Cracked wheat is easy to make from whole seed.
According to Madeleine Kamman, author of "The New Making of a Cook," cracked wheat is difficult to come by in North America. What most stores offer is bulgur wheat. And although similar, bulgur wheat and cracked wheat are not the same. Bulgur wheat is composed of wheat seeds that are partially cooked before they are cracked. Cracked wheat is composed only of raw wheat berries. But, luckily, while cracked wheat is hard to find, whole wheat seed (also called wheat berries) is available at many health food stores. Simply purchase it and crack it yourself.
Instructions
1. Wash the wheat berries under running water.
2. Spread them out to air dry for 30 minutes or so. Turn them once by mixing them around with your hands.
3. Place the wheat seed in a cloth bag -- loose, tied cheesecloth or an old clean pillowcase works well. Close the bag and place it on the table. Smooth out the contents of the bag so that you have a thin, roughly even layer.
4. Hit the bag with the meat tenderizer. Try to hit each spot in the bag once with a clean, sharp rap.
5. Open the bag. Pull out a handful of cracked wheat and examine it. If you need finer pieces for your recipe, repeat steps three and four.
Tags: wheat berries, bulgur wheat, cracked wheat, wheat composed, wheat seed
