Nancy, you're right, that's Luau Bread. It's what happens when I post after midnight, LOL. Mmmm, I didn't think of cream cheese, I just had a slice this morning with peanut butter and it was even better. Chase, I have vital wheat gluten and often use it, but I just didn't, for some reason. I should have, with the whole wheat flour, the bran and the flaxseed, clearly. That was a pretty big chunk of butter, I ended up taking some off, LOL. My butter sits on my counter and my thermostat NEVER goes above 55, ever. So, the butter was hard and I just hacked off a hunk, figuring it would melt enough to spread around. It did, and when it melted enough I spread what I needed and took the rest off. (grin) Yeah, OK, I gave the rest of that pat of soft butter to the cat from h*ll, she loves it. Pepper Jack Ties were a dinner roll containing pepper jack cheese and then shaped into knots. They were very good and if I thinly sliced off top and bottom could be used for grilled cheese. Annie

First off, I meant to say, "I MADE THE BULGUR WHEAT BREAD"! I have no idea how I ended up sounding like a three year old. Secondly, the recipe was incredibly easy. I especially like its lightness & soft texture, and, as I said before, the fact that it was not overly sweet. BULGUR WHEAT LOAF Grainlady from CF/ Pillsbury 3/4 c. water 1/2 c. bulgur wheat 2-1/4 to 2-1/2 cups Pillsbury's BEST All-Purpose or Unbleached Flour 2 T. brown sugar 1 to 1-1/2 t. salt (I only used 3/4 tsp.) 1 pkg. active dry yeast 1 c. water heated to 120°-130°F 1/4 c. oil 1 c. Pillsbury's BEST Whole Wheat Flour 2 t. water 1 egg white 1 t. bulgur wheat Grease cookie sheet. Bring 3/4 c. water to a boil in small saucepan. Remove from heat; stir in 1/2 c. bulgur. Let stand 20-25 minutes or until water is absorbed. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. In large bowl, combine 1 cup all-purpose flour, brown sugar, salt, yeast, 1 cup hot water and oil; beat at low speed until moistened. Beat 3 minutes at medium speed. By hand, stir in bulgur mixture, whole wheat flour and additional 1 cup all-purpose flour to form a stiff dough. (At this point, I let the mixture rest for 20 minutes before kneading.) On floured surface, knead in 1/4-1/2 cup all-purpose flour until dough is elastic, about 5 minutes. Place in greased bowl; turn greased side up. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and cloth towel. Let rise in a warm place (80-85°F) until light and doubled in size, about 45 minutes. Punch down dough several times to remove all air bubbles. Shape into round loaf. Place on greased cookie sheet. Cover; let rise in warm place until light and ALMOST doubled in size, about 30 minutes. Heat oven to 375°F. Uncover dough. With very sharp knife, cut a 1/2-inch deep slash across top of loaf. Cut another at a right angle, making a cross. In small bowl, beat 2 t. water and egg white until blended. Brush over top of loaf; sprinkle with 1 teaspoon bulgur, if desired I omitted the sprinkling of bulgur). Bake at 375°F for 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from cookie sheet; cool on wire rack. One loaf = 17 slices. My notes: I always reduce the salt content of breads because my husband is on a salt restricted diet. To add a bit more flavor because of the lower salt, I added 4 tbsp. dry buttermilk powder. I let the dough rest (autolyse) for 20 mins. before kneading. Grainlady had a personal note about forming a tall loaf, so I made sure to keep the dough ball high & round rather than flat. I put the shaped dough on parchment paper on a wooden peal and then baked the bread directly on a preheated baking stone. I removed the parchment about ten minutes before the bread was done.

