Pane con Semola Rimacinata di Grano Duro
Thanks to JoeVa for this detailed recipe. I have made it three times now. The first time my hydration was 60% as per JoeVa's recipe. I didn't stick closely to the mixing instructions and worked the dough more than JoeVa recommended. The crumb wasn't as open as I had hoped. On the second time I upped the hydration to 63% and followed JoeVa's recipe to the letter. The crumb was nice and open. On my third attempt, I once again increased the hydration: this time to 65%. There wasn't much difference between the second and third attempts.
I retarded for 12 hours. It had a mild tang and it was delicious fresh on the first day. It was similar in texture to a baguette with a razor sharp crust and soft interior. I really like that contrast.
On day two it made a good BLT, although that crust was dangerously hard and sharp after being lightly fried in the bacon renderings (and, yes, I know it isn't healthy, but it is delicious :). I am wondering if that diamond crust has anything to do with the hard nature of semolina.
Best,
Syd
Comments
Syd, you really know how to make a person hungry. The BLT look great, but I'll settle for a slice of the loaf !
Ron
Thanks, Ron! I have been following all your and Akiko's work on the yeast water experiments and that is going to be my next project when I get the time. :
Best,
Syd
Geez, "lightly fried in bacon renderings." That's just too much. Beautiful bread. Careful not to cut yourself. -Varda
Frying the bread in the bacon fat is a trick I learned from my father. My grandmother would smear roast drippings on a slice of bread: now that was full of flavour!
Syd
This is a fantastic loaf Syd!
Something about durum flour gives the crust such a rich colour, and I can see a hint of the gold showing itself in the excellent crumb as well. Very nicely done. As for the sandwich, we're of the same mind. Sometimes you just have to put the dietary considerations aside and go for the flavour.
Best wishes,
Franko
Thanks, Franko. :) This is only the about the fourth time I have baked with durum and I really like it. Although, durum flour over here is exactly four times as expensive as regular flour, so it is not something I will use often. However, it makes a difference from an all white loaf. I used it on the weekend to make pasta ( I used a 40/60 mix of durum and all purpose) and that made a big difference to the pasta in terms of bite. It also contributed to the colour.
Best,
Syd
The sandwich photos are mouthwatering. And the bread looks wonderful. Great description!
But I have to say that your first photo above is one of the best food photos I've ever seen. Beautifully made! You can see every pore of the crumb and you can almost taste the crust.
Thanks.
Glenn
Thanks for your compliments, Glenn. :) To be honest, I am not much of a photographer. I only have a two megapixel video cam which has a stills function. It is a bit of a hit and miss affair. I don't have any fancy lighting and almost always just use natural light. I don't know much about angles or exposure and focus or anything like that. I just snap away and usually there is one good shot in the bunch!
All the best,
Syd
Oh, Syd, that is the most wonderful-looking loaf!
from breadsong
Thank you, breadsong. :)
Best,
Syd
A lovely interpretation og Giovanni's Semolia Bread, Syd.
I would anticipate you needing a slightly higher hydration than Giovanni due to the difference in bread flours you both used. But both your loaves and comments suggest these are best made as is, and not with higher levels of water.
Beautifully soft crumb!
Best wishes
Andy
Thanks, Andy. :) Yes, that is exactly what I suspected from the outset (that 60% was going to be too low for my flour), but I gave it a go anyway. I do think, however, that I could have got a more open crumb if I had handled it better. I will try and post the crumb shots of the other two loaves if I get some time this evening.
Best wishes,
Syd
Syd, although that kind of crumb is very unusual for 100% durum flour (generally it comes out much smoother, without so many holes), your bread is a big achievement!
Thanks, Nico. Actually, it was only 60% durum. The rest was bread flour. But that is an interesting observation and I didn't know that 100% durum would produce a smoother crumb. Thanks for your comment. :)
Syd
Hi Syd,
Very nice crumb! I admire your shaping skill, Syd! I'd like to try Joeva's bread, too! But I have a problem of shaping a boule. Could you tell me how to shape the dough?
