Thursday, October 8, 2015

Cranberry-Wild Rice Bread

Early this week we were watching a cooking show out of Green Bay Wisconsin.  It is called Living with Amy.  She very often has guests on her show from local businesses.  On Monday Amy's guest was The Happy Cookie Lady.  https://www.facebook.com/happy.cookielady  The Happy Cookie Lady's real name is Christine.  She makes and sells beautiful decorated cookies for all occasions.  When she appears on Living with Amy, she shares wonderful recipes.  This time she made Wild Rice and Cranberry bread in a bread machine.  I was familiar with this bread because they sell turkey sandwiches on this bread at our local convenience store.

Before I share her recipe, I want to mention my method for cooking the wild rice.  I make it in my electric digital pressure cooker which I have blogged about many times.  I make brown rice this same way.  It cooks completely without having to worry about monitoring the process so carefully.  I just use a ratio of 1.5 or 2 parts water to 1 part rice in the cooker and turn it on low pressure for 30 minutes.  I make white rice this same way but it only takes 10 minutes for it to cook.  There are a lot of youtube videos showing how to do this and each is a little different.  I find cooking with low pressure may take a little longer but it makes fluffier perfectly cooked rice.  Using 1/2 cup wild rice and 1 cup of water yields 1 1/2 cups of cooked rice.  That is enough for two loaves of bread.

Cranberry-Wild Rice Bread

1 1/4 cup hot (not too hot or it will kill the yeast) water (about 125 degrees)
 1/4 cup Powdered milk (I didn't have any so I used 1 cup of hot water and 1/4 cup milk)
1 1/4 t. celery salt
2 T. honey
1 T. Olive Oil
3 cups flour
3/4 cup cooked wild rice
(apparently you can buy cooked wild rice in a can, but I have not looked for it)
1/8 t. pepper
1 t. yeast
2/3 cup dried cranberries

Put ingredients in the bread machine in the order given.  Turn on the normal cycle and start.
My bread machine is old and it makes a tall loaf.  If you want a regular shaped loaf of bread, just mix in the dough cycle only and then put it in a loaf pan to rise and bake in your oven or get a bread machine with a normal loaf design.

Cranberry-Wild Rice bread.

This hearty bread cuts easily and has a good texture.

This bread is great as regular sandwich bread, but I wanted to try something different.  I decided to make a grilled sandwich with the bread.  I learned from Living with Amy to buy a big family pack of chicken breasts.  I cook them all at once to use in future recipes.  You can spray a piece of foil with cooking spray and place your chicken breasts on the foil.  Fold the foil around the chicken and bake in the oven until they are done.  For those who want specific instructions I would say 350 degrees for 40 minutes would work .  A second option is to place the chicken breasts in a slow cooker for a few hours with a little water or broth.  When I do this, I freeze one cooked breast per freezer bag.  Then when I need cooked chicken for a recipe, I take one out and it thaws very quickly.

For this grilled sandwich, I sliced one chicken breast.  I believe deli turkey or ham would work too.  I spread two slices of bread with canned cranberry sauce.  On one slice of bread put the sliced chicken on the sauce, a slice of crisp pre-cooked bacon (we fry up a pound or two of bacon and store in a ziplock bag in the refrigerator to use as needed),  a couple slices of cheese (your favorite cheese) and topped it with the second slice of bread.   I buttered both sides and grilled the same as making a grilled cheese.  You could use a panini maker, but I just used my cast iron frying pan.  This sandwich would be delicious after Thanksgiving with leftover cranberry sauce, a little stuffing and some turkey.

Grilled sandwich on cranberry-wild rice bread.

Thanks Christine, the Happy Cookie Lady, for the recipe.  I look forward to seeing more recipes from you in the future.  They are always delicious.

19 comments:

  1. I have made the bread dozens of times and always with delicious results. It is a favorite of family and friends, and trust me, everyone will be impressed that you MADE it. It’s hearty and flavorful, goes well with many entrees. If you have any leftovers it makes delicious toast for breakfast.

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  2. Many machines come with a timer, but not all. If you have a model that doesn't have a built in timer, use the bake cycle while keeping a close eye. home bread maker

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  4. are there baking instructions for doing it in the oven? Time and Temp?

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    Replies
    1. I usually bake other bread at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. I would think this would be the same. I just usually use the bread machine. I hope this helps.

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  8. How would I adjust this recipe for a 3# loaf in the bread machine? We love this bread!

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  9. how would I adjust this recipe to make a 3# loaf in the bread machine?

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    1. That seems like a big loaf and I don't know how big your bread machine pan is. This recipe makes a nice sized loaf so I would try as it is written rather than try to adjust. If you find it too small, then you can make 1 1/2 the recipe.

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    2. my new bread machine makes 2, 2 1/2 or 3# loaves. I'm having a hard time finding recipes for the 2 1/2 & 3# loaves.

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    3. There are a lot of recipes for 1.5 pound loaves so just double the ingredients. The machine should adjust the time for a loaf that big.

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    4. That's what I thought, it would be so simple. However, doubling a bread recipe won't work, for one thing there's way too much liquid, I know you can't double the yeast either.

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  10. 1 1/4 cup hot (not too hot or it will kill the yeast) water (about 125 degrees)
    1/4 cup Powdered milk (I didn't have any so I used 1 cup of hot water and 1/4 cup milk)

    Does this mean you have 1 1/2 cups of liquid?

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  11. No just 1 1/4 cup of either water with 1/4 cup milk powder or 1 cup of water and 1/4 cup milk.

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  12. Introduced to Cranberry-Wild Rice Bread at Kwik Trip. Loved it so much. I decided to look up recipe and found yours.
    When I have served your Wild Rice Bread recipe - I have been told it's the best they have ever tasted

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  13. Was I search if a Kwik trip copy cat since they are no longer selling this bread. Made another recipe not real happy with it. I found yours and made it. Started it in the bread machine realized I read your recipe wrong I added 1-1/4 cup warm water and another cup hot water plus 1/4 cup milk. I realized it before it got to far in transferred it to a mixer made the normal way. Had to double the flour it turned out so well just like Kwik trip now I have two loaves.

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