That crumb looks ab-so-lute-ly PERRRRRFECT!

Zolablue, I tried a 'clipped' recipe for semolina bread and remember being distinctly under-whelmed with the result, but this is so pretty I'm going to try again with this recipe. Thanks for posting, lovely as always.

ZB,

Wow, that's phenomenal oven spring. Hey, how'd you do that? I know, RTFM (Read That Fine Manual, a common retort in the technology world), in other words read another beautiful write-up like the one above to know just how it works. Thanks for all the recent comprehensive how-to blog entries with great photos.

Bill

Another beauty ZB! I love that you did this in such a short time. I have a bag of Semolina from KA that I have been looking for a formula for. I'll have to give this a try. Great job as usual on the write up. You're such a pro!

Eric

Browndog, did you use durum patent or the grainier semolina flour?  I ask because I had quite an interesting experience trying to add the latter to a ciabatta recipe.  It behaved very differently although tasted fantastic.  I have been trying to find out how the differences in the grind of semolina affect the dough and final bake.  It's pretty interesting.  Do try this for a luscious loaf.  My hubby just ate a tuna salad sandwich on it and told me it was outstanding!

Thanks, you guys.  Honestly, the oven spring on this baby just floored me.  I let it rise to just about an inch over the top of the pans worrying about letting it go too long based on the other sinking semolina dough mixture experience but it just magically poufs like crazy in the oven.  And it has a very unique flavor that is wonderful. 

I know some people turn their noses up at sandwich loaves but how could you when you get something like this.  Even sandwich loaves have their place.  (I was looking for the perfect bread to make cucumber sandwiches with this summer, while my plant was growing, and I'm betting this would be a good choice and very pretty.)

Loved the texture and slight crunch.  

I totally love the semolina loaves I've made, but I have questions about durum flour as opposed to semolina.  The bread is called semolina, but the recipe often calls for durum flour.  Now, I have semolina, and when that's used up I have durum wheat that I can grind up.

So the questions are:

(1) What do I use in semolina bread?  Is the semolina too grainy?  Will soaking it help?  And if they don't want me to use the grainy semolina, why do they call the bread semolina?

(2) When I grind up my durum wheat in my NutriMill, what will I get?  Can I get durum flour?

Rosalie

I made this with levain (rather than throwing it away when I fed the starter), omiting the yeast in the recipe. Although the color was not so yellow, the taste was terrific and oven spring was great. Definitely a keeper.

 Rosalie,

Here is some information (BELOW) I got off the internet about Semolina and Durum.

It looks like if we grind WHOLE DURUM GRAIN we would get DURUM FLOUR INTEGRALE, like a whole wheat flour. To get FINE OR COARSE SEMOLINA we would have to grind only the endosperm, which we can't do. To get DURUM FLOUR we would have to grind SEMOLINA very fine.

If we sifted DURUM FLOUR INTEGRALE I don't know what the flour would be like or how it would compare, if at all, with what is sold as DURUM FLOUR.

Not much help, I know, but that's all I got. Who knows if TFL's own mad scientist, aka Bill, will be working on Durum. We'll see.

Semolina Granules: When the largest particles of the endosperm of durum wheat berries (a variety of hard wheat grown in cold climates) detach during milling, they're known as semolina. Pale yellow and granular, semolina resembles cornmeal and can be used to sprinkle on your baking stone, work surface, or parchment paper to keep breads from sticking. Semolina granules cannot be substituted for semolina flour in bread baking.  

Semolina Flour: Amber colored and slightly grainy this flour is milled from semolina granules, Pulverized, these granules make a coarse flour that is high in gluten protein. Generally used in making pasta, it cooks up firmly and absorbs less water than pasta made with softer flour. When mixed with organic bread flour or whole wheat flour, semolina also makes fine Mediterranean breads,

Durum Flour Integrale: The whole-grain version of semolina flour, durum flour is made from the same hard wheat and is milled using the entire wheat berry. It has the traditional powderlike, brown-flecked texture of fine whole wheat flour and a pronounced wheaty taste.

Golden Durum Flour: Ground from the endosperm only of durum wheat, golden durum flour is the same thing as semolina flour except that it is ground finer. If you can't find it, you can make it yourself with the help of your blender. Simply blend one part semolina granules with two parts organic bread flour until a silky fine-grind texture is achieved.

ZB, Weavershouse, Rosalie,

I haven't even tried durum flour yet, let alone grinding my own durum wheat berries. I suppose the day will come eventually. Right now, I'm too wrapped up just fine-tuning all the milling and sifting steps for regular hard winter wheat. Next, I want to make a high extraction flour from some of the high protein northern plains wheat berries from Wheat Montana. I guess durum would be after that. The problem is that it's hard for me with just a mill and sieves to make fine, very low ash flour with a decent yield so far. I wonder if you could make a version of this recipe that would be from a higher extraction, finely milled (at home) durum flour that would still be good? Or, is the point of this to be super light in color and texture?

