Crusty on the outside, soft and warm on the inside, this Whole Wheat Cranberry Pecan Bread can be completed start to finish in 5 hours and is a perfect complement to any dinner!
I promised you some side dishes to go with all these new soup recipes for “Soup’s On January”, so Instant Pot Whole Wheat Cranberry Pecan No Knead Crusty Bread, it is. Whew! I know, lots of words in that title, but each one is very necessary.
I love bread just as much as the next person, but not so much plain, boring bread. Even buttered bread for me is just kind of, meh. But when you start mixing in goodies, I’m 100% on board. For example, this loaded Whole Wheat Crusty Bread full of oats and seeds – YUM!
Growing up, my favorite bread basket of all time was at a restaurant that I visited often with 1 goal: grab all the cranberry bread from the basket before my mom and sisters did. It was intense.
Well that restaurant is closed now, I haven’t had cranberry bread in years, and I really try hard to incorporate more whole grains into my families bellies. HELLO WHOLE WHEAT CRANBERRY PECAN CRUSTY BREAD! Where have you been all my life.
I took the basics of this Whole Wheat Crusty Bread, eliminated those goodies and threw in an excessive amount of reduced sugar cranberries and pecans – chopped and whole for nice texture.
Slab some Kerrygold Pure Irish Butter on that warm, crusty bread, and you just may forget about all the soup recipes I’m posting this month (but don’t really, because that would be so sad). I also love mixing yogurt and cream cheese together if you want a slightly healthier spread.
I haven’t tried it yet, but imagine the potential of French toast with this Cranberry Pecan bread! Or a turkey, pepper jack, avocado, bacon panini! Or bread pudding! Or stuffing!
I could keep going, but for now, just enjoy it nice and warm and crusty from the oven with some good quality butter (Kerrygold forever!)
Couple notes: When you are folding in the toppings, it’s gonna be quite sticky, and that’s OK! Just sprinkle on the toppings like so . . .
Then fold and tuck to get all those goodies mostly inside. If there are a few holes here and there, that’s fine too! Once it bakes up all crusty, warm, and soft, it will be imperfect perfection no matter how it looks.
Last thing, to all my friends here who recently started the Go Sugar Free course, I have made this bread with 100% whole wheat, and while it’s a bit heavier than this part white version, it’s still amazing warm right out of the oven with that yummy perfect crust. You will love it!
For a step by step collage of this process, visit the original Whole Wheat Crusty Bread.
Enjoy!
Tools and Other Items Used to Make Instant Pot Whole Wheat Cranberry Pecan No Knead Crusty Bread
6-8 quart Enameled Cast Iron Pot
Paradise Meadow Reduced Sugar Cranberries
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Don’t miss these soup recipes
Or these other Crusty Bread recipes
Sun-dried Tomato, Spinach, and Feta
Instant Pot Whole Wheat Cranberry Pecan No Knead Crusty Bread
This bread is crusty on the outside, warm and chewy on the inside, with the perfect amount of sweetness from the cranberries and crunch from the pecans.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 hours 30 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Pressure cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups (or 9 oz) white whole wheat flour
- 1 cup (or 4.25 ounces) white flour
- 2 tablespoons vital wheat gluten
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 1 1/2 cups room temperature water
- 1/2 cup pecans, mix of chopped and whole
- 1/2 cup cranberries
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, mix together wheat flour, white flour, wheat gluten, salt, and yeast. Add the water and with your hands, mix until the majority of the flour is incorporated, but the dough is still a slightly shaggy looking ball. If the dough is still quite wet and sticky, sprinkle an extra tablespoon or 2 of flour on top and gently fold it in. You want the dough to be tacky, but not so wet and sticky that it coats your hands when your working the flour in.
- Place on top of a piece of parchment paper and put inside the Instant Pot liner.
- Secure the lid. Press yogurt, then adjust until the screen reads 24:00 low. Adjust time to 4:30 and wait for the beep to indicate the cycle has started.
- After 4 hours the dough will have puffed up a bit and have small bubbles on top. Grab the sides of the parchment to lift the dough out of the pot.
- Pat the dough into a square/rectangular shape. Sprinkle the cranberries and pecans all over the surface. Pull the edges of the dough over the cranberries and pecans, tucking and folding until the ad-ins are mostly incorporated into the dough. Note: The dough will be quite sticky. Just scrape it from the parchment with your finger tips and fold it towards the center of the dough until you form a ball. Place back in the center of the parchment paper and again put inside the pot. Secure the lid.
- Place a 6 – 8 quart cast iron pot inside the oven with the lid on. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
- After 30 minutes, the oven should be preheated and the dough will be slightly risen. Remove the pot from the oven and place the lid to the side.
- Holding on to the sides of the parchment, carefully lift dough from the pot and place inside the cast iron pot (parchment paper and all). Place lid on top and put inside the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
- After 30 minutes, remove the lid of the ceramic pot and allow the bread to cook 10 -15 minutes longer until the bread is nicely browned.
- Remove from the oven, hold the corners of the parchment paper and place bread on top of a cooling rack.
- Technically it’s best to let it cool slightly so it doesn’t smash while its hot, but if you lack self control like myself, grab a sharp knife and start cutting uneven chunks of bread. Slather with butter and go to your happy place ????
Notes
- For an even lighter loaf you can increase the amount of white flour to wheat flour
- Caution! There have been reports of bread rising so high that it pushed the pin up in the lid making it impossible to remove the lid. If you follow the directions in this recipe, that won’t be a problem with this bread, but it’s something to keep in mind with proofing in general. If there is a chance your dough could rise that high, use a glass lid instead of the pressure cooker lid.
Is it possible to use fresh cranberries in this? I have a bunch left over from the holidays..
Lin, if you don’t mind the bitterness (which I happen to love!) yes I think it would work great! Let me know if you try it.
Would like to know your finding on gluten free flour or Sour dough breads
Stacey, I haven’t dove into that much yet, but I have a friend that was going to experiment with this. I’ll update you if it works out.
Could initial mixing step be done with Kitchenaid mixer and dough hook?
Bridget, For sure, but honestly, it’s so easy to quick mix together by hand, I would never dirty my mixer to do it. It literally takes like 30 seconds to mix the flour into the water.
Oh hello, beautiful crusty cranberry bread! I need to make you. Thanks for the recipe, Marci. If I don’t have that particular cast iron Pot, can I use the one I do have?
Cecilia, Yes you do need to make it! And yep, you can use your cast iron pot. I’ve even done it with an ovens safe skillet when I was making 2 at a time.
This sounds delicious. I will fix this for my husband and self. But my son in law just learned he cannot eat gluten. Have you tried it with gluten free flour? Would love to find a bread he could enjoy. Especially using no-knead and the instant pot! Thanks.
Connie, I have experience with gluten free cooking, but not so much with yeast type breads. I’ll put that on my list of things to research. A gluten free no knead crusty bread would be amazing!
It sure would be amazing! Thanks. Can’t wait to try this – maybe this weekend!