Thanksgiving Cranberry Corn Bread
It will soon be American Thanksgiving, so I thought I’d re-post our Thanksgiving Cranberry Corn bread. It’s based on the Portuguese Broa style (page 151 in the book)—it’s the regular Master Recipe, but with 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour taken out and replaced with an equal amount of cornmeal.
Here’s what you need to do. Take about 2 pounds of the Broa dough mentioned above and shape it into a ball; then flatten it with your hands and a rolling pin until it’s about 1/2-inch thick. Sprinkle the dough with 1/3 of a cup of dried cranberries (or 1/2 cup fresh):
Now break out your microzester, and use it to scrape the zest from half an orange…
… now sprinkle that over the cranberries, and then sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of granulated sugar over that…
Now roll it up like a jelly roll… If it sticks to the board as you’re rolling, nudge it off with a dough scraper.
Tuck the ends under to form a ball, flatten it on a work surface, and then, using your hands and a rolling pin, make a disk the right size for a 12-inch cast iron pan. It should be about an inch or inch and a half thick. If you don’t have a cast-iron pan, see below.** This instruction applies to this flattened thanksgiving bread only; you can make loaf breads this way too (freeform or in a pan).
Grease the pan well with butter, lard, bacon grease, or oil (I used olive oil today), and place the dough round in it.
Allow to rest for at least 1 hour and 20 minutes. You’ll get a more open hole structure if you wait two hours.
Put a broiler tray in the oven to dump water to make steam. 20 minutes before baking time, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F if you keep a baking stone in the oven. If you don’ t use a stone, a 5-minute pre-heat is adequate (the stone isn’t required since you’ll bake in the cast-iron).
Just before baking, heat the cast-iron pan over medium heat for 1 or 2 minutes to jump-start the baking process and promote caramelization of the bottom crust. Don’t overdo it–no more than 2 minutes. It will start to sizzle.
Place the pan on a rack near the center of the oven. Pour 1 cup of water into the broiler tray and quickly close the oven door. Depending on the thickness of your loaf and the weight of the pan, baking time will be about 25 minutes.
Carefully turn the hot loaf out of the pan onto a serving plate or cooling rack, or just cut wedges directly out of the pan once it cools. Be careful with the hot cast-iron pan!
You should get a result just like the cover photo. Happy Thanksgiving! Other Thanksgiving recipes:
Stuffing from homemade bread: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1228
Thanksgiving buns: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=443
Thanksgiving Pumpkin Pie Brioche: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1209
Roasting Your Own Pumpkins: https://artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=50
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** This bread can be done as a simple free-form loaf right on a baking stone, cookie sheet, or silicone mat (about the same baking time, or in a loaf pan (longer baking time needed). Either way, it’s done at 425 degrees.
I’m so excited to be learning about artisan bread ~ I love homemade bread and this is so easy!
I’m so glad to have found King Arthur Flour products! And I love the Artisan Bread in 5 recipes, too.
love your book! will be making the bread for tday.
I own HBin5 but not ABin5 (i’ve been wanting it) so I would love to win this!!
I have been wanting to use ABin5 for a while. This would be a great way to start.
Thanks for all you do to help us make wonderful bread for our families.
Jeff– Thanks for responding so quickly to my question about gas ranges. I did look up Jenn-Air after reading your reply, and a consumer alert dated 11/8/10 said that the new control panels are very unreliable. So, the older ones, like yours, are obviously much better. As I search I will ask questions about teh control panel, plus exahaust & ignition systems as you recommend. This time of year is a terrible time for an oven to be going out! I’m bummed. –Lois
I am waiting right now for my brioch a tete to go in the oven as well as a batch of the cinnamon rolls made with the brioche dough ( I left out the pecans this time for some crazy people that prefer without)! Love the book and everything I have made so far. I keep turning other people onto the book as well.
I love HBin5. thanks for making such great recipes!
