Dave's Cracked Wheat Bread--IDNO similar recipe

[Blue Savannah]

My picky eater likes Dave's Cracked Wheat bread. I would love to duplicate it as closely as possible at home.

Ingredients: whole wheat (flour and cracked wheat), water, evaporated can juice, gluten, oat fiber, canola oil, molasses, yeast, sea salt, cultured wheat.

[RiverRock]

Is this from the same bakery as "Dave's Killer Bread"?

[Blue Savannah]

That's right!

[RiverRock]

Hmmm....you have inspired me to try tweaking a recipe I have to see if I can get a nice soft, sweet, whole wheat bread. I'll come back with results, and hopefully have a recipe to share.

[Blue Savannah]

bump!

[The Tickle Momster]

[RiverRock]

I was hoping someone else had posted a recipe. I went to my local mill and bought the flours and wheat kernels I need. I couldn't find "cracked wheat" at the store, so I need to make my own.

[Blue Savannah]

Well. . . I'm out of bread, so I'll play around.

Wish me luck.

---------- Post added at 11:08 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:54 AM ----------

This looks similar. I think I will use cracked wheat and oat bran instead of seeds/nuts?

But what do you think is the "cultured wheat"?

[RiverRock]

Could it be similar to a sourdough starter? I wondered if letting the bread rise overnight would give it a bit of a "cultured" taste. I'm also wondering how important the "cracked wheat" is to the recipe, since the description on Dave's website if that it's a whole wheat bread without the seeds and crunchy bits.

quote from site:
"A Killer Bread for those who don't like all of the extra grains and seeds, but want a delicious 100 whole-wheat bread with 5 grams of fiber!"

Can you see or feel the texture from either the oats or the cracked wheat in the bread? It it soft and chewy bread? I've only had the original and 12 grain breads.

---------- Post added at 10:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:33 AM ----------

Blue Savannah, I checked your link and that recipe calls for a lot of yeast. A Tbsp. of instant yeast is more than my 5 loaf recipe of potato bread calls for (fresh in my memory because I made it a few days ago). It probably rises quickly.

[Blue Savannah]

I cut down the yeast. I used 1.5 teaspoons, but I'm at high altitude--I'm hoping it isn't too much.

The Dave's definitely has some noticeable pieces of cracked wheat. Other than that, it is soft and chewy. I never noticed "oat" until I read the ingredients.

I used the recipe linked, just reducing the yeast, using cracked wheat instead of sunflower seeds and oat bran instead of walnuts, 4 T evaporated cane juice and 1 T molasses and 2 T gluten (I left out the bread improver). There was not enough water, so I also used 1/4 c whey. Instant culture.

But I do think either an overnight rise or so sort of pre-ferment would work.

It's on the first rise now--it took a LOT of kneading (kitchen aid ).

[RiverRock]

Here's what I have rising in pans at the moment. It made 4 small loaves. Time will tell if the recipe would be better suited for 3 larger loaves.

RiverRock's Killer Bread

-mix in a bowl:
4 c. whole wheat flour
1 Tbs. instant yeast

-in a seperate bowl mix:
1/4 c. molasses
1/4 cup sugar
3 c. warm water
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs

-add wet ingredients to flour/yeast mixture and thoroughly mix, then add:
4 c. unbleached flour
1 c. oatmeal (whirled in the Ninja until almost a flour)
1 tsp. salt

-knead until smooth
-let rise in warm place until doubled
-punch down then let rest a few minutes before forming into loaves
-let rise until doubled
-bake at about 350*C or until browned and sounds hollow when knocked on the bottom

My ww flour is freshly milled and has visible bran flakes so I didn't bother with cracking my own wheat. I wasn't sure if it would soften enough, but for an overnight rise I think it would soften enough. I used sugar because the ingredients said that "evaporated cane syrup (sugar)." I think 1/4 c. might be a bit too much molasses, but I will know better once the bread is ready to eat. I find Dave's bread to be very sweet so I think the overall amount of sugar and molasses will be fine. I'm not sure my bread will be as dense as Dave's so some tweaking on the amount of flour might need to be done. After the first rise, the bread seemed spongy.

[Blue Savannah]

What does your family think, RiverRock?

My son (who is the picky one who eats a total of 3 foods without complaint, Dave's Cracked Wheat being one of them) declared it "better than Dave's! We should tell Dave about this recipe!"

Everyone else really likes it, too.

[RiverRock]

Everyone loved the bread I made. I thought that it could have been more dense and might try adding an extra cup of flour next time. Sweetness was fine. My recipe would probably work well for buns as is.