Yeasted bread has never been easier. This simple method produces the most beautiful and crusty cranberry nut no-knead bread with very little hands-on work! If you’re new to working with yeast, reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos and a few more success tips.
“Homemade bread” and “easy” are terms that don’t typically go hand-in-hand. When you think of homemade bread, you think difficult, right? This recipe, however, will completely change that thought. I realize that’s a pretty big promise, but I’m confident your perception of homemade bread will switch from “nope! too much work” to “wow, I CAN do this.”
One reader, Kris, commented: “This is an excellent recipe—bread made easy. Delicious bites full of flavor from the cranberries and walnuts. Will keep this forever. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Linda, commented: “This recipe is fantastic. The bread had a wonderful crust and great flavor. The instructions were super thorough at explaining everything for a novice bread maker. ★★★★★”
Why You’ll Love This Cranberry Nut No-Knead Bread:
- Just 7 simple ingredients
- Hardly any hands-on time
- Variety of textures: crispy crusty exterior, soft and chewy interior, and plenty of dried cranberries and nuts in every slice
- An egg-free baking recipe and dairy-free recipe
- Tastes incredible warm with a swipe of honey butter.
This bread, like my homemade artisan bread, seeded oat bread, pizza bread, asiago-crusted skillet bread, and olive bread, has all the bells and whistles of a fresh-from-the-bakery cranberry nut bread, and takes very little effort. If you are new to working with yeast, or simply feeling a little lazy, this recipe is for you.
Making this loaf will leave you plenty of time to loaf around. 😉
Just 7 Ingredients for This Cranberry Nut Bread
You don’t need a lot of ingredients to make homemade bread, and you might already know that if you’ve tried this sandwich bread recipe. You only need 7 ingredients to make this bread:
- Flour: Flour gives the bread its structure. You can use all-purpose or bread flour. I typically reach for bread flour because it yields a slightly chewier bread.
- Salt: Pick up some coarse sea salt; I find the flavor is lacking with regular table salt.
- Yeast: You can use instant or active dry yeast, but I highly recommend an instant (aka “rapid rise” or “quick rise” yeast). I always use Platinum Yeast by Red Star, which is an instant yeast with dough improvers. You don’t need much here—only 1/2 teaspoon—because of the long rise time.
- Nuts: Walnuts or pecans—baker’s choice!
- Dried Cranberries: I love the chewy texture of dried cranberries here. Don’t use fresh or frozen cranberries, because this dough is too wet. Raisins would work too, or try chopping up dried apricots or dates.
- Water: I normally encourage you to use warm liquid with yeast because it helps the yeast work faster. For this recipe, you want the water to be about 95ºF (35ºC), because we’re encouraging a nice slow rise to build flavor. An instant-read thermometer takes the guesswork out of this.
- Honey: Honey adds flavor and helps give the bread its springy, sponge-like texture.
By the way, if you enjoy honey in your homemade bread, you’ll love this no-knead honey oat bread because the flavor really stands out. The process is also very similar to today’s easy bread recipe. And both breads are delicious warm or toasted and topped with this easy homemade honey butter.
Overview: 5 Steps to Make No-Knead Bread
This no-work, no-knead, professional-bread-at-home concept originated with Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery in NYC. It’s all very basic ingredients, but his method is unique, which includes an 18-hour rise time. 18 hours?! Yes! Don’t be nervous, this 18 hours gives the dough a chance to ferment. And the fermentation time requires absolutely nothing from you. Just set it on your counter and forget about it until the next day. We use this same method for homemade English muffins. In both recipes, the magic happens when you’re not looking!
Step 1: Stir ingredients together. Don’t even break out your mixer.
This will be a super sticky dough. Remember, do NOT be tempted to add more flour. It will stick to your hands. That’s nothing a quick wash can’t fix!
Step 2: Cover the dough and ignore it.
Let the dough rise at room temperature for 12–18 hours. This recipe is very forgiving. Any normal-ish room temperature is fine. You’ll know that the dough is finished rising when it has about doubled in size and air bubbles have formed on top. Like this:
Step 3: The dough will still be super sticky after rising. That’s ok! Using lightly floured hands, form the sticky dough into a ball and place on a large piece of parchment paper. Score the top with a sharp knife, kitchen shears, or bread lame, then allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Step 4: Preheat a 5- to 6-quart Dutch oven. You’ll bake the bread in a pre-heated (super-hot!) Dutch oven, which helps form a crusty exterior. If you don’t have a Dutch oven, you can use any oven-safe heavy-duty pot with a lid.