Happy baking,
Akiko
Thank you, Akiko! This particular shape is a batard, not a boule. I use the technique demonstrated in the King Arthur Professional bakery video series: Video No. 4 (at the 6:30 mark). The same series has an excellent demonstration on how to shape a boule, too. I think, shaping a boule is easier than shaping a batard because my boules always go into a banetton or some sort of proofing basket afterwards. My batards, on the other hand are often just proofed on a linen towel and, if you don't get the shaping right, or the hydration is too high, they spread all over the place! Thanks for your comments, Akiko. :)
Best,
Syd
Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me.. Oh... batard.. :P I didn't know.. Even I shape it into a batard, I can't make like yours anyway. :i I will check out the link and try it ! Thank you, Syd!!
Best wishes,
Akiko
Those crumbs are fabulous. It looks so appetising. Photos are great too.
At least you make up with lettuce, not all bad, and who can say no to crispy bacon. We all love them.
Sue
http://youcandoitathome.blogspot.com
Thanks, Sue. :) Yes, I have never been one for watching my diet. I exercise a lot so I always feel I am allowed to indulge a bit!
All the best,
Syd
Wonderful bread, Syd. Just looked at JoeVa's blog, and it doesn't say what kind of yeast is used. Did you make this with sourdough starter or commercial yeast? I've made it both ways, and it's delicious either way--but I've never had such a gorgeous loaf as this. Yum!
Joyful
Thanks, Joyful. :) I am pretty sure that JoeVa uses a sourdough starter. He says:
I took that 20% inoculation to be a sourdough inoculation.
My recipe looked liked this:
Overall Formula
300g semolina 60%
200g b. flour 40%
325g water 65%
10g salt 2%
Preferment
75g bread flour
60g water
15g sourdough starter
Main dough
all of the above preferment
125g bread flour
300g semolina
265g water
2g salt
I haven't tried it with commercial yeast, but I am guessing you might have to increase the amount of flour in the preferment. I would probably try:
Poolish
200g bread flour
200g water
1/8 tsp instant yeast
Ferment until ripe
Main Dough
300g semolina
125g water
1/2 - 1 tsp of yeast (depending on how quickly you wanted it to rise)
10g of salt
What proportions did you use when you made it, Joyful?
All the best,
Syd
Syd,
Your BLT looked so delicious. This recipe will be my next baking project as long as I can find the right semolina flour in my area first. Thank you for the reminder.
Kimmy
I didn't find it easily, either. I looked for a long time but all I could get was the coarser variety. In the end, I managed to get some through a friend who used to run a restaurant and now uses his former contacts to run a small internet business for the home gourmet. It cost four times what I pay for regular bread flour, and even though the cost will prohibit me from making it regularly, it was well worth it.
Thanks for commenting, Kimmy. :)
Syd
Syd, I used Hamelman's Semolina Bread with levain, just delicious (sorry, no pictures). His formula (in oz, not gm) is:
Overall Formula
Bread flour12.8 oz 40%
Durum flour1 lb, 3.2 oz 60%
Water1 lb, 5.4 oz 67%
Sesame seeds,1.6 oz 5%
toasted*
TOTAL YIELD3 lb, 7.6 oz174%
Liquid Levain Build
Bread flour4.8 oz100%
Water6 oz125%
Mature culture (liquid)1 oz 20%
Final Dough
Bread flour8 oz
Durum flour1 lb. 3.2 oz
Water15.4 oz
Sesame seeds, toasted*1.6 oz
Liquid levain10.8 oz (all less 2 T)
TOTAL3 lb, 7.6 oz
*Hamelman says the sesame seeds can be omitted from the dough and you can coat the loaf with untoasted sesame seeds, (I did it both ways; I especially like the way the bake toasts the seeds on the outside).