Sounds interesting, but I’ll stick to jalapeno corn bread!
I just got the Danish bread mixer at Amazon after seeing it on the Zoe Bakes site….this may be a good recipe for it’s first use.
Love your recipes! I’m just not making any other bread any more.
Just came across your site – and will be seeking out your book soon. I LOVE that yo u have so many pictures – it is especially helpful for a novice baker like me trying to learn how to shape loaves. Thanks!
I just made my first loaf of Artisan Bread! I am so proud!!
I am so excited to have found your recipes. I have tried before to bake bread, but the results were not so great. I am definitely making the Cranberry Corn Bread for T-Giving.
I love your books and King Arthur Flour! If I win, this will make a great gift for my daughter. If not, I appreciate the recipe! Can’t wait to try it!
Cranberry corn bread looks yummy, but I think I want to try the mini-brioche with my 10 year old Grandaughter for Thanksgiving. We’re also going to make butter to go with it!!
I have recently started using King Arthur flour for my baking. I plan on making bread to go with my caprese salad. Great product.
Bake ’til you drop baby!
HUGE fan of bread making with KAF! I will have to give this recipe a shot. Looks delish!
My sister told me about this bread and now I am hooked.
Awesome prize package – I’d Love it! I’m going to try the Cranberry Corn Bread next week.
This bread looks wonderful! I bake only with KAF but have never baked from this book before…hope to have a chance to win the prize! Beautiful photos too…
Two great sources of inspiration, ABin5 and King Arthur Flour!
great giveaway, i’d love to win!
King Arthur and bread are 2 of my favorite things.
thank you for offering such a nice prize. i especially like it as my father in law’s name was arthur
Looks like I need to bust out my cast iron pans and try this. 🙂
Oh, that all looks wonderful!
I saw photos of bread on a quilter’s blog, made the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and had to check it out! Now I want the book and to try out the recipes. Glad I checked it out!
Oh! Awesome! A recipe for my cast iron skillet! I CAN NOT WAIT for Thanksgiving. I am going to make an OBSCENE amount of scratch food and bring some to my poor coworkers who are stuck here on Thanksgiving =)
I was just introduced to this bread at a ladies meeting tonight at our church. The recipe for the cranberry orange bread looks wonderful.
I’ll be making this to take to the in-laws for Thanksgiving! I happen to have everything on hand so can’t wait to try it.
Please enter me in the drawing. I have everything but it would be great to give to a friend!
Please enter me in the drawing! Thanks!
Handmade breadmaking is a gift to ourselves and the people we love. Thank you so much for sharing your technique and recipes. It means more to me than you can imagine…
I love your recipes and King Arthur flour. I check regularly to see what new recipes you have. Thanks for all your sharing!!
Hey ABin5,
Looking forward to getting some use of a my new mixer. Can’t wait to try out some of your recipes. Thanks
The cornbread looks amazing! I can’t wait to try it.
My sister and I are having fun learning to make bread together. Your ideas are inspiring!
oooh! I want ALL of the things in this kit! It would be an excellent 25th birthday present…I’d especially like that dough whisk for my brioche 🙂
Wish me luck! I’m trying my first batch of dough tonight… I’m so hopeful that this will be a positive new rhythm to incorporate in life.
Please add me in – I’ve just found this and have so loved making bread with AB5D.
so easy! ….I have tried some of these recipes myself and cannot believe that people still buy bread
I’ve been making and loving your breads for quite some time – and I have the hips to prove it.
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
This sounds like a perfect recipe for Thanksgiving. Thank you to KAF for providing the giveaway prizes.
Thank you for sharing your wonderful recipes! I have been translating them for my Russian friends and you now have several fans across the Atlantic too.
another great recipe and another great giveaway – thanks!
Love baking bread and I’d love some nice equipment too. Thanks for the chance.
What a wonderful present. happy present!
Thank you for the contest everyone.
AmyRuth