Bill

I'm new at this, so please forgive me if I'm asking a dumb question, but I'm a little confused on the ingredient amounts.  The recipe says: (1 1/2 cups/10.6 ounces) water -- but aren't there 8 ounces in a liquid cup, which would make 1 1/2 cups = 12 ounces?  And I don't know gram conversions at all, so that doesn't help me. 

 Thanks for your help -- I'd like to make this bread, it really looks yummy!!

I weigh in grams when I bake and actually never thought of this while I was typing the recipe. I just checked the book and I have copied it the way it is written. It does seem that 1 1/2 cups of water would translate to 12 ounces instead of 10.6. Am I missing something magical here about fluid ounces or is this another typo in the book? Perhaps he meant to say 1 1/4 cups of water...?

Dolf - Can you help? Or maybe add this to your list? (Page 251...:o)

 I made this recipe last night, although i did not get your beautiful rise it did taste and come out pretty darn good.

The only problems i had were that the extra virgin olive oil overpowered the taste too much. Is it supposed to taste that way?  And you say for standmixer to use the dough hook on speed 4, my kitchnaid hook says to use only on speed 2. Is it safe for speed 4 ( I'm so new to the world of bread!)

Also on an interesting note: those of us (myself included) who lack kneading skills/time and use a stand mixer or bread machine to do the kneading I found that the bread machine dough barely rose above the rim of my pan, while my kitchen aid dough went at least 2 inches above.

Thanks for the yummy recipe!

Oh, no, I didn't find the olive oil at all overpowering. The semolina has such a distinct flavor and I found this bread so good, in fact I've been craving it lately. I agree with Leader that it is a great introduction to fine semolina flour but then I am just mad for the stuff. I found it strangely elegant for a rustic pan loaf.

As for the stand mixer instructions, well, those are Leader's. I honestly did not realize that KA states never to go above speed 2. Trust me, I beat certain dough on high speed based on some of Leader's recipes and in my KA mixer! Poor thing, those KA mixers just are not made for dough and to be abused this way. I won't go into all the problems I experienced but suffice it to say they were great enough that I went out and bought myself a new Electrolux DLX mixer and I've never looked back.

I'm not familiar with a bread machine but that is interesting about the rise differences. One thing that is stressed about semolina is that you have to be very careful not to let it overproof so that could be part of the problem in not getting quite as high of rise but also Hamelman talks about a point at which the dough can quickly break down from overmixing so it may be a fine line. I was shocked at the way mine sprung up and I'm quite sure I was jumping up and down when I saw it!

Your bread looked so good I had to try!  I got hold of some fine semolina quite easily and used that. Results weren't as attractive as above but it still tasted alright.

 Photos here

I just tried this out with the Bob's Red Mill Semolina flour and I think it's too coarse for this recipe. The bread came out almost exactly like yours but it was a little too gritty for my tastes. That may also be attributed to a mistake on my part if I didn't knead it enough, the crumb wasn't as yellow as yours however so I think I kneaded it even more than you did because I oxidized it a little making a whiter crumb.

For some reason the olive oil tasted odd for me, but another person who tried it liked the olive oil flavor. Maybe next time I'll try a cheaper olive oil that's milder and a finer flour.

It certainly was pretty though and it's a nice recipe. 

You're right, you need to use DURUM Semolina, the other is too coarse. I don't knead at all, just a couple of Stretch and Folds and mine doesn't come out as yellow as zolablue's either. Might be her camera. This is one of my favorites and I make it often. A strong olive oil might give you a stronger olive oil taste but I wouldn't use a cheap oil because that might give you a stronger or bad taste. We don't really taste the oil at all, it just tastes buttery to us. I buy a medium priced oil. Good luck, hope you try it again.                                                       weavershouse

And threw them into my grinder/blender for a few minutes (batches of 150g) being careful not to overheat.  The granules were only semi-pulverized but I made it anyway.  I used sunflower oil, and hardly kneaded at all.  The loaf came out yellow and tastes great!  After 30 min oven time, I took the loaf out of the pan and gave it 10 more minutes baking on rack for a lovely crunchy crust.  The grain was grown here in Austria, w..a..y down south.  The granules (grieß as it is called here) is sold here for dumplings and gnocchi.   

Mini O

I attempted to make this last night. Everything went well, good rise and set of the dough. However, when I pulled it out of the over, the top was as flat as cardboard. The inside was a little stiff but not bad. This has happened a few times in my recent bread making trials. I live in a very humid climate, other than that any ideas?