He also has a semolina with commercial dough, using what he calls a "sponge," which has:
Durum flour6.4 oz50%
Bread flour6.4 oz50%
Water9 oz70%
Yeast.13 oz 3%
Sugar (sugar?).6 oz 5%
The "main dough" ("final dough" in his terms) has 9.6 oz of both bread flour and durum flour, with the "overall formula" adding up to 1 lb of each flour--so it's 50-50 all the way. The overall hydration is 62%, quite a bit lower than the sourdough formula. I haven't tried this one. I bought durum patent flour from NY Bakers in San Diego, very nice. I just found some durum, as well as semolina, flour in the bulk bins at our new and overwhelmingly huge Whole Foods here in Santa Rosa. They are also starting to carry fresh yeast in small bags (I asked and the manager gave me the good news). I think it makes a subtle flavor difference; I used it in some pita breads, and I think the flavor and aroma are especially nice (made pita with one-quarter of the total whole wheat, 3/4 bread flour--used Reinhart's recipe in Crust and Crumb (with instructions from Maggie Glezer in A Blessing of Bread. It worked very well, only the pita was a little too thick and "bready," from the bread flour I'm guessing and also that I didn't roll the dough thin enough. My friend said a pita needs a "soft hand," by which she meant a lower gluten flour (she used some Tipo 00 flour mixed in). A breadbaker's works is never done . . . . (-:
I don't have much of a concept of pounds and ounces, but just glancing at the bakers percentages, Hamelman's recipe is pretty close to JoeVa's. Only the hydration is higher. It seems that the hydration doesn't have to be very high with durum flour/semolina based dough to get the same open crumb that would require a much higher hydration in an ordinary bread flour. When I made this bread with a 63% hydration, the crumb was as open as the 65% hydration dough. Compare:
I like to use fresh yeast, too, although I'm not sure it makes much of a difference. I think sometimes I am just imagining it! Instant is much more convenient, though and keeps better.
Nice pitas! :)
Syd
Interesting comment about hydration, Syd. I just mixed a batch of that dough. Even at 67% hydration, it's a tight dough with a short mix time (2 min. at #1 speed, 2 1/2 min. at #2 speed), with only one fold at one hour and a total bulk fermentation of 2 hours. It's a little like "playdough" in that it's very stretchy at the one-hour mark (still waiting for the second hour to finish) but not sticky (well, just a tad). I remember it being so tasty and fragrant. Hamelman says it can be retarded up to 18 hours at 42 F. I may go that route.
It is worth a try. I retarded for 12 and got a mild tang: just how I like it. Another 6 would add a little extra zing. I want to try a 60% hydration again. This time I won't handle the dough as much as I did the first time. I want to see if I can't achieve a more open crumb. I like the height I got from the 60% hydration boule.
Best,
Syd
Thanks for the compliment on the pitas. I'm motivated to make them again!
Hi Syd, those are beautiful pictures and a great write up. I didn't get quite such an open crumb with my attempt, I included the toasted sesame seeds following the Hamelman recipe and it tasted great. I think I'm hooked on using this flour for now. but it was certainly tons better than making it with the coarser semolina that I used originally.
I just finally found some of the rimacinata flour in my city (Bristol, UK) and had a second go at making this wonderful bread. People are asking me where to get this flour in the States, I was wondering if there is a directory on the Fresh Loaf of places to buy speciality flours so I can suggest places to try.
best wishes, Joanna
Thanks, Joanna. The secret to an open crumb with this lower hydration loaf is less kneading (more s&f's to develop gluten) and gentle handling, less degassing when you shape.
I am learning to love this flour as well. It makes really good pasta. I use the same 60/40 mix of semolina and wheat flour when making pasta with excellent results. It adds that extra special bite to the pasta. It also seems to add a nutty flavour to bread that is very more-ish.
I am in Taiwan so I am afraid I can't help with where to find this flour in the States. I use the De Cecco brand and I know it is available in the UK and Europe but I am not sure about the States. I don't think there is any directory on TFL of where to find speciality flowers. If there is, I am not aware of it. It certainly would be a good resource, though. Perhaps you could pose this question on the open forum. I am sure you will get lots of suggestions about where to find it in the States.
Best,
Syd