November 5, 2024 - 5:26pm
How to use cranberries as an inclusion?
I'm sorry if this isn't the correct forum, but I'm not sure where to post it, so...
I want to make a sourdough walnut and cranberry inclusion loaf for Thanksgiving, but I am not sure how to do the cranberries. I've never eaten fresh, so I am not sure of their bitterness/sourness. Would it be better to use fresh or dried? If fresh, should I do anything to prepare them beforehand? Would fresh be too overwhelmingly sour in a sourdough? Would the addition of barley malt syrup or some other form of sugar be advisable?
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A quick internet search came up with this cranberry-walnut biscuit recipe. I would think you could make bread using the same inclusion method. The trick with cranberries is to use enough sugar to deal with the sourness but not so much it gets too sweet. I'm a less-sweet person, myself.
https://classic-recipes.com/cranberry-biscuit-recipe/
TomP
For a sourdough (not sweet) bread, I’d choose dried cranberries because they are usually sweetened. My preference is to chop them slightly so that they get distributed more evenly in the dough. If you like larger chunks, you can leave them whole.
For quick breads, which are usually quite sweet, I like the tartness of fresh cranberries. Given the size and texture of fresh cranberries, I usually give them a few pulses in a food processor to break them down to lentil-size or smaller pieces.
Paul