July 28, 2017 - 12:10pm
durum flour
My first post so hello to all !
If I mill # 1 durum flour in a coffee grinder, what will be the effect on the rise ?
While my dough is OK it does NOT look or handle like the ll Pane di Altamura video.
How can I order the durum flour from Italy and should I expect different results ? ( needing and proofing )
I am in Scotts Valley, Ca. ... 6 miles inland from Santa Cruz
One of my latest adventures.
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#1 Durum flour?
Tell me a bit more about the flour you're currently using and the recipe.
Lechem
Recipe is from makebread.net/semolina-sourdough
I am using :
280g sourdough starter ( KA flour )
550g Semolina Flour from Pennsylvania
125g KA bread flour
400g water
18g salt
# 1 flour was on the package of Red Mill Semolina I first tried.
It looks and feels like what I just bought from Pennsylvania. ( gritty and yellowish color ) before needing and proofing
A word or two about durum grain. It is a hard wheat and when ground it is grit like. This is semolina. To get durum flour it needs to be remilled and this is Semola Rimacinata aka remilled semolina aka durum flour.
So it's the same thing however it depends on the grind.
Altamura bread is made from durum flour. Semolina remilled! However semolina does have different grinds to from fine to coarse (fine semolina being still more grit like than durum flour). Fine semolina is a good substitute if you can't find durum flour but if you're following a durum flour recipe then you might wish to drop the hydration a bit as it won't absorb as much water (around 5%) and it will benefit from an autolyse to soften it up. Coarse semolina is not a good substitute.
You say the dough isn't like an Altamura dough but the recipe you're following is particularly made for semolina (you're using semolina so no changes needed to accommodate this) and does have bread flour in it. It won't feel and behave like an Altamura bread because it isn't. It might be inspired by Pane di Altamura.
Here is a link to durum flour on Amazon...
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_ime_c_1_8?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=semola+rimacinata+di+grano+duro&sprefix=Semola+r%2Caps%2C239&cri...
And here is something I did some time ago...
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/51376/last-pane-di-altamura-breakthrough
depending on where you are, and how the mills label things there. Here, there is a difference between "durum flour", which is whole grain durum including bran and germ (equivalent to whole grain hard red or soft white wheat flour) and "durum semolina" (which is the coarse mid-grind of endosperm only from the durum grain), or "durum Rimacinata" (also called "re-milled semolina", which is the endosperm only milled more finely to be essentially the white flour grind of durum wheat --- even though it's yellow).
If what you have is "semolina" (endosperm only), then grinding it more finely and putting it through a fine-mesh sifter could give you a pretty solid version of commercially re-milled semolina Rimacinata.
Once you've determined what you actually have, then Lechem's advice is, as usual, spot on.
Happy durum baking!