An easy sourdough quick bread featuring the classic flavor combination of cranberry + orange. This loaf is packed with orange zest and juice, lots of fresh cranberries, and is topped with an (optional, but HIGHLY recommended) orange glaze.
Cranberry + orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations, and it is particularly good in this bread!
It's moist, soft, and really easy to make. I love it for a hands-off, make-ahead breakfast or brunch item, and the glaze on top can totally take it to dessert territory, too.
Oh, and there is (of course!) some sourdough discard in here. It's not only a great way to use up some extra, but the discard will give it just a hint of sourdough flavor that I think is so good with the sweet glaze, punchy citrus, and tart cranberries.
Fall/winter can be long, dark, cold, and hard. But food like this is in season, and that certainly helps!
Things you should know about the orange
Initially I made this bread using only the zest of an orange and no orange juice, but then I had a zestless, drying orange in my fridge and thought, how sad is this? Plus I figured the bread could be more intensely orange and moist and could use an orange glaze too, so I've revamped the recipe to use all of the zest AND the juice from a standard size naval orange.
Once you've juiced your orange, you'll want to reserve 1 ½ tablespoons of juice for the glaze, and use the remainder in the batter. Anywhere from ¼ to ½ cup of juice will work in this bread, and if you have less, that's okay too! (Remember, I initially made this without orange juice and did not get any complaints).
So, zest your orange first. Then juice it. Set aside 1 ½ tablespoons of the juice to make the glaze with later (if you're planning to do the glaze!). Add the zest and what's left of the juice to the batter. It will smell so good!
The glaze
The glaze here is totally optional, but it really does add so much orange flavor. If you don't want to bother with the glaze, you'll use all the orange juice from your orange in the batter. The crust on its own is delicious even without the glaze - it's dark and so slightly crisp. You can't go wrong either way!
But, if you do want to make the glaze, add 1 cup of sifted powdered sugar to the reserved 1 ½ tablespoons orange juice. Whisk until glaze is smooth and no dry sugar remains. You want this to be thick, but not so stiff that you can't stir it. If the consistency needs adjusting, add a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a splash of water.
When the bread has cooled for about 10 minutes, spoon the glaze over the top. You want to bread to be warm enough to melt the thick glaze. That's how you get those nice drips down the sides. But do give it some time to cool because if you put the glaze on HOT bread, it will melt right off.
I recommend placing a piece of parchment paper under the wire rack the bread is cooling on prior to doing the glaze. This will save you a lot of counter wiping, and if you want to reuse any of the glaze that drips off the bread, you can scrape it off the parchment paper and put it back on top of the bread!
Other sourdough discard quick bread recipes you might be interested (yes, clearly I am obsessed with them!): this pumpkin bread, this zucchini bread, and this one-bowl banana bread.
Sourdough Cranberry Orange Quick Bread
Ingredients
For the Bread
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup neutral oil (see note)
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- ⅓ cup plain whole milk Greek yogurt
- Zest and juice of 1 small orange, 1 ½ tablespoons juice reserved for the glaze (see note)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cranberries (fresh or frozen will work - do not thaw if frozen)
For the Glaze
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons orange juice
Directions
For the Bread
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 by 4-inch loaf pan. Combine sugar, eggs, oil, discard, yogurt, orange zest and juice, and vanilla in a large bowl.In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.Sprinkle the dry ingredients over the wet ingredients and stir until mostly incorporated - there will be a few dry pockets of flour. Fold in the cranberries. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 50-65 minutes, until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the thickest part of the loaf comes out clean, or with a few moist crumbs on it.Cool for 10 minutes in the pan before inverting to release. Spoon the glaze over top (if using). Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the Glaze
- In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 cup of powdered sugar and the orange juice. You want it to be thick, but not too stiff to stir. Add a sprinkle of powdered sugar or a splash of water if the consistency needs to be tweaked. Spoon glaze over the warm loaf.
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