Friday, October 31, 2008

Semolina Bread

altamura semolina bread

This is an Italian recipe bread, made with semolina. Yes, real semolina.

I went mad in the supermarket and bought a huge sack of this, which is not ground as fine as flour but is just very fine semolina. It makes exceedingly wonderful bread. Of course, you may not be able to get this in which case Italian semolina bread flour which should be a pale yellow in colour will work just fine.

I'm never really sure if it's worth giving out recipes for bread. This one uses a strong wheat flour biga fermented overnight as a starter and fine semolina as the making up cereal. It needs a really hot oven. I made a lot, and although I could scale the recipe down it then starts to become fiddly with a gram of this and a pinch of that. If you're really keen to know what I did leave a comment and I'll update.

semolina bread

8 comments:

joker the lurcher said...

this looks wonderful! i use a bread machine and there is no way at the moment i can try handmade bread (although it is a plan for the future!) but i wonder if there is any way i can adapt your recipe? my machine works well on the proportion of half a teaspoon of quick acting yeast, 1 tablespoon of sugar, one and a half of salt to 500g of flour and then i add a slug of olive oil and seeds or whatever. i have experimented with using 100g of buckwheat flour as part of the 500g and it makes gorgeous bread.

i love your recipes and your photos - your blog reminds me that life doesn't have to be this mad load of stress all the time.

joker the lurcher said...

i mean a whole teaspoon of yeast - oops

joker the lurcher said...

oops again - one and a half teaspoons of salt - i do the putting it all in almost in my sleep now so i had to think hard!

Christina S said...

That looks delicious. I'm quite a fan of semolina, and I often use it to make a middle eastern style desert, which is really yummy. I also use it in a Greek recipe with filo pastry, spinach and cheese, to make a savoury bake. I even like the old school dinner dreaded dish of semolina pud!!

Catofstripes said...

Hi Joker, I know nothing of bread machines but I've asked some people who do. Maybe there's a chance... Of course you could just experiment anyway, I don't know what programmes you've got but if you used some semolina and tried a slower or wholemeal cycle it might work. There is no oil in this recipe. Don't know whether that helps or hinders really :)

Ruby, I think I need to know the "middle eastern style desert, which is really yummy." because I have another 3kgs of semolina! And it was so cheap, I think I'd buy it again.

Unknown said...

Sounds a good bread. You can use your semolina in biscuits too - really scrummy 'short' biscuits.

Anonymous said...

Hello, what IS the recipe for this bread?

Anonymous said...

I would love the recipe and the instructions, thanks!