Step 5: Bake for about 35 minutes. For an accurate doneness test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C).
FAQ: Why Bake No-Knead Bread in a Dutch Oven?
Baking the bread with the lid on traps steam inside the pot, creating that perfectly crisp crust. A lid is the secret to this bread recipe’s success! You won’t regret picking up a Dutch oven.
No Dutch oven? No problem.
While baking the bread in a Dutch oven is key to this bread’s texture, you can get around it. Instead, place the rounded dough on a parchment paper-lined or generously floured nonstick baking pan. No need to pre-heat the pan like you do the Dutch oven. While the oven preheats and the scored loaf is resting, boil a kettle of water. After the oven is preheated, place scored dough/baking pan on the center rack. Then place a shallow metal baking/roasting pan or cast-iron skillet (I usually use a metal 9×13-inch baking pan; do not use glass) on the bottom oven rack. Carefully and quickly pour 3–4 cups of boiling water into it, and then quickly shut the oven door to trap the steam inside. The steam helps create a crispier crust. This is exactly how I bake 4-ingredient artisan bread.
Step 6: Enjoy a slice of warm, fresh bread you won’t believe you made from scratch.
This lightly honey-sweetened cranberry nut bread is fabulous for breakfast, toasted with butter or honey butter. Or serve it alongside a charcuterie board with a soft cheese like brie or goat cheese, or this white cheddar cranberry pecan cheese ball (yum!).
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
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Crusty Cranberry Nut No Knead Bread
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 20 hours
- Yield: 1 loaf; 10-12 servings
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Yeasted bread has never been easier. This simple mixing method produces the most beautiful and crusty cranberry nut no-knead bread with very little hands-on work! If you’re new to working with yeast, reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
Ingredients
- 3 cups + 2 Tablespoons (390g) bread flour or all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons coarse sea salt (I find the flavor lacking with regular table salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast
- 3/4 cup (95g) chopped walnuts or pecans
- 3/4 cup (105g) dried cranberries*
- 1 Tablespoon (21g) honey
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (about 95°F (35°C))
Instructions
- *No need to grease the bowl, and do not use a mixer in this step because the dough is too sticky for a mixer.* In a large bowl using a silicone spatula, stir the first 5 ingredients together. Mix the honey and water together, then pour on top. Mix to combine. (Note that in the video below, I add the honey to the dry ingredients instead of mixing first with water, but you can do it either way.) The dough will be very sticky; don’t be tempted to add more flour, you want a sticky dough. Gently shape into a ball as best you can.
- Cover tightly. Set on the counter at room temperature (honestly any normal room temperature is fine) and allow to rise for 12–18 hours. The dough will double in size, stick to the sides of the bowl, and may have air bubbles on the surface.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using lightly floured hands, shape into a ball as best you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect. Transfer the dough to a large piece of parchment paper. (Large enough to fit inside your pot and one that is safe for high heat. I use this parchment and it’s never been an issue.) Using a very sharp knife, kitchen shears, or a bread lame, gently score an X into the top. Place the ball of dough + parchment inside a bowl so the dough doesn’t spread out as it rests. Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for 30 minutes.
- During this rest, preheat the oven to 475°F (246°C). (Yes, very hot!) Place your Dutch oven (with the lid) or heavy-duty pot in the oven for 30 minutes so that it’s extremely hot before the dough is placed inside. After 30 minutes, remove the Dutch oven and carefully place the dough inside by lifting it up with the parchment paper and placing it all—the parchment paper included—inside the pot. Cover with the lid.
- Bake for 25 minutes with the lid on. Carefully remove the lid and continue baking for 8–10 more minutes until the bread is golden brown. How to test for doneness: Give the warm bread a light tap. If it sounds hollow, it’s done. For a more accurate test, the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer reads the center of the loaf as 195°F (90°C).
- Remove pot from the oven, carefully remove the bread from the pot, and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before slicing.
