Brother Rick's Orange Cranberry Bread

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup orange juice
• 2/3 cup milk
• 2/3 cup finely chopped dried apricots (120g)
• 2/3 cup chopped walnuts
• 3 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen, chopped in a food processor

Instructions

Place baking rack in middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350°F

1. Grease and flour 2 8x4–inch loaf pans (or 4 smaller pans) or equivalent.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a separate, large bowl, or stand-up mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in the orange zest and eggs, 1 at a time.
4. Add the orange juice and milk and beat until mixed thoroughly. It will appear curdled.
5. Add the flour mixture and beat until it is just moistened.
6. Fold in the apricots, walnuts, and cranberries.
7. Spread batter evenly into pans.
8. Bake for 60m if pans are large (check at 50m), 45m for smaller pans.
9. It is done when a cake tester ot toothpick comes out clean.
10. Let cool for 5 min, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Comments

These breads, wrapped well, keep for 1 week in the refrigerator or frozen for a month.

Historical Record

Rick Curry, a Jesuit brother and founder of the National Theater Workshop of the Handicapped [sic]`, has also gained a reputation as a bread baker. This recipe comes from the book, “The Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking,” originally published in 1995. At some point in the 2000’s Robin got it off the ‘Interwebs’. She wrote the recipe on a recipe card that already contained a magazine cut-out for a recipe for ‘herbed green peas’. Robin has yet to make ‘herbed green peas’. So whether that recipe is any good remains a secret, for now.

The Jesuits had a lot of secrets, apparently. This Cranberry Bread recipe does not need to be one of them. Back into the ‘Interwebs’ it goes!

Recipe Source: Secrets of Jesuit Breadmaking by Brother Rick Curry, HarperPerennial, 1995