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Tom Cat's Semolina Filone from Maggie Glezer's "Artisan Breads"

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone from Maggie Glezer's "Artisan Breads"

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone Crumb

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone Crumb

Tom Cat's Semolina Filone

Poolish
Instant yeast     Disolve 1/4 tsp in 1 cup of 110F water. Use 1/4 cup of the resulting suspension.
Water               135 gms (in addition to the above 1/4 cup)
Flour                 150 gms of King Arthur AP (or 75 gms lower-gluten AP and 75 gms Bread Flour)

Dough
Durum Flour           250 gms
AP Flour                 50 gms
Water                    205 gms
Instant Yeast         1/4 tsp
Poolish                  All of the above
Salt                      9 gms
Sesame seeds       About 2 cups

Procedure
The night before baking, mix the poolish and ferment 8 hours, covered tightly.

The day of baking, combine the flours and water, mix and autolyse, covered, for 15-60 minutes. Mix the yeast with the poolish and add to the autolysed dough for 5 minutes. The dough should clean the sides of a stand mixer, according to Glezer. (But it didn't, even with 3-4 T of added AP flour.) Sprinkle the salt on the dough and mix for another 2 minutes. The dough should be sticky but not "gloppy." (The dough was what I'd call "gloppy," even with mixing another 10 minutes at Speed 3 on my KitchenAid. I decided to proceed anyway.)

Scrape the dough into a bowl 3 times its volume, cover and ferment for 2-3 hours, folding every 20 minutes for the first hour. (The dough started coming together better after a short time and was still sticky but smooth and puffy after 2 hours in a 75F kitchen.) Preheat the oven to 400F and prepare your steaming apparatus of choice. Scrape the dough onto your bench and preform it into a boule. Let it rest for 20-30 minutes to relax the dough, then form it into a batard.

Roll the loaf in seseme seeds and place it, seam side up, in a linen or parchment couche. If using a parchment couch you will bake on, place the batard seam side down.) Cover it well and allow it to expand until quite puffy. (Glezer says this should take 30-60 minutes. My dough was very puffy, and I shaped it very gently to retain the bubbles. I let it proof for 20 minutes only before proceeding.)

Roll the batard onto parchment (If using a linen couche). Spray with water and score with one cut from end to end. (I cut holding the knife at and angle to get a nice "ear" and "grigne.")

Transfer the batard to the oven and bake with steam for 15 minutes, then continue to bake another 30 minutes or so until the bread is well-cooked. (Golden-brown color, hollow thump on the bottom and internal temperature of 205F.

Cool completely before slicing.

Comments
I have made 3 other semolina breads, but this was the first time I used fine-ground Durum Flour. The recipe is Tom Cat's Semolina Filone from Maggie Glezer's "Artisan Breads."

I used all King Arthur AP flour, as Glezer says this has the desired gluten level for this formula. I found the dough to be much wetter than I expected. I did add extra flour, as she says one might have to, but it remained a very wet dough. I was concerned it might be quite impossible to form a real batard, but, after the stretch and folds and 2 hours total fermentation, the dough behaved much better than I anticipated. It did have to be handled very gently, but I'm learning to do that.

I was also surprised how well this soft, puffy, wet dough took my cut,and the oven spring and bloom were phenomenal.

I think the result was a quite attractive loaf, and the crumb was even more open than I expected - a real "rustic"-type crumb. The texture and taste of this bread are both outstanding. The crust is crunchy with a prominant hit of toasted sesame seeds. The crumb is very soft and tender with a cool, creamy mouth feel. it has a definite semolina flavor that is most often described as "nutty." I don't know what kind of nut it's supposed to taste like, but it tastes really good.

I have been a little disappointed in the taste and texture of the other semolina breads I've made. I've not made any of them more than once. Maybe the durum flour makes the difference. Maybe it's Tom Cat's recipe. Maybe my skills in handling dough have advanced. Whatever. I'll be making this one again, for sure!

David

Comments

Rock's picture
Rock

Nice Job!

This is one of my favorites from that book and I make it often.  I too thought it was too wet but didn't add any more flour.  Now I'm used to it and the folds do help.

The bread has a nice wheaty taste as is and of late I've started adding about half KA Whole Wheat to the Poolish.  It's not traditional but does add a nice flavor.

Dave

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hmmmm .... I appreciate your letting me know you found the dough wet too. It makes me wonder how wet a dough needs to be for Ms. Glezer to regard it as certifiably "gloppy."

