Cracked Wheat Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes

A few weeks ago Ohiomom of Cooking in Cleveland posted an intriguing recipe for fried bread. She used the basic recipe from Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. However, she added some cracked wheat to the dough. That's what really interested me. As I stated before in another post, I've tried the 5 minute artisan bread dough a couple of times now and was not overly impressed. But Ohiomom's addition of cracked wheat made me want to give it another whirl. So I made up a batch of dough with some cracked wheat. I just baked a round loaf because I was too lazy to fry individual breads. To my delight, it turned out great, and I've since made it again.

Simple Crusty Bread with Cracked Wheat

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day : Ohiomom's adaptation

(Printable Recipe)

Time: About 45 minutes plus about 3 hours’ resting and rising

1 1/2 tablespoons yeast (I used only 1-1/2 tsp yeast)

1 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt (I used only 1-1/2 tsp salt)

6 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour, more for dusting dough (I used 3-1/2 cups all purpose and 3 cups white whole wheat)

Ohiomom's addition: Bulgur wheat
(add 1/2 cup Bulgur wheat to 3/4 cups hot water; let all the water absorb)

Cornmeal.

1. In a large bowl or plastic container, mix yeast and salt into 3 cups lukewarm water (about 100 degrees). Stir in flour, mixing until there are no dry patches. Dough will be quite loose. Cover, but not with an airtight lid. Let dough rise at room temperature 2 hours (or up to 5 hours).

2. Bake at this point or refrigerate, covered, for as long as two weeks. When ready to bake, sprinkle a little flour on dough and cut off a grapefruit-size piece with serrated knife. Turn dough in hands to lightly stretch surface, creating a rounded top and a lumpy bottom. Put dough on pizza peel sprinkled with cornmeal; let rest 40 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough or refrigerate it.

3. Place broiler pan on bottom of oven. Place baking stone on middle rack and turn oven to 450 degrees; heat stone at that temperature for 20 minutes.

4. Dust dough with flour, slash top with serrated or very sharp knife three times. Slide onto stone. Pour one cup hot water into broiler pan and shut oven quickly to trap steam. Bake until well browned, about 30 minutes. Cool completely.

Yield: 4 loaves.

Variation: If not using stone, stretch rounded dough into oval and place in a greased, nonstick loaf pan. Let rest 40 minutes if fresh, an extra hour if refrigerated. Heat oven to 450 degrees for 5 minutes. Place pan on middle rack.