Honey Cracked Wheat Bread

Another bread recipe I have had for a long time (probably from the 70s), although this one I have made before. It is quite good. The bread rises very well and the crumb is great. It works well for sandwiches as it holds together and does not break apart as you eat the sandwich.

The one thing you need to be careful about is to make sure the cracked wheat/bulgur has softened. Otherwise the cracked wheat/bulgur in the crust of the bread is really hard. I have modifed the recipe to cook the cracked wheat/bulgur as it is cooked in my Tabbouleh recipe. The bulgur is always soft if cooked this way. The original recipe had you pour 1 cup boiling water over the cracked wheat and let it sit for an hour, but it was not quite softened this way. Because the bulgur is drained in the Tabbouleh recipe, I increased the water later in the recipe from 2/3 cup to 1 cup.

Cut recipe in half to make just 1 loaf of bread.

1 1/2 cup cracked wheat (can substitute bulgar, if need be)
boiling water
1/3 cup honey (can substitute brown sugar)
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp. oil
2 cakes yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons dry)
1 cup warm water
2 1/2 cups white flour
3 cups whole wheat flour

Try adding in place of some of the whole wheat flour:
1/4 cup wheat germ (Toasted wheat germ bumps up the sweet, nutty flavor of the whole wheat and adds texture.)
and/or 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Place the cracked wheat (or bulgur) in a small sauce pan and cover with a good inch or so of water. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, and let stand one hour. Drain and rinse with water. Place the cracked wheat in a mixing bowl.

Dissolve the yeast in the 2/3 cups warm water.

Add the honey, salt and oil, and yeast to the cracked wheat once it has cooled.

Mix in the white flour, then enough of the whole wheat flour to make a soft dough.

Put dough in buttered bowl and turn so that the topside of the dough is buttered. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about an hour. To test, dent the dough lightly with your finger; if dent remains, the dough is ready. If it springs back, continue to rise.

Butter two bread pans.

Punch down dough. Turn out on floured board and knead dough for about 3 minutes. Roll dough into a large rectangle and roll it up to form a bread loaf. Pinch seams and tuck under ends and place in the prepared bread pans. Shaping the loaf in this way creates surface tension so that the gas from the yeast the dough expands up and out evenly. Cover and let rise until double in size or for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Once the loaves have doubled in bulk (a corner of the loaf will spring back only slightly when lightly pressed), make two or three slashes diagonally with a sharp knife across the top of the loaf to prevent the crust from cracking. Brush with butter and sprinkle with cornmeal and salt, if desired. Bake bread for about 45 - 60 minutes or until the bread is a lovely brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom of the loaf. Remove bread from pan and let cool on wire racks.

[Try preheating the oven to 425F. When the dough has finished rising, place in 425 degree oven then immediately turn down the oven temperature to 350F to see you get better oven spring.]

Rub 1/2 tsp. soft butter over the top of each loaf while still warm, if desired - creates a soft crust.

Makes 2 loaves