I was searching for recipes that used cranberries (since I purchased about 4 pounds!! of fresh cranberries when they showed up at my market :), and found a few versions of this unusal – but delicious – Cranberry Wild Rice Bread.

I know what you are thinking – rice in BREAD? Trust me on this one…it’s so amazingly good! Most of the recipes I found call for just cooked wild rice but I preferred to use a blend. I love Lundberg’s Wild Rice Blend. The most important thing to know about the rice in this recipe, is that it HAS to be cooked completely. Wild rice tends to take a bit more time and anything that is crunchy going in, will get crunchy when baked. Not quite what we are going for here 🙂

This is what it looks like after rising twice and prior to baking… (Don’t forget to brush it with that melted margarine)

And after… See how it kind of went over the edge a bit there? Two reasons this might have happened. My loaf pan might be just slightly smaller than average and sometimes, the dough just rises more than others. However, if you can see the pic above, it’s just too full after rising. Next time, I would take some of the dough and just bake it into muffins. The loaf pan should be no more than 2/3 full. Lesson learned!

To take this recipe over the top, I also made a cranberry orange butter. Using vegan margarine (we use Earth Balance) and fresh cranberries, we created this flavorful spread. Also in there, orange juice and zest. A little agave to round out the sweetness.

Try this bread as toast and let that cranberry butter just melt over it. You could also make an amazing french toast or…cut this bread into cubes and make toasty croutons for a delicious fall salad served with a cranberry vinaigrette (recipe coming soon)!

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