bread flour
120 g Dried Cranberry
40 g Candied Ginger ( chop into small pieces)
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Directions
- In one mixing bowl, mix all-purpose flour, Sweetener together and set aside.
- In another mixing bowl, weigh out the yeast and add warm milk.
- Stir until yeast has dissolved.
- Make a small well in the flour mixture, and pour in the yeast mixture.
- Add melted butter.
- Mix well and add the bread flour little by little.
- Save some of the bread flour for kneading. Cover the bowl and let it rest for 20 minutes. (Autolyse)
- Add Salt and start kneading the dough. Using the rest of the bread flour, knead it on the floured clean work surface until the dough is soft and smooth for 10 – 15 minutes. (by hand)
- Cover the bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Add the Cranberry and chopped Candied ginger. Knead gently until thoroughly mixed in.
- Cover the bowl and let it rest for 1 hour or more until it has doubled in size.
- Check the dough if the dough is ready to be shaped or not. Poke the dough with floured finger deep into it and if the dent remains, the dough is ready to bake.
- Punch down the dough and flatten gently to break up large air bubbles.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and shape the dough into loaves.
- Place the loaves seam side down in the loaf pans.
- Cover the pan and let it final rise for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven 375°F
- Place the bread in the preheated oven, and bake the bread around 30 – 35 minutes.
- Let them cool onto a rack.
- Ready to eat!
