This recipe calls for two seasonal items, egg nog and dried cranberries.
You can substitute raisins for the cranberries if you’d like, but the cranberries give the bread a little zing. Plus they’re really pretty in the finished product.
Egg Nog Bread – Two Pound Loaf
1 cup egg nog
½ cup milk
4 cups bread flour
½ cup dried cranberries or raisins
1 ¼ teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoons oil or butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ¾ teaspoons yeast
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. Use the light crust setting.
Make sure you check on the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. Pop open the top of the bread machine and see how the dough is doing. It should be a round ball. If it’s too dry add liquid a tablespoon at a time until the dough balls up. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks as expected.
Here’s the loaf as it came out of the bread machine . . .
And here’s how it looked when it was sliced . . .
See how pretty those cranberries are? And how does it taste? It’s really, really good. The bread has a cake-like texture. There’s a slight nutmeg, egg nog flavor. The cranberries give it a little bit of contrast.
So far I’ve had it plain and toasted with butter. This weekend I want to try it as French toast. Yum!
15 comments
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rachel h.
November 11, 2011 at 11:45 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This is amazing! I made it this morning and it did not disappoint. I did slightly warm the eggnog and milk as my bread machine does not produce well if the liquid ingredients are cold. I will definitely make this a few times during the holidays, may even try to add in some wheat flour while I am at it.
Marsha
November 11, 2011 at 12:05 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m glad you like it! If you try it with wheat flour let me know how it goes. I’m going to try it as French toast on Sunday.
tiffany
December 8, 2011 at 6:50 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Sounds delish! Did you add all purpose flour or bread flour? And i have an older bread machine not sure which order to add the ingredients but this looks about right. Curious on the flour though….
Marsha
December 8, 2011 at 6:55 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Tiffany, It’s really, really good. I hope you like it. And thanks for the question about the flour. I used bread flour. I’ve updated the recipe because I’m sure you’re not the only one to wonder about that.
tiffany
December 8, 2011 at 7:04 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
can’t wait to try it. going to make it tomorrow!!
thanks for posting.
tiffany
December 9, 2011 at 5:41 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
made the bread tonight. it was perfectly delicious!! thanks for posting the receipe.
Dora Stevenson
December 21, 2011 at 10:33 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I do not live near a store that keeps a supply of ‘bread flour’ on hand. When I’m in a ‘bread mood’, I can’t easily get ‘bread flour’.
Would it be possible for me to use plain flour in this recipe? Would there be any adjustment I would have to make to the present recipe by using plain flour?
Thanks for your response.
Marsha
December 21, 2011 at 11:01 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Dora, I haven’t tried the recipe with regular flour, but you might give it a try and see how it works. Bread flour has more gluten than all purpose flour. (Learn more about bread flour on this page.) However the amount of gluten in flour varies and it could be that your brand of flour will do fine with this recipe.
The added gluten helps the bread to rise, so it it doesn’t work the bread won’t be as high as it would normally. I bet it would still taste fine though.
Some people make their own bread flour. For every one cup of flour replace one tablespoon of flour with one tablespoon of wheat gluten. In other words, for every cup of flour take out one tablespoon of flour and substitute one tablespoon of gluten.
Let me know how it works!
Sandy
January 7, 2012 at 9:27 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
There is a gluten flour that you can keep on hand when you don’t have or use bread flour. It comes in a small bag, and you want to add a couple of tablespoons to a recipe to increase the gluten content. It seems expensive, roughly $6 for a small bag, but it will last a long time. Keep it in the refrigerator.
Wendy
January 10, 2012 at 5:22 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Made this bread using 2 cups bread flour, 1 1/2 whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup oats. Fabulous and much healthier.
Marsha
January 10, 2012 at 6:47 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Wendy, Thanks so much for sharing. That sounds healthy AND tasty!
Lynn
January 19, 2012 at 12:03 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
We make a home made eggnog, would that work in this recipe or should I get some store bought to make sure? The homemade one is a little thinner then the store bought
Marsha
January 19, 2012 at 2:15 pm (UTC -7) Link to this comment
Home made eggnog? Yum!! I’d give it a try with your home made. I’ve noticed that the bread has a slightly different taste and consistency depending on what brand of eggnog I buy. They’re all good, but I like some better than others. There’s no way to know until you try though.
Joanna
January 7, 2013 at 7:46 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
This was delicious! I made one with some leftover eggnog, and immediately made a second loaf for an elderly neighbor. So glad I found it.
Marsha
January 7, 2013 at 8:03 am (UTC -7) Link to this comment
I’m so glad you liked it. I had some for breakfast over the weekend. I rally like it too!