- Cover and store leftover bread at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: The dough takes up to 18 hours to rise, so this is a wonderful recipe to begin 1 day ahead of time. To freeze, bake and cool the bread, wrap in a layer of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil, and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator, and then allow to come to room temperature before serving. You can also freeze the dough. Mix the dough together as instructed in step 1. Wrap the sticky dough in lightly oiled plastic wrap and place in a freezer-friendly container. Thaw at room temperature, then let it rest/rise as instructed in step 2. Proceed with step 3 and the rest of the recipe.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Lodge Cast Iron Dutch Oven or Le Creuset Dutch Oven | Parchment Paper | Bread Lame | Instant-Read Thermometer | Cooling Rack
- Dutch Oven: Use a 5- to 6-quart (or larger) Dutch oven or any large oven-safe pot with an oven-safe lid. If your Dutch oven is smaller than 5 quarts, you can halve the recipe (instructions remain the same, just halve each ingredient) or make the dough as instructed in step 1, shape the dough into 2 balls instead of 1 ball, and bake them one at a time in your smaller Dutch oven. While the 2nd dough waits, lightly cover and keep at room temperature. The bake times in the recipe above (25 mins and then 8–10 mins) will both be a little shorter for the smaller loaves.
- No Dutch oven? See post above for alternative.
- Flour: You can use either bread flour or all-purpose flour here. Bread flour will produce a slightly chewier bread. Feel free to substitute up to 1 cup (around 130g) of the flour for whole-wheat flour. Do not use all whole-wheat flour, as the bread will taste quite dense and heavy.
- Yeast: If you don’t have instant yeast, you can use active dry. I’ve never had a problem using active dry yeast in this recipe, and with no other changes needed. Works wonderfully!
- Cranberries: Dried cranberries (or raisins) are best for this wet dough. I do not recommend frozen or fresh cranberries.
- Parchment Paper: If your parchment paper has a maximum temperature that’s lower than the temperature called for in the recipe, bake the bread at that temperature. Bake the bread a little longer to compensate for the lower temperature.
- Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Recipe adapted from Red Star Yeast, method originally from Jim Lahey.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made cranberry and walnuts no knead bread put in refrigerator overnight let rest on kitchen table for couple of hrs but the dough didn’t look like it rise?? Followed directions to the nail. What happened??
Hi Roseana! There are a number of factors at play with yeasted doughs. We recommend taking a look at the “What if My Dough Isn’t Rising” section of our baking with yeast guide for some ideas. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Hi Sally, maybe I messed up by using Himalayan salt, but we found this bread was too salty. Should I have used white table salt? Can I reduce the salt? Otherwise the bread was a hit. I made it in my stainless steel Dutch Oven.
Hi Barbara! You can certainly reduce the salt to your tastes. Glad you enjoyed it.
I wanted to make this recipe but was very worried that my new Le Creuset Dutch oven with enamel coating would crack due to the high temperature 475 in the oven. My research showed that this company’s Dutch oven was baked at 1400 degrees in order to bake the enamel onto the cast iron. Hence my Dutch oven and matching lid looked exactly like they did before I preheated them. The bread was great; served it to company and they loved it too. My bread burnt slightly in my small summer oven. ( It was 100 degrees outside and I did not want to use the main kitchen oven and overheat the kitchen area with guests coming.) Next time, I bake cranberry crusty bread I will use a different oven but check bread temperature before 8 min with the lid off. Prob check bread temperature at 4 min.) Bread could have been a little browner but the internal temperature was 205. I would not flour a board but just flour my hands and shape the bread into a loaf and transfer onto the parchment paper. I will use this recipe many times! Thank you!
I want to make this orange cranberry bread, how do I do that? Wegmans has it seasonally and it is delicious.
Hi Peggy, For cranberry orange bread, we recommend adding the zest of 1 orange instead – no other changes necessary. Enjoy!
Hi Peggy, you could add orange zest to the dough. And perhaps replace 1 Tablespoon of the water with fresh orange juice. I have not tested this, but that is what I would try first.
My favourite recipe , could I double it or would the baking time be different , thank you
Hi Jenny, so glad this one is a favorite for you! For best results, we recommend making two separate batches rather than doubling.
This recipe is fantastic. The bread had a wonderful crust and great flavor. The crust on the bottom was a bit dark so I may experiment with some corn meal under the bread or a slightly lower temperature next time. The instructions were super thorough at explaining everything for a novice bread maker.
When I half this recipe can I make it in a 4.5 quart Dutchoven
Absolutely.
I followed the recipe exactly and the results were perfect! The dough is a little hard to handle and sticks to everything but so worth the effort.
Thank you! I am not a baker but I tried your recipe. The bread was delicious but it was very dense. Is that normal or is there something I should do to get the bread to have bigger holes? Thank you!
Hi David, How are you measuring your flour? Make sure to spoon and level instead of scooping to prevent too much flour in your dough. This could result in dense bread that doesn’t rise. Referencing this baking with yeast guide may be helpful in the future as well. Hope this helps and thanks for giving this one a try!
