Wednesday, April 22, 2015

Cranberry-Orange Bulgur Bread (#RecipeRedux)

If you're to go through my kitchen and baker's arsenal, the sheer amount of random ingredients (in random amounts) would likely shock and amaze you. I normally pride myself on being relatively comprehensive in my use of things - i.e. I don't buy what I don't need - but due to buying in bulk most of the time I wind up with odds and ends of ingredients that never seem to add up to much.

Eventually, though, all those odds and ends get to be just too much and it comes time for a purge. When it's a more "savoury" ingredient like legumes or grains, a pot of soup can eat up the majority of them in quick order. Bread is almost never left behind in this household, but turns into stuffing cubes for the next roast turkey dinner, while bones and veggie scraps turn into containers of stock. When it comes to the sweeter things though, or the "middle ground" items that can go either way, coming up with an adequate use for all of them within as few recipes as possible becomes a bit more challenging. The last "pantry purge" of mine landed me with bulgur, orange juice and Craisins - all suitable for a breakfast hot cereal or dinner pilaf, but since nobody here was in the mood for those I reverted to my fallback - a loaf of bread.

I think of bread as the "catch all" of the baking pantry. It's hard to think of something that can't fit one way or another into a loaf of yeasted goodness, and these ingredients were (in the grand scheme of things) fairly easy to incorporate. The resulting loaf has just enough grainy texture and fruity flavour to play nicely with the pops of dried fruit, and makes excellent French toast as well as a great accompaniment to spicy soup or grilled chicken.

Cranberry-Orange Bulgur Bread

This month our #RecipeRedux group is raiding the pantry, cupboards, freezer, and fridge for the hidden or forgotten treasures we bury. What ‘treasures’ have you found recently in your home, and what do you do with them? Let me know in the comments and be sure to check out all the treats below!



Cranberry-Orange Bulgur Bread
Makes one loaf, 16 slices
1 cup orange juice, hot
¾ cup water, hot
¾ cup bulgur
2 eggs
3 cups whole wheat bread flour, divided
1- 1 ¼ cups all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp instant yeast
1½ tsp salt
⅓ cup Craisins
  1. Combine orange juice, water and bulgur in a bowl. Cover and let stand 2 hours. Mix in eggs.
  2. Meanwhile, stir together flours, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add bulgur mixture with remaining liquid.
  3. Knead with the dough hook on low speed for 10 minutes, until dough is elastic and supple but soft.
  4. Transfer bread to a greased bowl, cover and let rest 30 minutes.
  5. Deflate dough and knead in the Craisins by hand.
  6. On a lightly floured surface, press dough into a rectangle, then roll up from the short end into a tight log, pinching seam to seal.
  7. Transfer (seam-side down) to a lightly greased 9x5” loaf pan.
  8. Cover and let rise 1 hour.
  9. Heat oven to 375 F.
  10. Bake 40 minutes, until browned and hollow-sounding when tapped.
  11. Turn out immediately and cool completely before slicing
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 166.2
Total Fat: 1.4 g
Cholesterol: 23.1 mg
Sodium: 228.6 mg
Total Carbs: 34.2 g
Dietary Fiber: 4.4 g
Protein: 6.1 g

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