Crusty Whole Wheat/Bulghur Bread

The instructions are long, but well worth the effort. Connie made it for the first time yesterday to sanity-test the recipe, and it was delicious! Once you've made it a few times, you won't need the instructions except for checking ingredient measurements.

Required equipment

• a bread machine (or strong arms !)
• a dutch oven with close fitting lid**
• good quality oven mitts

1/2 c bulgur 1 c water		Bring 1 cup water to a boil in small saucepan. Add 1/2 cup bulgur and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes. Let cool. After about 5-10 minutes, the bulgur should have absorbed all the water.
1 1/3 c water*** 1 1/2 tsp salt 1 1/2 Tbl olive oil 1 Tbl dark        molasses		Add water, salt, oil and molasses to bread machine. Add cooled bulgur
2 c bread flour 2 c whole     wheat flour 1 tsp bread-   machine yeast (parmesan)		Add flours to bread machine. Make an indent in the flour with your knuckle and place the yeast in it. I like to add a large handful of shredded parmesan to make the bread a bit richer tasting.
first mix/rise		Start Bread Machine on Dough Cycle After 3 min scrape down sides to make sure all is being mixed. When dough cycle is complete, let dough rise in bread machine for approximately another hour.
form the loaf		Place a smooth (not fuzzy) kitchen towel on the counter and flour one end with whole wheat flour. Dump the dough from the bread machine container onto the floured part of the towel (remember to remove paddle!) Dust the dough with more flour to absorb the surface moisture.
		Pat the dough flat into a rectangular shape, dusting with more flour any sticky parts. Fold the dough like a letter (i.e. 1/3 over, pat down, then other 1/3 over, pat down) Turn the dough 90 degrees, flatten the dough, and fold like a letter again. (add more flour on towel if needed) Turn the dough 90 degrees and pull sides up to form a loaf shape (you will need to 'pinch' the seal)
second rise		Pick up the towel and place in a basket or bowl. (I use a loaf shaped bread basket - about 9" x 7", but a med-large mixing bowl works also) Cover the dough with the un-floured part of the towel, and let rise for approximately 1-2 hours.
preheat		20-30 min before baking: place dutch oven with lid into oven and set heat to 500 degrees. Once oven has reached 500 degrees, leave pot in at least another 5 minutes.
start baking		Reduce temperature to 425 Carefully take pot out of the oven and remove its lid. Using the towel, gently lift the dough from the basket; lower towel into pot and slowly roll the dough off the towel Put lid back and bake for 30 minutes at 425. Remove the cover, bake for another 25 minutes.
finally ..		Remove bread from the pot to a wire rack and let it cool at least 15-20 minutes.

This bread makes wonderful toast.

** You need a fairly heavy pan with close-fitting lid. The pan will hold the heat from pre-heating, and when you add the dough, the steam created is what creates the wonderful crust. We have an assortment of dutch ovens and also ceramic crock pot liners (with glass lids) from the thrift shop. If the cover knob is plastic, it often cannot take the high heat, but you can sometimes replace it with a simple metal drawer pull.

*** if you are in a hurry and your bulgur is a bit warm, use really cold water.

Neal Clark