Sourdough cranberry banana bread starts with a sweet banana bread batter and is flavored with orange and cranberries. This moist and delicious quick bread makes the perfect holiday or weekend breakfast.
Winter seems to be looming in the near future. The nights are getting darker way sooner than what seems even mildly acceptable, and much colder than my bones can handle.
But with this cold come some of my favorite things. I absolutely love waking up to a toasty fire in the wood burning stove, lighting a beeswax candle, and baking this sourdough cranberry bread.
Is there anything better than to wake up and enjoy warm bread straight from the oven? I think not. Warm bread, slathered with homemade butter, drizzled with honey from our bees. Heavenly.
This recipe is very simple to make. You can whip it up the morning of, or start it the night before to long ferment.
With the flavors of orange, banana, and the light tartness from the cranberries, this cranberry orange bread makes a wonderful holiday addition.
It’s divine for Christmas morning, or just a weekend breakfast. You can even turn it into an amazing French toast by soaking it in custard and cooking it on a hot skillet. Yum!
Tips For Making Cranberry Orange Bread
- I slice half of the cranberries and leave the rest whole, because I prefer smaller bites of cranberry throughout.
- This recipe makes a very moist loaf. It will cook in the oven a bit longer than a typical banana bread recipe, because it’s a very moist finished product.
- Overripe bananas provide sweetness to this loaf, so it doesn’t require as much sugar to sweeten.
- This makes a great recipe for Thanksgiving or Christmas morning.
Can you make this bread without sourdough starter?
Yes. To make a non-sourdough version, increase the flour by 1⁄4 cup and add 1⁄4 cup of yogurt.
Is Sourdough Bread the healthiest bread?
Sourdough is considered a healthier bread due to the process of fermentation. Fermentation breaks down the phytic acid which is naturally occurring in flour. This breakdown allows the nutrients present in flours to become more bioavailable and easier to absorb.
Fermentation also helps break down the gluten, making it more digestible.
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Tools you may need:
- Stand Mixer
- Bread pan
- Cutting board
- Knife
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Microplane
How To Make Cranberry Orange Bread
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan with butter.
Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir well.
Mix butter and brown sugar for 5 minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
Beat in room temperature eggs, one at a time.
Once eggs are combined, add room temperature maple syrup, mashed bananas, stirred sourdough starter, orange zest, and orange juice.
Slice half of the cranberries and leave half whole, if preferred.
Fold in dry ingredients a bit at a time until just incorporated, then mix in the cranberries. Be careful not to overmix.
Pour into a greased pan and top with a few sliced cranberries. Then, generously dust coconut sugar or brown sugar on top of the loaf.
Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. Test bread at 55 minutes with a toothpick or cake tester. Bread is ready to come out of the oven when the cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in the loaf pan for one hour.
How To Long Ferment This Recipe:
The night before, mix together orange juice, flour, maple syrup, sourdough starter, and room temperature butter in a large bowl. Cover and allow to ferment for 8-12 hours.
The next day, add remaining ingredients (use a stand mixer for easier mixing) and bake as directed.
Find More Delicious Sourdough Recipes:
- Sourdough Chocolate Cake
- Sourdough Pumpkin Roll
- Carrot Muffins
- Sourdough Pie Crust
- Sourdough Banana Bread
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you gave it 5 stars! Thank you! Tag me on Instagram @farmhouseonboone.
Sourdough Cranberry Banana Bread
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups spelt flour, or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon grey unrefined salt
- 1 1/4 cup cranberries, leave half whole and slice half
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, optional
Wet Ingredients:
- 2 very ripe bananas, approx 300g, mashed
- 2 large eggs, room temp
- 1/2 cup maple syrup, room temp
- 1/2 cup stirred sourdough starter
- 1/2 cup butter, room temp
- 1/4 cup dark brown sugar very tightly packed
- Zest from 2-3 oranges
- 1/2 cup orange juice
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9×5 loaf pan with butter.
- Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl. Stir well.
- Mix butter and brown sugar for 5 minutes with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
- Beat in room temperature eggs, one at a time.
- Once eggs are combined, add maple syrup, mashed bananas, stirred sourdough starter, orange zest and orange juice.
- Fold in dry ingredients a bit at a time until just incorporated, then mix in the cranberries.
- Pour into a greased pan and top with a few sliced cranberries.
- Generously dust coconut sugar or brown sugar on top of the loaf.
- Bake for 60 to 65 minutes. Test bread at 55 minutes with a toothpick or cake tester. Bread is ready to come out of the oven when the cake tester comes out clean.
- Allow to cool in the loaf pan for one hour.
Notes
- Find long fermentation direction in the blog post.
- Slice half of the cranberries and leave the rest whole, because I prefer smaller bites of cranberry throughout.
- This recipe makes a very moist loaf. It will cook in the oven a bit longer than a typical banana bread recipe, because it’s a very moist finished product.
- Overripe bananas provide sweetness to this loaf, so it doesn’t require as much sugar to sweeten.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Delicious. I used freshly milled spelt for this recipe and skipped the brown sugar sprinkle on top. My toddler really enjoyed this recipe.
Could apple cider be substituted for the orange juice?
This is delicious – we’re all eating it up now. I made it exactly as written, which was very simple to follow. I hadn’t made a sweet bread from my spelt grain before, which is tough to hand mill but worth it. I overfilled my cast iron loaf pan, so I had to pull it out to clean up and put it back in. I should have put it on a baking sheet, but it still came out beautifully. Thank you, it’s a keeper!
Glad you enjoyed it!
Can you freeze the loaf?
I don’t see why not! I would wrap it well and make sure it is in a freezer safe bag or container.
Hi, are you using sourdough “discard” or is it active starter? Thanks for your help.
Either will work!
This sounds so delicious! I’m excited to try, but fresh cranberries aren’t available in my area. Can I replace with dried?
I don’t see why not!
Have a copy of this recipe. Looks GREAT. Will be a super
addition to my Holiday Recipies. Thank you for sharing. Aria
I was afraid it would be too heavy on the banana, but the cranberry and orange really comes through! And of course our sourdough starter base…..YUM
Tastes so delicious
Loved it! Thanks so much!
Love long ferment recipes!! This ones a winner