Semolina Bread

[Mike Nolan]

Semolina Whole Wheat Bread

Semolina Whole Wheat Bread

Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

1 cup semolina or durum flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
3 1/2 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cup tepid water
Instructions

This recipe started out as an "I wonder what I should do with all this semolina flour I bought" experiment, it's been so well-received that I make it 3-4 times a week and it has become our every-day bread. It makes great toast, we've also used it for soup croutons and as the bread in the stuffing for our turkey on Thanksgiving.

Basting the bread with boiling water and having a pan of water in the oven both make for a firmer crust. I think that may also keep it from going stale quite as fast, though around here this bread seldom lasts that long.

Mix the semolina, whole wheat flour, salt, yeast, oil and honey. (If you measure the oil and honey in the same measuring spoon the honey won't stick.)

Alternate adding the water and bread flour. (I use a mixer for all but the last minute or two of kneading, so that I can adjust the flour until it feels right.)

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl (1/2 teaspoon), roll it around to coat it, cover, and let it rise until it doubles in size, usually about an hour.

Punch the dough down, divide it into two equal parts and let those rest for about 10 minutes, then make two free form somewhat flattened loaves and place them on a cookie sheet that has been sprinkled with corn meal.

Loaves around 4 inches x 10 inches work best for us, if you make them very rectangular in shape most of the slices will be the same size and sandwiches made with them will fit nicely in small bags or lunch boxes.

If you want to bake it in a 9x5 loaf pan, use 2 pounds of dough in the pan, make rolls with the leftover dough. Thanks to Carol (cwdesign) for this suggestion.

This recipe also makes a very pretty braided loaf. (I use the three strand method.)

Cover and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with a pan of water on the bottom rack.

Cut several diagonal slashes in the loaves, baste them with NEARLY BOILING water, then sprinkle poppy seeds on liberally. Let the loaves sit for 2-3 minutes before putting them in the oven on the middle rack.

Bake for about 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow.

Let the loaves cool before cutting them (if you can stand waiting that long!)

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