Savory Cranberry Bread

Healthy vegan cranberry bread that’s made with whole wheat and fresh cranberries! This is very similar to focaccia but has a bread texture. The cranberries are topped with fresh rosemary leaves and sea salt.

I love homemade bread. Bread is one of these things that I find very difficult to eliminate from my diet no matter what. Especially when it’s homemade… I mean how can anyone resist homemade bread? Ever since I got into baking, I have always baked my own bread at home. It’s the fact that I can add anything that I like to it that I really like, seeds, nuts, fresh fruits, raisins, caramelised onions etc…

Vegan Cranberry Bread

We’re done with Christmas, and as we don’t tend to overindulge over the festive period I baked this savoury rosemary cranberry bread today, and it was gone when it was still warm. The whole family loved it! It’s a recipe that we’ve been using for years and makes a great addition to our buddha bowls or to be served on the side with a meal.

I love the fact that this bread is vegan and is made with very simple ingredients. The dough recipe is the same recipe that I use to make pasties and bread using all purpose flour. I just subbed the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour and added the cranberry rosemary topping.

Cranberry Bread Ingredients

To make this vegan cranberry bread, you will need:

• Whole wheat flour (or all-purpose flour)
• Instant yeast
• Warm water
• Sugar
• Fresh cranberries
• Fresh rosemary
• Sea salt

How to Use Instant Yeast in Bread Making

Using fast rising yeast to make this bread, the instant yeast must be dissolved in lukewarm water.

The temperature of water needs to be between 23c (75f) and 54c (130f), but the recommended temperature needs to be around 43c (110f). The yeast feeds on sugar to become active and will start working in your dough.

Once the yeast is added to the water, it needs to be stirred to be dissolved. The mixture will need to sit to start foaming (around 10 minutes) preferably in a warm place.

If your yeast mixture is not bubbling, it means that it might be a bit too old and not active.

How to Knead Dough to Make Bread

My Mum taught how to knead bread by hand when I was little, and I’ve done it for my baking for so long but I have to be honest with you. You will need to knead your dough for 10-12 minutes by hand until the dough ball is soft, and it can be a hassle considering that it needs really strong hands to get that lovely elastic dough ball.

What to Serve With

This cranberry bread is great on it’s own, the flavours are really balanced as the bread is quite dense and filling, but has a lovely crust. The cranberries are a bit sour, paired with fresh rosemary leaves for the flavour to really stand out.

And the sea salt is not an ingredient that can be skipped!

I love adding this savory cranberry bread in a buddha bowl as you can see below. It’s great when paired with a veggie stir-fry, salad, perhaps baked sweet potato and a lovely chickpea filling.

The cranberry bread is also perfect when paired with homemade hummus dip.

To serve, slice the bread into squares when it’s still warm. It’s great for sharing!