In a season when we’re all bustling about, struggling to keep up with work, home, and holiday demands, there is no better bread to bake than a soft, sweet quick bread. The name says it all. Because you don’t have to knead the dough or wait for it to rise, a quick bread takes very little effort or time to make.

The ease of this bread has everything to do with leavening. In a quick bread, baking powder or baking soda acts as a leavening agent. When either one comes into contact with moisture, it causes the ingredients with which it’s been combined—flour, salt, sugar, butter, eggs—to rise. Unlike with yeast breads, such as whole wheat or Frisian sugar bread, you don’t have to wait for this process to kick in. It begins immediately.

Because I love tart, vivid cranberries and this is the height of cranberry season, I couldn’t resist baking a cranberry-studded quick bread. If you don’t have pecans on hand, you can substitute chopped walnuts in the following recipe.

Cranberry-Orange-Pecan Quick Bread

Makes 1 8-inch-long loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

Juice and grated zest of 1/2 orange

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk, at room temperature

1 cup plus two tablespoons fresh cranberries

1/2 cup pecans, chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease an 8-inch loaf pan and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a different bowl and using an electric mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until blended. Add the eggs, orange juice and zest and extract and beat until well combined, 1 to 2 minutes.

After scraping down the sides of the bowl, add half of the flour. Mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add half of the milk and mix the ingredients together. Repeat theses steps for the remaining flour and milk. When finished, you will have a fairly thick batter.

Stir in the cranberries and pecans.

Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing the bread from the pan. Cool completely before cutting and serving.