This is my husbands very favorite bread – mine too. I bake it on a sheet pan at 450 and it comes out amazing every time.
Just made this for the first time what a recipe so delicious
This recipe is so easy and tastes amazing! When I bake it at 475 in my dutch oven, the bottom of the bread is always burnt. Is there something I could do to fix that, or is that common?
Hi Erica! All ovens are a little different. You can try reducing the temperature by a bit and extending the bake time.
I’ve been longing to make cranberry, walnut bread, and your recipe seem great. I accidentally put a quarter teaspoon too much yeast. It has doubled and is only five hours resting. Would it be best to bake it now?
Hi Alice! You could bake it now, or, for deeper flavor, let it rest in the fridge for the remainder of the rising time.
I tried this recipe yesterday and everyone’s loved it including the kids! My dutch oven is 3quarts so I baked half the dough in it and baked the rest in a baking pan with water underneath and both turned out wonderful actually!
Quick question though! If I wanted to try this with just walnuts and no cranberries, should I replace the cranberries with more walnuts or omit them altogether and keep the same amount of walnuts? THANKS!!!
Hi Alicia, so glad this recipe was a hit! For a walnut-only bread, simply omit the cranberries. You could add just a bit more walnuts if you’d like, but not quite an equal swap with the cranberries.
Perfect breakfast bread when you just need that little bit of sweetness but don’t want a donut or cinnamon roll!
This is THE BEST BREAD. I make it all the time, and it was the first of your wonderful recipes that I attempted. I keep Olive Nation’s raspberry infused dried cranberries and pecans around for projects such like this and the flavor is just amazing. We’ve served this with melted Brie.. YUM. Now I’m learning how to make the Brie!
I’ve made this multiple times now and it has turned out amazing every time! I really like it with dried cherries and walnuts.
I love the texture and ease of these no-knead breads
What if I don’t have parchment paper? Can I use buttered foil?
You can use a silicone baking mat provided it can withstand this high of heat (the brands usually list that on the package or website). You can also use a nonstick cookie sheet or simply grease it with butter. And as long as the pot you have is oven-safe in a temperature this high, we can’t see why not.
What is the best way to to store the bread to keep the crunchy crust?
Hi Eiko, in an air tight tupperware container or zip-top bag works well. Keeping the container/bag slightly cracked open will prevent the bread from taking on too much moisture and making the crust a bit soft. Hope you enjoy the bread!
Hi . Is it possible to use a 5.5 qt Dutch oven for this recipe ?
Hi Sam! We recommend using a 6 qt or larger, but your 5.5 qt may work in a pinch. Let us know if you give it a try!
i baked this today in a 5.5 qt dutch oven and it just made it. It rose almost to the top of the pot before I took the lid off to brown it. Gorgeous, delicious loaf!
A+ This recipe is so easy and the bread is absolutely delicious. I used dried cherries and pecans because that’s what I had on hand and it came out perfect. One question – how do you suggest storing the bread so the crust stays crisp? Zip lock bag? Wrapped in foil or plastic wrap? Thanks!
Could I use Almond Flour instead of White Flour?
Hi Barbara! Almond flour would not be a suitable replacement for all-purpose in this recipe. Although some readers report using an all-purpose 1:1 gluten-free flour in many of our recipes with success, you should expect slightly different results anytime you substitute ingredients.
Delicious Bread. Swapped in raisins (dark & golden) and added a teaspoon of cinnamon. Also used 2/3 AP flour and 1/3 Red Fife for additional flavour. Might have left the dough a few hours too long, but it still resulted in a delicious loaf. Excellent crust. Great toasted.
Bet you could also use dried blueberries with a bit of lemon zest! Yummy!
Hi Nancy, absolutely! Let us know if you give that a try.
Excellent bread. Was trying to find a similar bread to the one Costco bakery has for limited months during holidays and this comes very close. Delicious & fun to make.
Excellent recipe. I did add orange zest. Definitely a “keeper” recipe. Thanks.
Love this recipe! Made it a few times, always good. Can I use bread flour instead of AP flour?
Hi Angela, You can use the same amount of bread flour here with no other changes to the recipe for a chewier bread texture.
My bottom seems to get too dark , any tips ? I’ve tired temp, parchment
Hi Cynthia, If the bottom is getting too hard/burnt, try lowering your oven temperature by 25 degrees and lower your oven rack as well. The bake time will be a bit longer since you lowered the oven temperature. You can also try sprinkling your parchment with flour or cornmeal to help prevent sticking. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
Love this recipe , making it for all my friends and family