Tuesday, July 17, 2012

TwD: Semolina Bread


 This Tuesday's Baking with Julia recipe and the second TWD bake for the month of July is the Semolina Bread by contributing baker Nick Malgieri.   This is the second bread recipe of his that I've made the first one being his Old-Fashioned Raisin Bread which my entire family loved.   I've also made various kinds of semolina breads before but this is the first time I made a version that makes use of only commercial yeast via the "flying sponge" method where all the yeast called for in the recipe is already added to a mixture of equal parts flour and water, allowed to ferment for about two hours, then eventually added to the final dough mix.  I must say that I'm loving this sponge method in bread baking because of how super quick it is to whip up unlike other pre-ferments like a biga or poolish that takes about 12 or more hours to ferment.


The top of the loaf generously coated with untoasted sesame seeds





















I got good oven spring mainly due to the well-heated baking stone



















I deviated from the recipe a little bit by adding a little sugar to the sponge mixture (which speeds up its fermentation), adding about a Tablespoon of vital wheat gluten to the flour, and by shaping the loaf into a round loaf instead of a batard.  I also couldn't resist but give the loaf a generous coating of sesame seeds just to give more flavor and crunch to the crust.  A good technique that ensures the seeds will stick to the loaf is by dabbing the loaf first on a very damp, lint-free kitchen towel then immediately rolling it on top of a tray filled with raw sesame seeds. The flavor of the sesame seeds on this bread is amazing!  I'd also like to note that I used extra-fancy durum flour/pasta flour instead of coarse semolina which, according to all of the books I've read, is more feasible for bread making.

One thing I also did differently was create a steamy environment inside the oven the first 20 minutes of the bake.  This, in conjunction with a well-heated baking stone, results in a wonderful oven spring and oven bloom.


Overall, this was delicious and it is in fact, the best-tasting one out of all the semolina breads I've made.  I now prefer semolina breads this way with no wild yeast whatsoever.  I love the mild, creamy taste of the bread, the tenderness of the crumb because of the olive oil and the lovely yellowish hue from the durum flour.  I actually just made a tuna melt with this bread and it was so good!

If you want to try making this Semolina Bread do check out our hosts' blogs -- Renee's The Way to My Family's Heart and Anna's Keep it Luce or better yet, get the book! :-)

*Submitting this post to YeastSpotting*

14 comments:

  1. Looks like you know all the tricks to a good loaf :-)
    This was a nice dough to work with, for sure.

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  2. This really was a fun bread to make, we loved it! But I do like your addition of sesame seeds--what a great idea. I'll try them next time.
    Great BWJ recipe.

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  3. Looks like it turned out absolutely great for you! The sesame seeds are a good idea. :)

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  4. Interesting. Did you add a pan of water to the oven to make the steam? Great thinking. Looks delicious!

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  5. Never thought of using my stone! Good idea. Love the idea of sesame seeds too. Your bread came out so lovely and big, mine ended up in a loaf pan because it kept getting flatter and flatter!

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  6. Beautiful. I love my baking stone and hardly ever bake bread without it now. We loved out bread as well.

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  7. Yours looks absolutely beautiful and your tips and tricks were a nice bonus.

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  8. Thank you for the lovely compliments everyone! :-X

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  9. Thanks for sharing!! I am going to take your advise next time.

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  10. lovely loaf! you did a lot of the same technique as I did, including the sesame seeds method!

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  11. The loaf turned out wonderful. Thanks for sharing your tips on the kind of semolina flour to use and the baking method. Another winning Nick Malgieri recipe! I can't wait to see his new book on bread called, what else, "Bread". It'll be out in September of this year.

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  12. Oh! My! your bread is beautiful. Look at all the rise!! And thanks for tip for actually getting seeds to STICK to the bread. Mine ALWAYS come off!!

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