Last week, we had a minor mishap in the back fridge – a ziploc bag filled with glacé cherries leaked, oozing sticky bright red sugar syrup all over the top shelf.
On cleaning up, I found a bag of coarse burghul (also known as bulgur wheat). It needed a new container, but the entire kilo didn’t quite fit in the box, so I thought I’d add the excess to a batch of sourdough. I always like to soak grains before adding them to bread – I find it allows the flavour of the grains to permeate the dough, and also reduces the chances of cracking a filling on a hard kernel. In the case of the coarse burghul though, I knew from prior experience that the grains would need boiling to soften them.
I was inspired by Laila’s recent post to shape the dough into flower loaves. They’re great fun to make and in some ways resemble Anne’s huffers. Big Boy and I broke off a petal each for lunch, filling them with ham, cheese, mustard and pickles.
I reduced the liquid in my dough to allow for the water absorbed by the burghul. The slightly lower hydration dough is also easier to shape.
- 300g active, bubbly starter (fed at a ratio of one cup water to one cup flour)
- 550g water
- 1kg bakers flour
- 100g coarse burghul
- 18g fine sea salt
1. Put the burghul into a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and simmer for about five minutes until al dente. Pour the grains into a sieve and cool under cold running water. Drain well.
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the starter, water and drained cooked burghul. Add the flour and salt and mix well with a clean hand, squelching everything together until the flour is completely incorporated. Scrape off your hand, cover and allow to rest for half an hour.
3. Uncover the bowl and give the dough a quick knead. Cover again and allow to rest until well risen – anything from 6 – 12 hours, depending on weather.
4. Dust a bench with flour and turn out the risen dough. Fold it onto itself a couple of times, then divide into two. Shape each half into a round ball.
5. Place a ball of dough onto a sheet of parchment. Flatten it out into a wide circle, then make five cuts nearly to the centre as shown in the photo below. Stretch each petal out slightly to create gaps between them. Repeat with the other ball of dough. Cover with a tea towel and allow to prove. Preheat oven to 240C with fan and position pizza stones on the rack(s).
6. Once the dough has puffed up, spritz the loaves with water and slide them, still on their parchment sheets, onto the pizza stones. Reduce the oven temperature to 220C with fan and bake for 20 minutes.
7. At the 20 minute mark, carefully remove the parchment sheets, rotating the loaves if necessary. Reduce the heat to 175C with fan and bake for a further 20 – 30 minutes, until the loaves are well browned and sound hollow when tapped. Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Even though it was precooked, the burghul didn’t turn into mush in the finished bread. The crumb was elastic and chewy, with a delicious, slightly nutty flavour…
These funky 70s flower power loaves were great fun to make. The shape could be easily adapted – a four leaf clover for St Patrick’s Day perhaps? Both yeasted and sourdoughs would work – just be sure to use a lower hydration formula to make the shaping process easier.
Thanks for the inspiration, Laila!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Looks wonderful !!
Love this loaf – and what a great shape – each petal perfect for a decent lunchtime sandwich :)
Celia dear, this link is broken “Laila’s recent post”
Sami, thanks for letting me know! x
Constantly amazed at your creativity, Celia!
They look fun. I bet that cherry syrup was a bugger to clear up. The glace cherries over here come in flimsy plastic containers that are often sticky on the bottom where the syrup has oozed. It takes me ages to go through them all to find a non sticky one.
What gorgeous and most funky bread Ms Celia. I am SO going to make these, they would be perfect with soup :)
Both of the Laila links are broken Ms Celia :(
Thanks Fran, fixed now. I’d left off the http:// !
Ooh, thanks, ma’am! I have a bag of bulgur wheat that I bought to make vegetarian chili and was wondering what else to do with it, This is brilliant! Hugs, Maz.
Fabulous! What a great use of the bulgur wheat :) x
Too beautiful! Celia, you are one amazing baker!
guess what, my dear? I am closer to you now (in real life) than ever: OAHU, waving hello in your direction! Maybe one day I’ll be able to follow this trip with a visit to your shores!
What a gorgeous loaf of bread. I will definitely try this out sometime. Also love the bulgar wheat idea. So many options for bread, so little time!
Oh I love the flower loaf idea! So many shapes, so much more bread to bake! I imagine these would be perfect for a lovely big shared meal and soup!
Very funky sweetie, and they would make perfect shamrocks for St patrick’s day!
What a bugger cleaning up red sticky mess in the fridge, I had a container of herbed olives in oil spill in mine and it took ages to clean :( xo
I always have too much burghal lurking in the pantry- this bread looks very tasty.
I have had the same experience with leaking glace cherries. That is such an unpleasant mess to have to clean up. I do love the hippy-shaped loaf xx
I like the idea for St Patricks Day with a four leaf clover. Must think ahead and get organised.
Great idea Celia. Those grains are all the rage. Love that you and big boy broke off a petal each. A very sensible way to eat flower bread.
So, 100 g = 1/3 a cup? More or less? I think I dumped about a half a cup in my dough. I’ll let you know if I get bread tomorrow or a brick of library paste. :-P
Maz.
Did you boil it first, Maz? :)
I love the idea of tearing off a triangle for a sandwich. What a fun shape! I think I might give it a go next loaf!
I thought I had seen this shape before :) https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/06/04/hazelnut-and-grain-loaf/
Yep! I’d forgotten all about it until I saw Laila’s post! :)
I usually use my burghul in my ‘Kibbee’ Celia. Never thought of adding it to sourdough! Will definitely try ! Only last week I had a major berries spill in my fridge too! 4 hours of my life gone I tell you!!
You are a true master break maker:)
You may be a break master lol, meant bread maker:)
Beautiful! Bet it smells so good and tastes even better. Sue
Womenlivinglifeafter50.com
Hi Celia, I have written a blog post for In My Kitchen which is at http://jaofg.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/in-my-kitchen-march-2015.html. It would be great if you could add it to the list of this months posts. Thanks. Anne.
Oooh ooozing red glace cherries in the freezer must have been quite the sticky business Celia! Lovely looking bread :-)
Now you’ve opened a whole new window in my bread making imagination. What can I add to my loaf today? :)
Isn’t that pretty. I would never have thought of adding bulgur wheat to bread. I have a tabbouleh mindset, obviously. :)
Totally in LOVE with the petal bread! Will be sharing this with several of my fermentation based group’s on Facebook. The members love coo shapes and yummy breads. I so want to come stay with you Celia!
Errrgh! Don’t you hate those kind of spills – in the fridge, down the front of the stove…I usually manage to mess things up very nicely myself.
What a creative loaf you’ve made. I was also thinking of a 4 leaf clover for St. Paddy’s day. All kinds of things that would be fun.
I love bulgur! I never thought about using it this way, though. I’ll definitely try your recipe:)