Bulgur Bread

I got the inspiration for this bread from the New York Times' recipes for health column. I modified it to suit my style and ended up doing this:

• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 3/4 cups medium bulgur
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp barley malt
• 2 tsp honey

I mixed the whole lot together, and decided I would do a minute's worth of extra mixing/ kneading to see if it would result in a stiffer dough. Let the mix develop for 12 hours at room temperature, folded it over a few times, formed a ball, dusted with buckwheat flour, proofed in a warm oven, made an incision, and baked at 450 for 30 minutes.

The extra mixing/ kneading of the dough was an excellent decision, as it did lead to a stiffer dough that could maintain its shape; I will do this small bit of kneading from now on.

The resulting bread was a bit too moist - next time I would add a bit of flour or use a bit less water. One possible modification to try is parboiling the bulgur... having not precooked it this time added some chewy tidbits to the bread that are neither good nor bad, just a matter of preference. The flavor of the barley malt and honey were subtle if at all detectable - more could easily be added for character.