Stuffing Bread with Dried Cranberries

The perfect bread for turkey sandwiches or to use for stuffing, this tender flavorful loaf also slices up beautifully for Thanksgiving breakfast toast that hints of the delicious dinner to come later.

If you’ve been reading along here for a while, you know that I like to bake bread. I love the smell of the yeast as it comes back to life in a little warm water. I love the heft of an enriched dough as I knead it and the springy bounce as I spin it in the oiled bowl of my mixer in preparation for the first rise. But the very best part of baking bread is the way the whole house smells as the bread bakes. When my girls were still living at home, nothing brought them out of their rooms and downstairs faster than the aroma of bread in the oven. Well, and the eating, of course!

But I understand that not everyone feels they have time to bake bread. So it is my great pleasure to introduce you to a book that solves the “no time to bake” problem. Make Ahead Bread divides the process into manageable parts, allowing you to make the dough ahead of time and leave it in the refrigerator overnight or even for a day or two, depending on the recipe, until you are ready to bake and enjoy.

Make Ahead Bread was written by the witty and knowledgeable Donna Currie of Cookistry, a blog you might already be familiar with. If you aren’t, do go over and say howdy. Donna never fails to crack me up with her quips and I often had to watch that I didn’t have a mouthful of coffee in the morning when she shared the antics of her husband, Bob, because he could make me snort coffee out of my nose. Sadly, Bob passed away suddenly just a few weeks ago. In typical food blogger fashion, a group of us decided we’d honor his memory by helping Donna promote her bread book, a project he deeply supported, as he did all of Donna’s endeavors, hopefully sending a few customers her way through the power of social media.

I’m not just recommending this book to be nice though. I really love it! I am quite the cookbook junkie but I’d like to tell you that this was THE ONLY cookbook I asked for for my birthday this year! Yep, it’s that special. I was so delighted when my mom arrived in Dubai with Make Ahead Bread that I couldn’t help but share a photo of me and it on Facebook.

I haven’t shared recipes from it before now but I have special permission from Donna to share this one and I hope you enjoy it as much as we did! You can get your own copy of Make Ahead Bread at better bookstores as well as on Amazon.com.*

This recipe is from Make Ahead Bread – 100 Recipes for Melt-in-Your-Mouth Fresh Bread Every Day © Donna Currie. Used by permission. (I’ve added the metric adaptations.)

Ingredients
1 cup or 240ml lukewarm water
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 1/2 cups (11 1/4 ounces) or 318g bread flour
2 teaspoons poultry seasoning
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon dried chives
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/4 cup or 35g dried cranberries
Non-stick baking spray (the kind with flour in it)

Note: I had to subsitute fresh herbs so I doubled the amount since dried herbs are always stronger in flavor than fresh. Another confession, I wasn’t reading with my cheater glasses so I thought it was 1 tablespoon of both parsley and chives. I don’t think the extra chives were a bad thing though since I’m a fan.

On Prep Day
1. Combine all the ingredients and knead by hand (mix first in a large bowl, then turn out and knead) or in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, until dough is elastic.

2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, or place it in a large plastic bag and seal the ends. Refrigerate overnight or up to 24 hours.

Going into the refrigerator.

The next day after a long, slow rise in the cold. 

On Baking Day
1. Spray the 9x5-in or approx. 23x13cm bread pan with baking spray. (I also chose to line the pan with parchment for easy clean up, something Donna mentions in the introductory part of her book as an option.)

2. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat it into a rough 8 in or 20cm square. Fold the top half to about the middle of the dough and press the edge down to secure it. Fold the top over again, this time to within about an inch or so of the bottom. Press the edge to deal. Now pull the bottom of the dough up to meet the dough roll you‘ve created and seal the seam. Pinch the ends closed and place the dough, seam side down, in the prepared pan.

3. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and set aside to rise. The dough is ready when it has risen about an inch or 2 centimeters over the top of the pan, about 1 hour in a warm room.

4. About 30 minutes before the loaf is fully risen, heat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.

5. When the dough has risen, remove the plastic. Bake until the bread is richly browned and the internal temperature of the loaf reaches 195°F or °90.5C on an instant read thermometer, about 55 minutes. Remove the bread form the pan and cool completely on a rack before slicing.

Enjoy!

The hardest part of this whole recipe? Finding space for the dough bowl in my ridiculously overstuffed refrigerator.

Make this bread. Buy Make Ahead Bread.* You won’t be sorry!

Check out the fabulous list of breads we've baked for Donna from her book:

• Blueberry & Cream Cheese Buns with Lemon Zest from Meghan of Clean Eats, Fast Feets
• Buttermilk Rolls from Renee of Magnolia Days 
• Cinnamon Rolls from Sandra of Dear Lauren Love Mom 
• Pizza Bread from Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Pumpkin Yeast Bread from Faith of An Edible Mosaic 
• Sesame Seeded Semolina Bread from Karen of Karen's Kitchen Stories 
• Sourdough English Muffins from Alisa of Go Dairy Free 
• Stuffing Bread with Dried Cranberries from Stacy of Food Lust People Love 
• Sweet Potato Monkey Bread from Kirsten of Farm Fresh Feasts 
• Sweet Potato Monkey Bread from Renee of Magnolia Days 
• Sweet Potato Monkey Bread from Laura of Mother Would Know 
• Whole Wheat Pita from Jenni of Pastry Chef Online 
• Whole Wheat and Parmesan Pizza Crust from Kirsten of Farm Fresh Feasts

UPDATE: Win your own copy of Make Ahead Bread! 

