Almost No-Knead Cranberry-Pecan Bread

I started with Cook’s Country plain Almost No-Knead Bread and we liked it so much that I mixed up another batch, this time adding dried cranberries and pecans. It, too, is delicious and easy. Thinking about trying an oat or rye variation next.

Almost No-Knead Cranberry-Pecan Bread 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons salt

½ cup dried cranberries (craisins)

½ cup chopped & toasted pecans

¼  teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast

¾  cup + 2 tablespoons water, room temperature

6 tablespoons mild-flavored lager beer (I just used whatever beer I had on hand + I used a little more -- just enough so there were no dry patches of dough)

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Vegetable oil spray

1. Mix the flour, salt, cranberries, pecans, and yeast together in a large bowl.
2. Add the water, lager and the vinegar. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture to combine ingredients, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl.
   
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours. (I actually left mind for about 24 hours without any adverse changes in final product.)
4. Lay an 18x12-inch sheet of parchment paper on the counter and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough 10 to 15 times. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges of the dough into the middle.
   
6. Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the center of the oiled parchment paper and spray the surface of the dough with the vegetable oil spray. Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over the edge of the pot. Cover the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
   
7. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the plastic wrap from the pot. Lightly flour the top of the dough and using a sharp knife or a razor blade, make one 6” long, ½” deep slit along the top of the dough.
8. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven; set the timer for 30 minutes at that point —do not wait until the oven preheats.

   

   The parchment paper stays in place, the lid goes on and the Dutch oven is placed into a cold oven (middle rack) and the timer is then set for the first 30 minute baking.

9. Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake the bread until the loaf is a deep brown and registers 210° on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30 minutes longer.
   
10. Using the parchment paper overhang, carefully remove the bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely, about 2 hours. (We ate our loaf when it was warm from the oven.)

    

    Baked bread.

    

    Ready to eat. This bread also makes great toast.

Other Almost No-Knead breads include:

Almost No-Knead Bread (basic loaf)

Almost No-Knead Oat Bread

Almost No-Knead Walnut & Rosemary Bread

Recipe without photos . . .

Almost No-Knead Cranberry-Pecan Bread 

3 cups all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons salt

½ cup dried cranberries (craisins)

½ cup chopped & toasted pecans

¼  teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast

¾  cup + 2 tablespoons water, room temperature

6 tablespoons mild-flavored lager beer (I just used whatever beer I had on hand + I used a little more -- just enough so there were no dry patches of dough)

1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar

Vegetable oil spray

1. Mix the flour, salt, cranberries, pecans, and yeast together in a large bowl.
2. Add the water, lager and the vinegar. Using a rubber spatula, fold the mixture to combine ingredients, scraping up the dry flour from the bottom of the bowl.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow it to sit at room temperature for at least 8 hours or up to 18 hours. (I actually left mind for about 24 hours without any adverse changes in final product.)
4. Lay an 18x12-inch sheet of parchment paper on the counter and spray it with the vegetable oil spray.
5. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and knead the dough 10 to 15 times. Shape the dough into a ball by pulling the edges of the dough into the middle.
6. Transfer the dough, seam side down, to the center of the oiled parchment paper and spray the surface of the dough with the vegetable oil spray. Pick up the dough by lifting the parchment paper overhang and lower it into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven. Let any excess parchment paper hang out over the edge of the pot. Cover the pot loosely with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with a finger, about 2 hours.
7. Adjust an oven rack to the middle position. Remove the plastic wrap from the pot. Lightly flour the top of the dough and using a sharp knife or a razor blade, make one 6” long, ½” deep slit along the top of the dough.
8. Cover the pot and place it in the oven. Heat the oven to 425°. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Note: Bread is placed into a cold oven; set the timer for 30 minutes at that point —do not wait until the oven preheats.
9. Remove the lid from the pot and continue to bake the bread until the loaf is a deep brown and registers 210° on an instant-read thermometer inserted into the bread, about 20 to 30 minutes longer.
10. Using the parchment paper overhang, carefully remove the bread from the pot. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely, about 2 hours. (We ate our loaf when it was warm from the oven.)