Also, I have a bread machine that no matter what turns out bricks, not chewy loafs. I am tempted to throw it out anyway but it is convenient.

M

What an amazing bread, and so simple to make. It's my first time using semolina for bread, I use it for making different Indian food treats. This bread was absolutely wonderful, and with a lovely color. I just hope the loaf lasts throughout the day, it's already almost half gone an hour out of the oven!

I made this yesterday morning, and there were only about 2 inches left by night.  My whole family loved it.  So easy to make, although my kitchenAid probably didn't enjoy the workout.  I went out and bought more semolina already!

Marni

This is my first entry on this amazing site.  I have been baking for a couple of months now and have looked over this recepie a time or two.  This week I made a road trip to DeKalb Farmers Market outside of Atlanta and came accross Minnesota Semolina Flour for $0.69/lb. Bought enough to last a month worth of bread! Glad I did because this is wonderful. Great spring, hearty, moist, very tasty.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

P.S. Makes the most amazing toast!

The first time I tried this recipe, I didn't have any semolina flour, but I did have spelt, which I understand is a bit like a durum type of wheat.  The whole grain spelt version of this recipe was absolutely wonderful! 

I picked up a bag of Bob's Red Mill semolina flour to try the original.  The dough is very wet.  Is it supposed to be this way?  I am measuring by grams on a scale.  I did add some extra flour as the 300 gms of water with 500 gms of semolina flour was too wet to handle.  With the spelt flour, the proportions worked very well.  I got a lot of rise in the dough during both initial fermentation and proofing with the spelt flour.  With the semonlina flour, the dough is barely rising at all.  At first I thought my yeast had gone bad, but it proofed well in warm water and for the other items I made with it.  Does semolina flour more difficult for the yeast to digest?  Any ideas?

so i messed up and let it rise too long so it deflated and caved in on itself and fell over the edges of the loaf pan. i also forgot to add salt.

i tore off the loaf's "fat rolls" and formed them into pretzel shapes and sprinkled salt on them and these turned out even better than the actual loaf itself...!

sorry no pictures...i already ate them all!

After 18 hours, the dough finally doubled.  It took about 3 hours to proof before baking.  My loaf made a modest amount of oven spring, but no where near as much as shown in the original recipe.  The taste was wonderful and the crumb nicely cake like.  

I'm going to try this again with a fresh packet of yeast and see how that works.  This recipe is definitely a keeper. 

arlo, from your photo is looks as those your dough rose and then drooped.  Is that the case or did it just not rise in the middle at all?

Yesterday I tried making following the recipe as printed (without making any adjustments in yeast quantity for a longer fermentation time), and using Bob's Red Mill Semonlina flour.  Still no oven spring!

I use a scale when I bake,  weighing out all the ingredients in grams.  I used the KitchenAid mixer to knead the dough until it was "smooth, shiny and elastic".  It was smooth, somewhat shiny, very elastic, but also very sticky and wet.   

A 1 cup portion of the semolina flour weighs 177 gms.  Three and a quarter cups of this flour would be 575 grams, not 500 grams. 

For those of you who have made this load successfully, did you measure by weight or volume?  Did you find the dough to be wet and sticky or did you adjust the flour measure to make a less sticky dough? 

We like the flavour of this bread - I'd just like to get a little more loft to it.  Any suggestions?

and a narrow bread pan.   I made it last year (see above).  Please note that the water in the top recipe is too much in cups.  It should read 1 1/4 c water   and that the pan is narrow, 4 1/2 inches.  Mine is 4.  

I'm making it right now.... also added a few shakes of nutmeg.

Mini

Thank you for letting me know that your loaf pan is 4" wide.  My pyrex loaf pan is wider, but even with a wider pan I should still have had more rise.

I do use an electronic scale and measure by weight.  With 300 gms of water and 500 gms of semolina flour I had a very wet dough.  My Kitchen Aid Pro-5 says to knead at a maximun spead of 2, rather than the speed of 4 as stated in the recipe.  I'm reluctant to exceed the manufacturer's recomendation on mixer speed. The mixing is quite vigourus at speed 2.  How are you kneading your dough, by hand, in a mixer?  Is your dough wet or can you knead it without scraping it off the counter with a dough blade?

Do please let me know about your current loaf. The nutmeg idea is interesting.

Thanks.

I'll try your technique of mixing the wet ingredients, then adding the dry and letting it sit.  If you achieved a reasonable rise with only light kneading, then perhaps I am overkneading the dough.  I will also add more flour as needed to get a better dough consistency and knead lightly.  I don't have this troubling lack of rise with other breads, just this one.

When we make semolina as a cooked cereal, we add cardamom, saffron and rose.  If I can get the basic semonlina sandwich loaf worked out, I'll try a breakfast version with the saffron added to the dough and cardamom scented rose petal preserve in a center swirl.