Follow this link to enter: http://bit.ly/1MHXidM

*Affiliate links.

Fresh Artichokes with Shrimp Stuffing

I was just Skype type-chatting with my sweet husband, who is in Houston.  I said, “Where are you sleeping?” because he is there on business and, even in Houston, that usually means some hotel or another because of meetings first thing in the morning at said hotel.  His response, “I slept in our bed last night,” made tears jump into my eyes.  He was in our home in Houston.  And suddenly I was more homesick than I can express.  And then he told me he spent two hours last night visiting with my mother and he’ll spend tonight with his mom.   Oh, man.

Do you ever have moments like that?  Where you just WANT TO GO HOME?  You know, it doesn’t matter that where I live IS home and I wouldn’t want it any other way, but sometimes it just comes over me that I want to go home, home. 

 The most vivid memory of when this happened to me was when I was pregnant with younger daughter.  We had a beautiful house just outside of Paris and Spring was springing (She was due in July.) and all should have been well with my world.  But all I could think about was going home.  With a capital H.  I wanted my mother and my sisters and family and Houston.  At that point, we didn’t have a house in Houston to call our own.  It was definitely the people.  I think it still is.

I tried to express my feelings back then, and choked up.  Tears welled in my eyes.  I figured it was hormones but there was no denying the desire for my mom and Houston.  My dear husband, bless him, said, “Go.”  I booked the tickets for me and elder daughter, then two years old, faster than you can blink.  I don’t even remember how long we stayed, 1 week, 10 days, two weeks?  But it was enough.  I returned to Paris, sated.  Ready for the rest of my pregnancy and delightedly waiting for our new little one.  I also rested comfortably in the knowledge that my mother was coming out to visit two weeks after the baby was expected.  An impending visit always helps.

Meanwhile, I have been cooking up a storm in preparation for my trip to visit our daughters during their university spring break.  I can’t leave dear husband without meals!  So far, I have in the freezer: 

Tomato borlotti beans with smoked pork chop/rice – 2

Linguine with Bolognaise Sauce– 2

Salmon with spicy couscous – 3

Spicy Thai Pork Meatballs with egg noodles – 2

 Penne with shrimp and blue cheese - 3

Eggplant Parmigiana – 2

Greens and Pea Manicotti – 2

Lasagna – 3

Shrimp curry with rice - 3

Artichokes with shrimp stuffing – 3 (not a full dinner each since they are small but tasty)

I have had so many things on the stove or the cutting board at once that I didn’t even attempt to record the process, except for the last item.  Artichokes are in season here and I cannot resist.  We are talking LE1.25 the last time I was in Carrefour which is about 20 US cents per artichoke!  They are practically paying me to take them home, people!  

So, shrimp stuffed artichokes.  Hold on to your butter dish!  These are tasty!

Ingredients

4 fresh artichokes

2 3/4 oz or 80g butter

4 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

16 large shrimp, peeled and cleaned

5 slices of sandwich bread

3 1/2 oz or 100g feta cheese

Small handful flat leaf parsley

1 lemon

Olive oil

Sea salt

Black pepper

Cayenne (optional)

1 egg

Method

Cut the stem and the top couple of inches off of the artichoke.  Rub the cut ends with half of the lemon to keep them from turning brown.

Trim the pointy ends of the lower leaves with a pair of scissors and rub with the lemon.

Steam the artichokes, stem end up for about 30 minutes or until fork tender.

Meanwhile, chop your onion and garlic and then sauté them in half the butter with a generous drizzle of olive oil to keep the butter from burning.

When the artichokes are done, remove them the heat and leave them to cool slightly.  When they have cooled enough to handle, gently separate the leaves and use a small spoon to scoop out the fuzzy, inedible choke.  

Chop your shrimp into small pieces.   Salt and pepper liberally.  Add some cayenne if you like things spicy. 

As your onions and garlic get soft, slice your bread into small cubes.  Add in the other half of the butter to the pan.

Chop your parsley, separating the stems from the leaves.   Add the chopped stems to the onions and garlic.  Give the pan a quick stir and then tip in the chopped shrimp.

Cook for just four to five minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the cubed bread and use two wooden spoons to gently toss the bread in the olive oil, garlic and butter.

Put the mixture into a mixing bowl so it can cool slightly and preheat your oven to 350F° or 180°C.

Meanwhile, use a fork to crumble your feta. (This feta came from my new Bible study friend, Natalia’s husband’s company.  They make all kinds of wonderful cheeses including Brie, Camembert and a lovely goat cheese, all of which we love.  If you live nearby and want to order, check out their website http://specialtycheeses.com/  It’s a family run business owned by lovely people who make great cheese.)  

Add the feta into the mixing bowl.  Add in the egg and cayenne, if using.

Juice your remaining lemon half and add about half of the juice to the stuffing.  Add in the chopped parsley leaves and give the whole thing a good stir.

Using a spoon, fill the artichokes.   Put them into a baking pan and liberally drizzle all the artichokes with olive oil.  Make sure to get some in the outer leaves as well as over the stuffing.

Bake for 30 minutes or until lovely and golden.  Drizzle the remaining lemon juice into the outer leaves. 

This is delicious AND fun to eat.

Enjoy!