Cranberry Walnut Bread (BBA Challenge)

I've spent the past two weeks trying to decide if I wanted to continue with the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. As I've stated in a previous post, I've noticed that many have fallen by the wayside and it really does seem like there are just a handful who are still actively participating. That aside, I came to the conclusion that even if I end up being the last (wo)man standing, I intend to finish this challenge. You see, I always finish what I start, except for that one crocheted bedspread...oh, and that cross-stitch of the Last Supper, and maybe a book or ten.

Anyway, as long as I'm going to come clean, I'll admit to you that I skipped one bread last spring because I was getting so tired of sweet breads. This cranberry walnut celebration bread was supposed to be baked right before the english muffins, but I zipped right past it and hoped no one would be the wiser. Now that I'm committed to finishing the challenge however, I've decided that in order to be able to say that I've baked every recipe in the book, I needed to go back and make this bread. Plus, what a great bread to bake the week of Thanksgiving, right?

As always, I skipped the walnuts because....well you all already know that I can't stand nuts in bread. And I especially dislike walnuts. So in reality, I guess you could say that this is just a cranberry celebration bread.

The dough was very easy to put together and it fermented much quicker than the book stated. In a little over an hour I had myself a bucketful of dough.

Working with the dough was a breeze and although I still haven't developed those mad braiding skills I was hoping for, I think I did OK with this one.

I had just a small piece of this before wrapping it up to take up north with me for the holiday. It was delicious. And I'm so glad I waited to bake this because I think I truly appreciated its sweetness now that I've been away from the sweet breads for awhile.