The Semolina Sandwich loaf came out looking just like your picture...very high (oh my what oven spring!) and a beautiful golden yellow with a nice crumb. It makes a delicous sandwich and is especially yummy when toasted. I have recently purchased 50 lbs of ConAgra's King Midas No 1 Semolina (very fine grind) and it worked perfectly. I bought the flour because I'm interested in recreating the Semolina Bread of my childhood.

I grew up in an Italian section of Brooklyn where the local bakery produced very crusty free-form loaves (shaped like rye bread) that were totally covered in sesame seeds. The crumb was a little denser than the Sandwich loaf, but it was soft and very yellow. I have a little boutique (I only bake what I feel like) bakery/cafe and am working with a GE electric convection oven. Can anyone out there point me in the right direction? I only have 40+ pounds of semolina left to experiment with ;-)

Thanks, Bonni

just wanted to share that it was easy and came out great the first time. For sure will make again because it tastes awsome.

Might need to go to Dekalb Farmers market (thanks JohnnyP for the note), since I paid about $6 for 1 lbs of Bob's Red Mill semolina flour at Publix ...ouch!

Also, for those that think that they overproofed: I was proofing my loaf and had to leave the house and got back about 2 hours into proofing. Dough had rised over the edge and started to spill over. I did not want to bake it that way, so I got it out of the pan and put fit it back into pan. Let it rise again and within an hour it had rised just a little over the edge again. 

Here are my picture!

dwighttsharpe,

 Can you tell me what/where is YDFM? Are they on the internet? If so what is the website address?

My understanding is that Duram is a finer grind of Semolina. Learned this at a professional course at King Arthur. Durman is used mainly to make pastas and Semolina is used in breads, pizza and under the dough/on the peel snd/or stone when baking on a stone. Cornmeal and Farina are also used for the same purpose.

All the breads look great, even if  some didn't rise as much as others, the crumb still looks good!

Nancy58

It's just a large international/Whole FoodsType/Ethnic(multi) type store in Decatur(Atlanta), GA. Technically, Dekalb county, one of the five counties of the Atlanta, Ga metro area. Most just call it Dekalb Farmer's Market. It is not really a farmer's market. At least, in the most familiar sense. They do have a small website, but just as an introduction/presentation. No web sales. www.dekalbfarmersmarket.com. It is a big and very bustling place. About 55 cash registers, sometimes almost all with lines. They move extremely fast though. They are getting to have quite a following/reputation.

Yes, there is some distinction between semolina and durum flour. Don't know if it really means that much in this recipe, but the only way to really know is to have had access to all versions. All of the loaves pictured seem to actually have used semolina, except the original post. Maybe everyone blitzed their's through a processor, like me. Although, like I mentioned earlier, it really didn't seem to make much of a difference in mine. Mine was still certainly more like a fine corn meal, as opposed to a powdery flour, as durum is apparently supposed to be. My end result was a fine, smooth, soft crumb, like a sanwich loaf, though crustier, especially the top. I imagine I could have made the crust softer, if desired, by brushing the top with butter when it came out of the oven.

One thing that's worth noting about this recipe, and helps somewhat in understanding the rise/oven spring, is the amount of dough this recipe makes. The original recipe makes a mass of dough of 880g = 31oz = almost 2 lbs of dough for a pan size mostly used for 1lb loaves(8.5 x 4.5). I guess that much dough, if it rises much at all, has got to go somewhere; up, out, or both.

Some of the differences in the rises may also be because of slight differences in pan sizes. The nominal size of my pan is 9 x 5 but it is actually 9.2 x 5.3 inches as measured by upper, insides. I scaled the recipe to be about 10%  larger, so my doughball was 34.2 oz which was about as much as my breadmaker(used for mixing/kneading) is rated to handle. Really, a 9x5 pan can handle quite a bit more than an 8x4 pan.

Ok i wanna make this but i dont have anything but my hands,a wooden spoon,baking pan and an oven to do it.Can you advise me from there about how to get it done as closely to yours as possible.

Also, can this be done using wheat flour,or partial?...

in the past when i have made wheat bread,its been bitter.so i quit.But i love wheat bread for sandwichs.

thanks!

I'm a newbie, so bear with me... I was looking for a source of flour for this recipe and accidentally stumbled across a bag labeled Swad Chappati flour in the ethnic foods section of Cub. At the top of the bag, it says Stone Ground Durum Wheat Flour. So I grabbed a bag and gave it a try. The loaves I baked turned out very similar to those in zolablue's original post, oven spring and all. It's a nice basic sandwich bread, with the extra benefit of a nice crunchy crust.

Flavor-wise, I have to say that I prefer a bread I've made a few times from the pasta-style semolina:

http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/recipefinder/semolina-bread-679