Batter bread is easy to make and I make it more often then the other bread recipes because it is softer and my family enjoys it more. This recipe requires bulgar wheat for the cracked wheat. You can either use whole kernels or coarse cut. If you have an heavy duty mixer it is easy to mix. When I was young, cracked wheat bread was sold in stores but it slowly fell out of favor and disappeared off the grocery shelves.
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Batter bread is a bread that requires only needs to let rise once. The dough is sticky and not as stiff. The ingredients are mixed with half the flour using a mixer then if you don't have a heavy duty mixer with a dough hook, you add the rest of flour and mix in by hand. Most commercially made bread is a batter bread. I put the 2 risings in the recipe but I don't do the first one. I just put it in the pan and let it rise once. You can try either way and see which way works best for you.
Now some of you are scratching your head and wondering what is bulgar? It is whole grouts of wheat that is partially steamed and dried. It is used in middle east cooking. I am able to find it in local grocery stores where I live but organic stores and ethnic stores carry it. It comes whole or steal cut in smaller pieces. Hodges Mill is the most common brand of bulgar. You will find that it has more then one spelling sometimes it is spelled bulgur.
I adapted this recipe a few years ago from a bread recipe that used several grains. It was the cracked wheat in the title that caught my eye. I was at a Goodwill Store looking at cook books paging through one. I bought the cook book and tried some of the breads. It dawned on me that I could add the same amount of bulgar into my favorit batter bread recipe. So I adjusted the recipe for the bulgar addition and it turned out just like the cracked wheat bread I remember from my youth.
Cracked Wheat Batter Bread
¼ cup bulgar wheat
½ cup hot water
1 package active dry yeast
¾ cup warm water (105 to 110 degrees)
2 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon butter or margarine
1 teaspoons salt
2 ¾ cup bread flour
1 tablespoon butter
Mix ¼ cup bulgur wheat with ½ cup water in a microwavable bowl. Heat until boiling. Set aside and let cool until about room temperature. ( don’t want to kill yeast it too hot) When bulgur is ready. Pour warm water in large mixer bowl and add yeast. Let sit for about 5 minutes until it is bubbly. Add sugar, bulgur wheat with its water and butter. Mix until blended. Add salt and 1 cup flour. Mix until blended change to batter hook or mix by hand if batter gets to thick for your mixer. Slowly add the rest of the flour and beat until smooth. Cover and let rise in a warm place until double about 45 minutes to a hour. Stir down batter. Place in a greased 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan that has been greased with shortening or sprayed with vegetable oil spray. Cover with greased or sprayed plastic wrap for about 30 minutes.
Let it rise just slightly above the edge of the pan or it will over flow the edge and sink in the center when baking. Keep an eye on it because some times it will rise very fast the second time. Preheat oven 375 degrees F. about 15 minutes later so it will ready to bake when dough reaches top of the sides. Bake for 30 minutes and brush top with butter. Return to oven for another 10 minutes until done.
I made the x design by rolling two thin ropes and place them on top when putting batter in pan to rise