FLsandytoes- Proofing the yeast was an interesting "new" twist to making fluffy bread in a bread machine, and one I've never come across. I think there are probably much better methods, but one just never knows..... I had a friend who used fresh yeast in his bread machine and it had to be proofed, so there are some applications for this process in a bread machine. I have a recipe for white sandwich bread that uses 1 cup of white cake mix, as another interesting example for making "fluffy" white bread, due to the soft wheat flour in the cake mix. FYI -- Two tablespoons of non-fat powdered milk, reconstituted, equals 1/2 c. of milk - which is a reasonable amount of milk in a bread recipe without causing crumb and crust problems. Much more than that and you will need to scald the milk first to avoid the textural problems caused by too much milk (from the milk whey protein). Heating the milk denatures the problematic protein. Try the recipe with 1/2 c. of milk and the remaining liquid water and see if you get different results. You will STILL need to adjust the dough for correct hydration (soft sticky ball) while it's starting to knead. --To improve 100% whole wheat bread, add an acidic ingredient, such as ascorbic acid. Some yeast products add ascorbic acid to the yeast. Yeast works better and longer in a slightly acidic atmosphere. There is a substance in wheat germ called Glutathione which breaks down the gluten - and is why we have trouble getting high-rising, fluffy, loaves of whole wheat bread without lightening the loaf by adding bleached/unbleached flour. By adding ascorbic acid it will help counteract the negative effects of Glutathione and will help repair broken gluten bonds (which is the cause of short, compact, squatty loaves). Add 1/8 t. of ascorbic acid (Fruit Fresh will work - it's a mix of ascorbic and citric acid) per 3-cups of flour. You may also find some recipes for 100% whole wheat bread that add lemon juice or vinegar for the same acidic effect, but it takes a lot more lemon juice or vinegar than it does ascorbic acid. You would have to use 6-times as much lemon juice to be as effective as ascorbic acid. -- Another way to lighten 100% whole wheat bread is to do a sponge with a portion of the flour for at least 1-1/2 hours, and as long as overnight. When I incorporated this method I got high-rising loaves of 100% whole wheat bread that were equal to any light-wheat and white breads I made. Soaking whole wheat flour helps lighten the loaf by softening the bran (bran cuts the gluten) and it gives the gluten time to absorb moisture, which creates strong gluten bonds without manipulation (kneading). I always use a sponge method for 100% whole wheat bread made in the bread machine. -- When adding 10-Grain Cereal Mixture, add it towards the end of kneading at the add-in beep. This goes for anything that may have a sharp edge, like nuts, dried fruit, etc. Adding dried fruit (raisins) early in the process and the kneading will pulverize them. If you add this coarse grind of grains/seeds/beans early in the dough making process it will cut the gluten strands as the dough kneads and you'll end up with a short squatty loaf because of the cut gluten. I prefer adding a dry mixture at the add-in beep because I like the "toothy" nuggets from the cereal mixture. If you don't want that much texture, you may want to soak the mixture first, but still wait to add it at the add-in beep towards the end of kneading. -- Another way to improve 100% whole wheat bread is to wait to add the salt and fat after the dough is kneading and the gluten is well developed. Once you add salt, the gluten tightens and kneading is more difficult - with a bread machine or by hand. Adding the fat early in the mixing/kneading "shortens" the gluten strands and development for a finer textured loaf. You can make the exact same recipe, and by adding the fat early or adding the fat late, it will alter the crumb and size of the loaf. Adding fat early for a close crumb (bread used for sandwiches), add it late for a more open crumb (bread used for toasting). These options are neither right or wrong - but are options to help control the crumb of the bread. --The same bread making rules and techniques that apply to making bread without the bread machine also apply to making bread IN a bread machine - such as when to add salt and fat. Bread machines are designed to make bread quick and easy and doesn't always take into considerations these rules and techniques. -- Check the dough for proper hydration while it's kneading, not after it's rising, while you still have time for the ingredients to be mixed into the dough. -- I only use the bread machine for mixing and kneading dough. As soon as it has completed the kneading I stop the bread machine and remove the dough and place it in a dough-rising bucket. I don't want a machine with a timed rise to determine when the dough has "doubled", which is actually determined by the strength of the yeast, moisture and ambient temperature, not a clock. If I have 1-quart of dough patted into the bottom of the dough-rising bucket, I know it has doubled when it gets to the 2-quart line -- whether it takes 25-minutes or 1-hour. In fact, it's better to only allow dough to rise to just UNDER double because our flour no longer has the extensibility it did as when it was bromated, and whole wheat flour was never bromated. The reasons not to use milk for proofing: 1. Water is more reliable than milk. 2. When proofing yeast in milk use 4-times the amount of milk as yeast. Yeast also tends to clump in milk and not proof as well. If you have to stir the milk/yeast mixture, you will end up killing some of the yeast. 3. Yeast works best with sucrose (table sugar) over lactose (milk sugar). 4. Yeast granules can become coated with milk fat (much like fat coats flour when making pastry) which can restrict water from entering and dissolving the yeast. -Grainlady

It's sort of real. You don't actually get bread flour. The absorption will be different. Adding vital wheat gluten will fortify the rise, however, and add to the gluten structure. I add VWG to whole wheat--my wheat is rated at 14% protein, which is the equivalent of strong bread flour, but the bran interferes with the rise and can actually cut the the gluten strands. In that situation, the VWG doesn't increase the rise, but it does make it stronger and more elastic. I can't remember proportions, but can look it up. With white flour, it should similarly strengthen the rise, but since white flour is so elastic to begin with, you might also get more height from the strengthening. The big difference between AP and bread flour is the amount of protein. Most bread will make from just AP. You can strengthen the gluten by resting the mixed dough in the fridge for awhile and kneading longer.