faux semolina
I tried baking with a semolina I found in the local Jewish grocery store. The brand of the ... "flour"? is Stybel. When I openned the bag the "flour" had the consistency of cornmeal! I was very surprised but followed the recipe closely. The resulting "dough" was more like a soggy cereal. Panicing I added ~2 cups of All-Purpose (Heckers) flour and the dough began to be manageable. Baking it at the designated 350 deg the bread wouldn't rise and it tasted bland.
I now know the bland taste comes from unbaked white flour, which apparently needs 450+ to be properly baked. The lack of a rise is probably due to the semolina having the consistency of grits - the yeast couldn't break it down, couldn't eat as much as they would have if the semolina had the consistency of a fine powder.
Here are the images:
http://img820.imageshack.us/img820/4853/kdk0622.jpg [1]
http://img220.imageshack.us/img220/3100/kdk0621.jpg [2]
http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/2803/kdk0620.jpg [3]
Any tips about semolina would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
-ld (Ecc. 9:1-4)