This one is bright, a little tart, deeply fragrant, and somehow manages to feel both cosy and fresh at the same time. It’s the loaf you make when you want to feel like you have your life together. Which, for the record, I do not. But the loaf does. And that counts for something.
Let’s talk about the orange zest.
This is the step most people skip and it’s the reason most citrus sourdoughs taste flat. Before that zest goes anywhere near your dough, you need to sugar it. Zest your orange directly onto a tablespoon of sugar and rub them together with your fingertips for about a minute until the sugar turns orange and smells incredible. What you’re doing is breaking down the zest and releasing all the essential oils — the good stuff. The flavour stuff. Skip this and you get a hint of orange. Do this and you get the whole thing.
Let it sit for ten minutes while you get on with your dough. It makes a difference.
The process.
This loaf uses the same sweet base dough I use for most of my enriched sourdoughs — bread flour, whole wheat, water, active starter, a little honey, olive oil, salt, and vanilla. Mix it, rest it, stretch and fold four times over two hours.
Then comes lamination and this is where the magic happens. Stretch your dough out flat on a lightly wet surface until it’s thin enough to almost see through. Scatter the sugared orange zest evenly across the whole surface. Add your cranberries and sunflower seeds on top. Then squeeze half an orange directly over everything — that fresh hit of juice adds a punch of citrus that you simply cannot get from zest alone. Fold the dough back over itself like a letter, then fold again. What you’re left with is these beautiful ribbons of orange and cranberry swirled through the dough that show up stunningly in the crumb when you slice it.
Roll up the dough after laminating like a letter to tighten everything back up and you’re done.
Drop it into a parchment lined or greased 9×5 pan, and cold proof overnight( the cold proof is optional, but adds flavor and ferment).
Bake at 425°F. Cover for the first thirty minutes — the honey in the dough means it catches colour fast. Pull the cover, bake another eight to ten minutes until it’s deep golden and hits 200 to 205°F internally.
Cool it. Fully. I know. It’s hard. Do it anyway.
The glaze.
Powdered sugar, fresh orange juice, a little zest. Whisk until smooth, drizzle over the completely cooled loaf. It sets into this thin, slightly crisp citrus glaze that takes the whole thing from really good sourdough to something you’d genuinely be proud to put on a table in front of people.
Cranberry Orange Sunflower Sourdough Recipe
9×5 pan loaf — straight starter method
The Dough
300g bread flour
100g whole wheat flour
315g water
80g active starter
30g honey
20g neutral oil
1 tsp vanilla
9g salt
The Inclusions (added at lamination)
120g frozen cranberries (don’t thaw)
60g toasted sunflower seeds
Zest of 2 oranges (sugared first)
½ orange squeezed fresh
The Glaze
80g powdered sugar
2 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 tsp orange zest
The Method
Mix all dough ingredients until no dry flour remains. Rest 45 min
4 x stretch & fold every 30 min
Lamination — stretch dough flat, scatter sugared zest, cranberries and sunflower seeds across the surface, squeeze orange juice over everything, fold back in
One more stretch & fold 30 min later to tighten up
Bulk until domed and jiggly — roughly 5–6 hrs
Shape into a tight cylinder and place in a greased 9×5 pan
Cold proof overnight in the fridge
Bake at 425°F — 20 min tented with foil, 18–20 min uncovered
Pull at internal temp 200–205°F
Cool fully before glazing
Whisk glaze ingredients until smooth and drizzle over cooled loaf 🍊🌻
A few tips before you go.
Toast your sunflower seeds first in a dry pan for four to five minutes until golden and fragrant — raw seeds inside bread taste flat and you deserve better than that. Sugar the zest every single time, no exceptions. Squeeze that fresh orange juice over your lamination — it’s the detail that takes this loaf from good to actually memorable. Soak your dried cranberries if that’s the route you’re going. Don’t rush the cool before you glaze or it will slide straight off and pool at the bottom and you’ll be upset. And don’t panic if the crumb looks pink or blush — that’s the cranberries doing their thing and it is exactly right.
This loaf is bright and a little chaotic and somehow pulls itself together beautifully in the end.
Relatable, honestly. 🍊
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