I tried it yesterday n thot wud let u know how it turned out….
The GOOD part (most important)- husband n kids loved it….totally!!
the AREA OF CONCERN (there’s no “bad” part here:) – It is not very moist according to me, after a day. Also, The upper crust broke quite a lot, which I think may be becoz of the same reason – dryness – I’m not sure; another thing was that the crust turned almost black before the bread got baked…..so the crust tastes a bit “burned”….
I used whole wheat flour and all-purpose flour in equal propotions, instead of the proportions mentioned in the recipe(can’t bear to use too much of all-purpose flour!) n I also used orange juice almost 2 cups to compensate for the dense whole wheat flour…. Plz tell me where did I go wrong….

Look forward to hearing from you….thanx!

Hi Alka – thanks for your feedback, appreciate it As for substituting for fresh ones, for most recipes dried cranberries do work with decent results. For every 1 cup of fresh cranberries use 3/4 cup of dried. Also further, soak the dried cranberries in some warm water for about 20-30 minutes and then use it in the recipe. You can use Wheat flour as it is – only that it will provide a denser bread and not fluffy. If thats ok, you can def. use full whole wheat. But if you are not too sure about (since its first time testing this recipe) you can use all purpose flour instead of pastry flour. Hope this helps –DK

Just want to know if you need whole wheat bread flour or just whole wheat flour or bread flour? Instead of wheat germ, can you use bran? Thanks.

Hey Jyothi – You can use whole wheat flour too. Bread flour helps to make the texture softer but for this recipe using whole wheat does not really affect the outcome of the recipe. And yes you can use bran. In fact I love using bran cos it gives such a chewy texture to the bread. –DK

No we dont. The sweetness comes from the honey. This bread is tangy and sweet thanks to orange, cranberry, raisins and honey.–DK

Whole wheat pastry flour is made from soft-wheat and is very fine textured. It has high starch content too. Since it is milled with some bran and germ intact (unlike the white all purpose flour), it is nutritious when added to baked goods. They are lighter than whole wheat hence they make lighter cakes, pastries and cookies than whole wheat which make the end result more dense. To make an ideal substitute (to avoid the dense product- if you want to) go for half wheat and half all purpose flour. If you don’t mind a dense and heavy product, then make a complete wheat flour substitute. But it would require a little more liquid than what I have mentioned in the recipe. May be 1-2 tbsp more of the orange juice etc. Hope this helps — DK

Guess what? I just made Idli batter in Ultra! OMG!!! So fluffy!! Why did I wait all these yrs!!!! Only thing is I should have bought a smaller 1.2L Ultra, since this is 8 cup capacity, but Arvind made me order the big one!

Hugs,
Siri