toast with jam.

I am currently in the throes of my love affair with fall. When the high temperature for a day is 56, nothing can go wrong in my world. I'm happy as a clam. One of the main reasons I'm happy as a clam is that my oven is no longer an enemy - causing my apartment to be literally unbearable, my nights to be unsleepable and my hair to be unmanageable (with sweat). Now my oven serves as a warmer on cool evenings and the best potpourri one can imagine with all the different goodies it produces on a daily basis.

Yesterday I made a fall staple in my book - Cracked Wheat Bread. My mom baked this bread when I was little, and just the smell of dough itself brings me back to childhood. I love it, and I think you will too. This bread is particularly fantastic toasted with a generous slather of both butter and homemade strawberry rhubarb jam.

Cracked Wheat Bread

1 cup oatmeal (the original recipe calls for quick oats, I use old-fashioned)
1 cup cracked wheat (Bulgar)
3 Tbs shortening
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 tsp Kosher salt
3/4 cup brown sugar

Pour 4 1/2 cups boiling water over above ingredients. Set aside to cool for 30 minutes. Add 2 packages dry yeast and enough flour to easily handle (about nine cups). Knead, let rise until doubled. Punch down, and let rise until doubled again. Put in pans (three), and let rise once again for about 10 minutes. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 35 - 45 minutes.

Enjoy...both this bread and fall!