Cranberry Orange Bread Two Ways: Sweet Rolls or Swirl Loaf
An easy yeast dough and cranberry filling that can be shaped either as sweet rolls or a swirl loaf
Course Bread
Cuisine American
Keyword Food Gift Idea, Holiday Bread, Yeast Bread
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Servings 12
Author Elizabeth at thewildolive.org
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
½cupwarm milk
1egg
3Tbspsoft butter
4drops orange oil or 1 tsp. grated orange zest
2 ¼cupsAP flour
½tspsalt
2Tbspsugar
1 ½tspyeast
Filling Ingredients
¼cupwater
1cupfresh or frozen cranberrieschopped
½cupcraisinschopped
1/3cupbrown sugar
1Tbspbutter
½tspcardamom
½tspcinnamon
¼tspnutmeg
¼tspallspice
4drops orange oil or 1 tsp. grated orange peel
Glaze
1cuppowdered sugar
pinchsalt
2drops orange oil or 1/2 tsp. grated orange zest
Half and half to make thick glaze
OR – omit orange oil/zest and half and half and use orange juice to make the glaze
Instructions
Making the Dough
Place all dough ingredients in bread machine and run dough cycle. [Dough can, of course, be made by hand or in a mixer – simply knead dough several minutes till smooth and let rise until doubled]
Making the Filling
Meanwhile, bring first 5 filling ingredients to a simmer in a small pan. Cook 10-15 minutes until jammy. Stir in remaining ingredients and allow to cool.
When dough cycle completes
Turn out dough onto a lightly greased counter. Pat and gently roll dough into 12” x 14” rectangle. Spread filling over dough, leaving an inch or so of one long edge clear. Roll up into a log and pinch to seal. At this point you have two options to bake your Cranberry Orange Bread – as sweet rolls or a beautiful swirly loaf.
To Make Cranberry Orange Bread as a Swirl Loaf
Cut log in half lengthwise. Place halves next to each other, cut sides up. Lay one half over the middle of the other to make an X, keeping the cut sides up. Cross both ends over again to make a twist, also keeping the cut side up. Gently place twist in a greased 9” x 5” loaf pan (a 1.5 lb loaf pan). Let rise till crowned over rim of pan – approx. 45 mins to an hour. Bake in a 350 oven for 45-50 minutes (or till center of loaf tests 195 degrees on an instant read thermometer). To ensure even baking, rotate pan halfway thru bake time and tent top with foil towards the end if necessary to prevent over browning. Cool a few minutes in pan and tip out onto rack to cool completely. Glaze top.
To Make Cranberry Orange Bread as Sweet Rolls
Slice log into 12 rolls. Place in a greased 13 x 9 baking pan and allow to rise until roughly doubled. Bake at 350 15 mins or until browned on top (rolls should be baked to 195 if using an instant read thermometer). Allow rolls to cool in pan.
Making the Orange Glaze
Combine glaze ingredients, using just enough half and half or orange juice to make a thick glaze. Start with 1 Tbsp. liquid and add more, 1 tsp. at a time until you have a thick glaze.
Notes
Helpful TipsRise times will be greatly impacted by the temperature in your kitchen. The cooler your kitchen is, the longer it will take. I use a proofing box, (insert link) which cuts WAY down on rise times. Before I had a proofing box, I used to, no lie, proof breads in my kitchen cupboards. One day I noticed that when my under-cupboard lites were on, my cupboards got a bit warm inside. On chilly days I just switched on the lites, took some dishes out of the cupboard and put my bread pan in there! Smiley iconPreheating Your Oven – when baking bread you want your oven waiting for the bread, not your bread waiting for the oven! If you wait to preheat your oven until your bread is fully risen, by the time you put it in the oven it will be over-proofed and could collapse. Always preheat your oven when your bread looks about 20 minutes shy of where you want it to proof to.Feel free to get creative with the seasonings (like swapping in apple pie spice or your other favorite spices), add some chopped nuts, or replace the craisins with diced, dried apples and omit all the orange flavoring.