In any event, it was so good the way I made it, I won't make any adjustments until I've made it a few times. I just have to figure out how to shape a batard with dough this soft. I know. I know. "Iron fist in a velvet glove."


David

weavershouse's picture
weavershouse

tomcats filone

The crumb

Here is my try at this bread. I had a hard time getting that loaf away from my grandson Johnny. Also here's a poor photo of the crumb. My post for this bread is somewhere on this site.

This was a tasty bread that I baked many times but I haven't made it for a while.

 

Your filone is beautiful. You amaze me with your output. I get stuck on one recipe a long time and then see you trying so many different breads and doing so well with all of them. Great Job again. weavershouse

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

I appreciate your kind words.

Your semolina filone looks delicious! And your cooling rack is way cuter than mine.

I do "get stuck," but on many recipes, not one. Maybe it's a gemini thing. I think I could count about 8 or so breads I regard as my "regulars." But I like novelty and learning new techniques, so if I'm going to be making 2-3 different breads on a weekend, one is probably going to be a recipe I've never tried before. Even so, the list of breads I haven't gotten to bake yet but want to try continues to get longer.

It's probably been 6-9 months that I've wanted to try another semolina recipe. I was prompted to bump it to the top of the "to bake list" by a comment on an old blog entry. I'm glad I did.


David

pattycakes's picture
pattycakes

I'll have to try it. I bought some flour labeled semolina in a small package from Bob's, and it's a fine, sandy grained texture. It's what I've been using to flour the peel since my husband broke his crown on the polenta. Is that the same thing as the Durum wheat flour you used?

I'm also a Gemini, and I have a hard time sticking to one recipe. Even when it's good, I want to experiment or try another recipe the next day. Oh, the excitement and the mystery are just overwhelming...

Patricia

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Patricia.

My understanding is that "Fine Durum Flour" or "Extra Fancy Durum Flour" is more finely ground Semolina. I've never seen Durum in a grocery. I got a bag from KAF. Not cheap!

Glezer says Semolina "won't work here." I imagine it will change the texture of the crumb. My hunch is that it will make a "different" bread, but that doesn't mean it couldn't be very good.

In the sidebar to one of his recipes, Hamelman talks about the impact of subbing Semolina for Durum. There was a comment about one absorbing more water than the other, as I recall.

If you make it with Semolina, let us know how it works for you. 

David

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Hi David, that looks sensational!

 

Shiao-Ping

p.s. thanks for your encouragement on my first sourdough bread.

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

Hi David, that looks sensational!

 

Shiao-Ping

p.s. thanks for your encouragement on my first sourdough bread.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David

jamesjr54's picture
jamesjr54

For Sunday dinner. Was indeed just as you said - very wet dough that behaved after about an hour proof and 3 S&Fs. I too added about 3 TBSP of flour, and used some olive oil for hand kneading. Tossed it into the fridge for the final proof and it was ready in about 45 minutes — even in the fridge. Baked in cast iron. Delicious, crackly crust, chewy, nutty interior and wonderful flavor. Reminded my daughter of scali bread, a New England favorite. But better. Thanks for the formula! 

lacoet's picture
lacoet

Hi,

Has anybody attempted and succeded in kneading this dough by hand?

I started kneading it using the Bertinet's technique that I have used to hand-knead baguette dough,

but this dough was just too wet and lumpy. Had to move it to the mixer.

I'd appreciate any input.

thanks.

lacoet's picture
lacoet

Hi,

Has anybody attempted and succeded in kneading this dough by hand?

I started kneading it using the Bertinet's technique that I have used to hand-knead baguette dough,

but this dough was just too wet and lumpy. Had to move it to the mixer.

I'd appreciate any input.

thanks.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

However, with very wet doughs, I usually prefer the "stretch and fold in the bowl" technique, maybe adding a couple stretch and folds on the board toward the end of bulk fermentation.

David

lacoet's picture
lacoet

Hi David,

thanks for your answer, you are right. Next time I'll try the stretch and fold in the bowl which is much easier.

scotgibson's picture
scotgibson

I’m convinced that there’s a typo in this recipe in the Glezer book, or something amiss, because (1) the math just doesn’t work out, and (2) there are lots of posts around the Internet talking about how “gloppy” this dough is.  Glezer claims that this is overall a 68% hydration dough, but:

 

TOTAL WATER:  370 g (including 1/4 cup of yeast water in the poolish)

TOTAL FLOUR 450 g (150 in the poolish, 300 in the dough)

HYDRATION = 370/450 = 82%

 

Note this as well — she says that the hydration of the poolish is 110%, but I think she forgot the 1/4 cup (59 g) of yeast water, which raises the hydration of the poolish to 129% (59 g yeast water + 135 g water / 150 g flour).  

