Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread

Let's talk about gray, drizzly days, cups of tea and toast. Particularly this toast, from the Grand Central Bakery Cookbook, which is studded with sweet cranberries, crunchy pecans and bright and zippy lemon zest. It's just what you need when you require a little fall morning pick-me-up. 

It is not suggested that you keep the wrapper on the butter.

I really love using the Grand Central Cookbook, not least of all because it makes me feel a little closer to Portland. The best cookbooks, in my opinion, each have a certain memory or person or place associated with them that make them all the more meaningful. In the case of Grand Central (named for the eponymous Northwest bakery) I remember quite a few occasions waiting in the cold gray drizzle for a brunch spot at Jam on Hawthorne with a group of my friends, only to finally give up and dodge across traffic to the bakery across the street. My good friend Katie, who now lives in California, used to feed me life saving quiches and potpies out of the recipes from this book. Plus, the recipes are easy to tweak or improvise and there are plenty of great tips for preserving and extending the life of your baked goods.

I wound up using a little extra flour in my recipe; feel free to eyeball yours and if the batter seems a little too wet, feel free to dust in some extra flour to keep everything together. It's sweet and delicious and perfect toasted with a pat of butter.

Cranberry Orange Pecan Bread (From Grand Central Bakery)

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/8 cups sugar
1/3 cups canola oil
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
zest and juice from one large orange
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cups cranberries, fresh or frozen
1/4 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a bread pan. Measure the flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl and whisk to combine. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the sugar and oil on medium-high speed until thoroughly combined; the mixture will look sandy. Crack the eggs into a liquid measuring cup and whisk together. With the mixer on low speed, slowly pour in the egg. Increase to medium and continue to mix for 2 minutes more.

Whisk together the buttermilk, orange zest and juice and vanilla. Add one-third of the dry ingredients and incorporate on low speed, then increase the speed to medium. Mix for one minute. Add half of the buttermilk mixture and mix briefly to incorporate, then turn the speed down to low. Add half of the remaining dry ingredients and incorporate before increasing the speed to medium for one minute. Repeat with the remaining buttermilk mixture and the remaining dry ingredients. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Fold the cranberries and pecans into the batter by hand, scrape the sides of the bowl, and then pour into the pan. It should be slightly  more than half full.

Bake the loaf for 60 to 75 minutes, rotating the pan every 20 minutes or so. The loaf will be golden brown with cracked tops, and a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.