WHOLE WHEAT BREAD w/WLNTS & CRAN

By BobD

Ingredients

• 2 LOAVES
• Free-form bread-great breakfast, toasted and slathered with butter-Requiring only a few minutes of kneading and one quick rise.
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading
• 2 cups whole-wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 (1/4-oz) package fast-acting yeast such as Fleischmann's Rapid Rise yeast
• 1 cup warm water (120 to 130F)
• 1/2 cup warm milk (120 to 130F)
• 1/4 cup molasses (not robust or blackstrap)
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups walnuts (8 oz), lightly toasted and coarsely chopped
• 1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (7 oz)

Details

Servings 2
Adapted from gourmet.com

Preparation

Step 1

Whisk together flours, salt, and yeast in a bowl.

Whisk together water, milk, molasses, and butter in another bowl until combined well, then stir into flour mixture until a wet dough forms.

Stir in walnuts and cranberries.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead, working in just enough additional flour to prevent dough from sticking, until smooth and elastic, 7 to 10 minutes.

Form dough into a ball and put in an oiled bowl, turning to coat, then let rest in bowl, uncovered, in a draft-free place at warm room temperature 10 minutes.

Divide dough in half and form into 2 balls.

Arrange about 4 inches apart on a large baking sheet. Loosely cover with oiled plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 425F with rack in lowest position.

Lightly sprinkle dough with some flour and bake until golden brown and bottoms sound hollow when tapped, 20 to 25 minutes.

Transfer to a rack to cool.

COOKS NOTE: Bread keeps, wrapped well, at room temperature 2 days or frozen 1 month.