 

I think one thing that’s happening is that, since this book came out in 2000, we’re all getting much better at handling high hydration doughs, so we’re just rolling with the error.  But she clearly says in her formula that “This dough should be soft and tacky but not gloppy.”  And a 82% hydration dough is, well, always gloppy.  

 

Anyway — I’ve made it a couple of times as written, and it’s always delicious, but it tastes and feels very much like a very high hydration dough. 

 

I wonder how it would be if the hydration was reduced to 68% as she indicates.  Which would be as follows (this is my gloss on her formula):

 

POOLISH

Instant yeast: 1/4 tsp (1 g)

Water (110-115 degrees): 1 cup (235 g) (Note — only use 1/4 cup of yeast water, not the full 1 cup)

Unbleached bread flour: 75 g

Unbleached AP flour: 75 g 

   (Note:  or use 150 g King Arthur AP flour, which has a higher gluten %)

Water (cold in summer, warm in winter): 106 g *** 

 

POOLISH DIRECTIONS:  Dissolve yeast in water 1 cup 110-115 degree water, let sit for 5 min to soften, stir to dissolve.  Mix flours (or just use King Arthur), and add ***1/4 cup (59 g) yeasted water*** plus 135 cup non-yeasted water to flour.  Mix with spoon until smooth, and let sit overnight to ferment.

 

 

BREAD DOUGH

Durum Flour (extra fine): 250 g

Unbleached AP flour: 50 g

Water, lukewarm: 140 g ***

Instant yeast: 1/4 tsp

Fermented poolish:  all (375 g)

Salt: 9 g

 

 

*** NOTE ADJUSTED WATER AMOUNTS, WHICH BRING FORMULA TO 68% HYDRATION

 

Combine flour and water in the mixing bowl and mix this stiff dough with the dough hook on low speed until combined.  Cover, and let rest (autolyse) for 1 hour.

 

Sprinkle the yeast over the poolish and let stand for 5 min. Add the poolish to the dough and mix together on low speed to a soft, smooth dough that cleans the sides of the bowl (5 min). Sprinkle on the salt and mix for about 2 min until dissolved.  

 

Ferment this dough until light and bubbly and almost doubled in bulk (about 3 h at RT), initially giving 3 folds at 20-minute intervals.  Leave undisturbed for the rest of the time. 

 

Turn dough out and rest for 20 min — it should be very relaxed.  Shape into a 12-inch batard, handling as delicately as possible to avoid de-gassing.  Coat in sesame seeds.  

 

Proof for 30-60 minutes.  Slash once with a razor or serrated blade, longwise down the center.  

 

Bake at 400 degree F for 45-55 minutes, with steam if desired, rotating halfway into the bake, until deep golden brown

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

Hi, Scot.

You are correct that Glazer's hydration is misleading, but here is why: She treats the poolish, which is actually well over 100% hydration, as an ingredient in her final dough. So the figure of 68% hydration doesn't come close to accurately describing the hydration of the final dough, after the poolish is mixed in. Current practice would include a table in the recipe describing the Total Dough which would account accurately for all the ingredients, including the water and flour in the poolish.

When I made this bread 12 (!) years ago, I actually decreased the volume of water in which I dissolved the yeast. I just went back and did the math. My version ended up 102% hydration. (A half cup of water weighs 118g.) That is gloppy. How Glazer can say otherwise is a mystery. Unless there is, as you suggest, a typo.

David

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Hi, Dave.

 After seeing Scott's post about Glazer's Filone, I became interested because I had such good luck with my 100% durum wheat, Altamira & Matera bread. Then I saw your formula above, and I was sold. Except when I added up the hydration I calculated 88% hydration! Goopy indeed! I reworked it a bit and will be starting my poolish soon. This is what I came up with. 

scotgibson's picture
scotgibson

I've since made it a couple of times with the adjusted formula above, and it works well, is MUCH easier to work with the dough, and makes delicious bread.  Hope your loaves come out well, Roadside.  

The Roadside Pie King's picture
The Roadside Pi...

Thanks for letting us know. I had some good luck with a couple of high hydration durum wheat bakes. So I am going to give it a whirl! Check out this mid 80's hydration golden bread. 

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