Cranberry Walnut Bread with Tart Cranberries and Bright Orange

One loaf takes about 20 minutes of preparation time and 1 hour 10 minutes to bake. The cranberry walnut orange bread can be made ahead of time for the holidays. This is an easy cranberry walnut orange bread recipe that incorporates tart cranberries, walnuts, orange juice, and orange peel.

The dry ingredients in the recipe are flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. The wet ingredients are eggs, water, orange juice, melted butter, vinegar, and orange peel. Vinegar provides an acidic flavor and interacts with the baking soda. Orange peel and orange juice give the bread an orange flavor. Fresh cranberries are halved and combined with chopped walnuts to ensure even distribution in the bread.

After stirring in the flour mixture, lightly stir in the cranberries and walnuts. Stir the batter as little as possible. The biggest risk to avoid overmixing comes after adding the flour mixture. Stir only enough to combine the flour. To tell when the bread is done, check for golden color and a toothpick with no batter on it.

Let the loaf cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then cool it completely on a wire rack. Serve slices with orange marmalade to complement the sour fruit with a sweet flavor. Store leftover bread at room temperature in an airtight container or freeze it after wrapping it well for longer storage.