January 5, 2010 - 11:41am
Durum flour
I recently found an Indian market that sells durum flour in 20 lb bags. To most of us, this is semolina flour. I'm having a hard time finding decent recipes for my bread machine that use this hard wheat flour. The best one I've used so far uses half bread flour and half semolina. It's delicious, but I'd like something different.
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You can use it in purity, generally using an hydratation of level of 60-65%, but be aware that it tends to be on the weak side of flours, so it grows less than WW breads (after a while you will see cracks and holes in the gluten).
It's very used in the southern part of Italy, and it gives a wery good bread, but it also has a major defect: it tends to dry and to become gummy after 3-4 days, after which it becomes as tough as a stone.
If I'm not mistaken, my understanding is that semolina and whole durum flour are not the same. Semolina is just part of the durum wheat, the endosperm, not the whole thing. I've purchased this whole durum wheat flour from the Indian store (in this particular case it was called chappati flour), and the resulting loaf was bland compared to the ones I've done with Bob's Red Mill semolina.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4213/semolina-sandwich-loaf#comment-27935
There are some good recipes in Hamelman that use up to 60% durum semolina. In fact, I've got two of his sesame semolina loaves in the fridge right now. I've made 100% semolina loaves before now, and they are denser. I didn't have the drying out problem that nicodvd mentioned; the loaves vanished too quickly!
Jeremy
I have never tried Durum whole wheat, but have had great success using Durum flour with a pale yellow color. Following Daniel Leader's Semolina sandwich loaf recipe, This bread rose forever. Great oven spring, and good keeper. I sliced then froze it. Great for toast, and sandwich use. This post prompted my trying it. http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/4213/semolina-sandwich-loaf. I had very similar results. It created an enormous slice of bread. Just had the last slice a couple days ago. Ray
Recent Bake, No Knead Pumpkin Bread | The Fresh Loaf
I didn't know how to create the link I wanted, I hope this works. The Semolina bread picture is all I wanted to show. Ray
I love durum flour - it's my "novelty flour" with such a unique flavor and hue - does anybody else find it leads to a dough which feels positively like silk?
I find it a bit delicate: after little kneading the dough becomes soft, elastic and silky, but if you insist the dough loses its integrity. A bit like spelt.
any recipe for altamura bread is for 100% durum flour (semolina)
I think I would characteize it as silky. Not the least bit finicky or delicate Nicodvb. I think the best way to describe the feel, durring handling, would be to say, It is a lot like a white bread sandwich loaf. I am usually working with 100% whole wheat flour, and this was a marked, break in the monotony, and much less trying. Cognitivefun, I have a recipe for Altamura bread in Daniel Leader's Local Breads. It uses a sourdough starter. I still have not tinkered with sourdough yet. It seems i want to but I never quite commit. This recipe is three pages long, and includes a yogurt based starter. The entire chapter 11, entitled, Untouched By Time: The Singular case Of Pane Di Altamura, is worth reading, it has a certain charm. Try to see Local Breads at the Library or book seller. I am enjoing it for its color. I have never been to Europe, but the book gives me unexpected pleasure vicariously. Ray