Cracked Wheat Bread

Submitted by St. Paul Eric

"This is a slightly sweet, very hearty bread that's great with soup or just by itself. Like many breads, it takes some time the first time, but once you get the hang of it, it's pretty easy. The original recipe says this will make two loaves, I prefer however to make four, small 'personal' loaves which can be frozen for personal use or given as gifts."

 

• Ready In: 3hrs 45mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 2-4

ingredients

• 2 cups cracked wheat
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 cups boiling water
• 1 1⁄2 cups white flour
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• water
• 1 egg
• cornmeal

directions

1. Boil water (you'll need 2 cups).
2. In a large bowl, mix cracked wheat, salt, honey and butter.
3. Add 2 cups of boiling water to above ingredients; set aside.
4. Mix yeast and 1/2 C warm water. Let rise.
5. When the yeast has risen and the cracked wheat mixture has cooled to room temperature, then combine the two mixtures (yeast and cracked wheat).
6. Stir in 1 1/2 C white flour and 3-4 C whole wheat flour. NOTE: Dough will be stiff, knead in the last cup by hand.
7. Place in greased bowl, cover and let rise until double (about 90 minutes).
8. Grease cookie sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal; set aside.
9. Mix 1 egg and about 2 t water until smooth; set aside.
10. After the dough has risen, shape into two loaves (I prefer four--do what works for you!), place on greased/cornmeal-ed cookie sheet.
11. Paint with egg wash.
12. Make three slashes on the top of each loaf.
13. Let rise until double in size (about 30 minutes to an hour).
14. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 - 35 minutes until golden.

Reviews

[g.e.koele]

I am a novice baker and this recipe produced the best bread I have ever made. I did not have any whole wheat flour, so I used 5 and 1/2 cups of white bread flour. The instruction in step 4 to let the yeast rise in the warm water was confusing to me. I just stirred the warm water and yeast (two of the foil packets) together and let it sit for a few minutes. The yeast seemed happy with that, the bread rose just fine. The next time I make this bread I will use two cookie sheets instead of one. I had four loaves on one large cookie sheet. After they rose, the loaves were touching. I baked them that way and pulled them apart when they were done. The bread was delicious anyway! The texture was both soft and chewy. The egg wash made the loaves a lovely golden brown.

 

[TMMBBW]

Very good recipe. I love how you can taste the honey in the bread. My husband asked me to find a cracked wheat bread similar to the one his grandmother used to make and he said this was pretty darn close!

 

[lovinmykids]

The flavour was nice, but everyone in my family thought there was too much cracked wheat. I have to agree I think I would try it again with only 1 cup. Sorry I hate to leave a bad review.