Cranberry Cinnamon Bread Abm

This bread machine loaf is the kind of recipe that justifies owning an ABM in the first place. Five minutes of setup and three hours later you’ve got a warm, fragrant cranberry bread with the kind of bakery aroma that makes the whole house feel like a holiday morning.

The trick is the add-in timing. Cranberries go in at the beep (around 88 minutes into the cycle), not at the start. Adding them too early lets the machine pulverize them into a pink-stained dough; adding them at the right beep keeps them whole and gives you bursts of tart fruit in every slice.

Frozen cranberries work just as well as fresh. Set them out to thaw while the dough cycles, then drop them in when the machine beeps. The lemon zest goes in with the dry ingredients to bloom slowly during the first knead.

The “darkness control to 10 o’clock” setting (medium-light crust) is what you want. Darker bakes the cranberries too hard.

Pro Tips

• Use bread flour, not all-purpose; the higher protein gives you a taller rise and better structure for holding the cranberries
• Add the wet ingredients first, then the dry, with the yeast last on top away from the salt; salt kills yeast on direct contact
• If your machine doesn’t have an add-in beep, pause and open it manually around 80-85 minutes to add the cranberries
• Slice with a serrated bread knife once fully cooled; warm cranberry bread tears under any other blade

Variations

• Substitute orange zest for lemon and stir in a half cup of chopped walnuts or pecans for a more festive loaf
• Add a teaspoon of orange extract for extra citrus depth
• Replace cranberries with chopped dried apricots, fresh blueberries, or chopped fresh apples