Cranberry Soda Bread

Course: Bread, Breakfast, christmas bread

Cuisine: American, Irish,

Keyword: Christmas Bread, Cranberry Bread, Cranberry Soda Bread

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 1 10

Total Time: 1 20

Servings: servings

Calories: 407kcal

Author: Colleen Kennedy

Cranberry Soda Bread recipe is perfect for Thanksgiving breakfast or dessert. Christmas Bread recipe. Cranberry Bread is a twist on the classic Irish Soda Bread. Similar to cranberry scones in taste and texture.

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Ingredients

2 cups of fresh or frozen cranberries
4 ½ cups of flour
1 ½ cups sugar divided
2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup butter softened
2 TBS lime zest (optional for a festive look)
2 cups buttermilk
½ cup heavy cream
1 large egg
Coarse sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
To make 1 large loaf, use a 10-12 inch cast iron pan or ovenproof skillet with 2-inch or better sides or to make 2 loaves use 2 smaller cast iron skillets, ovenproof pans or 2 cake pans.
Cut a big enough circle of parchment paper out to line both the bottom and the sides of your pan(s).
Toss cranberries with ¼ cup of the sugar and set aside.
Whisk the flour, 1 ¼ cups of the sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl until blended.
Add in the butter lime zest, buttermilk, heavy cream, egg and the cranberries that were tossed with the sugar to the dry ingredients and stir gently until incorporated – do not over mix.
Scrape mixture into pan(s) then "let the faeries out" by making a shallow "x" with a sharp knife in the center of the dough. Sprinkle coarse decorator sugar or regular sugar overtop your loaf/loaves (it makes for a nice crust) and bake for one hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes or until toothpick or skewer inserted comes out dry. For smaller loaves, check after 45 minutes, however, most likely it will take an hour to bake.
Once a wooden skewer inserted comes out not “wet” it is done. It can be moist crumbs...just not batter. Cool a bit then flip out of the pan(s), peel off the parchment paper and allow the bread to cool on a cooling rack, that is if you don’t just dig right in like my family and I do!

Notes

Tip: For sweeter berries, slice the cranberries in half and toss them with a little sugar before adding to the batter.

For a sweeter loaf overall add in an additional 2-4 TBS sugar to the dough.

Since this recipe yields a large loaf, often when I am making this for someone, I set aside 25-30% of the batter to make my family a small one….which we eat almost instantly! Depending on it’s size I start checking the smaller loaf after 35 minutes or so – the large one usually still takes an hour.

This is wonderful for days after you make it as long as you have had it wrapped up tight. just pop a slice in the microwave for 20-30 seconds to warm it through and smear it with butter.

If you intend to travel with a hot loaf, wrap in foil however, leave the top open to prevent the crust from getting moist from the heat being trapped.

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