Cranberry Walnut Bread

First, a caveat. I made this loaf in David Howard’s Handmade Stoneware Pottery, which I ordered from his Gatlinburg, TN, store.

You can find him online at http://www.dhowardpottery.net/ or call him at (865) 430-3387. Or, if you want to go the old-fashioned snail mail route, write him at 170 Gatlinburg, TN 37738.

You’ll get it in about a month (Hey! It’s handmade, y’know).

Instead of sifting the flour, I whisked vigorously with a wire whisk. The object of whisking is to loosen, aerate and separate the flour; since I was going to use a whisk anyway, why use a sifter or sieve and have another implement to wash later?

I couldn’t find the recommended Cran-Fruit© at the supermarket, so I substituted dried cranberries and soaked them in sherry to rehydrate them. HINT: Use good sherry, and don’t throw it away after you’ve soaked the cranberries. Save it to use in other dishes, if you can resist drinking it. I drank mine while waiting for the bread to bake. Little sips … it’s delicious!

I put the bread maker on a wire cooking rack on top of a cookie sheet to make sliding into the oven easier. Make sure to lower the oven backing rack so the top won’t brown too quickly.

Ingredients 

• SELF-RISING FLOUR, 2 cups sifted
• LEMON ZEST, 1 lemon
• SUGAR, 2/3 cup
• EGGS, 2, slightly beaten
• CRAN-FRUIT©, cranberry-orange, 1 container
• (Substitution: DRIED CRANBERRIES, 2 small 1-counce boxes, soaked in sherry and roughly chopped)
• CHOPPED WALNUTS, 1 cup
• BUTTER, ½ cup (1 stick), melted
• MILK, ¼ cup

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Lower the oven baking rack so the bread top won’t brown too quickly.
3. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, zest and sugar).
4. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix thoroughly until blended.
5. Spray the inside of a bread maker (or loaf pan) with non-stick cooking spray.
6. Pour the batter into the bread maker.
7. Bake for 60 minutes.
8. Remove from bread maker and cool on a wire cooking rack.