Originally posted on February 2012. Images and text in this post have been updated to serve you better. The recipe stays the same.
I love baking with yeast.
And though I know it's not everybody's thing, there are some bread recipes that are worth the time and dedication. This is one of them, for sure.
Others include Sunflower Oatmeal Dinner Rolls and the Orange Cinnamon Rolls (who can argue with sweet rolls, right?).
Because yeast has a mind of its own and we have to adjust to it. A tyrant, haha.
What is semolina?
Semolina is a very fine-textured flour (image below, right) made from durum wheat (which is used, mainly, to make dried pasta).
It has a nutty undertone and gives the bread a golden hue that's very welcomed.
Bread made with semolina has a crusty crust like no other.
It makes the best croutons and the best bruschetta.
It is very different and much finer than bread flour (image below, left). Similar to very fine sand.
Steps for making this semolina bread.
This is a fantastic recipe because it's very easy to knead by hand. And even easier with a stand mixer (using the dough hook).
It is supple, soft and not sticky.
- First, a sponge is made: active-dry yeast (image 1) is mixed with flour and water (image 2 and 3). After resting covered for 1 hour it will have grown and air pockets like bubbles will have developed (image 4). If this doesn't happen the yeast is not working. Don't go on. Go buy new yeast.
- Adding the rest of the ingredients: with the sponge ready, we need to add the rest of the ingredients (images 5 and 6). It will look as though there are not enough wet ingredients when you turn it out onto the counter (image 7), but in no time after you start bringing it together and kneading, the dough starts forming. After 1 minute the dough is rough but not sticky and all the ingredients are combined (image 8).
- Kneading the dough: it takes 6-7 minutes to knead the dough by hand. Maybe just 5 with a stand mixer. Fold the dough onto itself and push it away again so you form it into a ball, press it down again and then reshape it. Don't push it away so much that you actually see it tearing. Repeat this until the dough is supple and soft. If you press a finger it should leave a slight indentation.
- Letting the dough rest: this is a crucial part of this recipe. Bread doughs with yeast need to rise until doubled in size. So put it in an oiled bowl, turn it around so it's all greased and cover the bowl with plastic (image below, left). Let rise in a draft-free, warm place. If the room is cold, I wrap it in a sweater or pashmina or something that keeps the temperature. It should double its size in about an hour (image below, right).
- Forming or shaping the bread: this part is easy because the dough is supple and great to work with. It can be shaped in different ways, but I always like the batard, which is kind of a very fat short baguette. The important steps here are flattening the dough with your hands (image 9), folding it as you would a cinnamon roll, and pinching it after each fold (images 10 and 11). Lastly, you need to pinch and seal the whole bread (image 12) so that it doesn't 'unfold' during baking when the yeast works its magic.
- Second rising: the bread, once shaped and in the baking sheet, needs a second rising, covered and in a draft-free warm place, before it is scored and baked (image 13 shows bread before second rising).
- Scoring the bread: Now you need to score the formed bread. These are the cuts or slits you make to the dough. They will allow the bread to rise better as it has a place to unfold and grow while baking. You can use a sharp kitchen knife (images 14 to 16), or a special tool called a lame. It is a razor blade on a stick, basically. You can lightly aid yourself with your hand (image 15), but it's best to be decisive and just go for the 45° cut.
- If you took the time to make this bread let me tell you it's one of the best.
- The crumb is creamy and delicious, dense without being heavy, perfect for toast or Italian Tomato Bruschetta. And Stuff on Toast. Oh, and it makes the best croutons.
Tips & tricks for this recipe:
- Organization: read the instructions carefully first. This is important so you take into account the resting times and tools you need.
- Semolina: buy the superfine one. Though it would be labeled differently, semolina comes in different sizes. Couscous is also semolina, for example.
- Bread flour: there is flour specially made for bread. It has more gluten than all-purpose. Gluten is the ingredient that develops with kneading and helps the bread grow. The bread will work with all-purpose (not cake) flour, but it's a good idea to look for it or buy it online.
- Freezing: this a wonderful bread to freeze in slices and have ready for toast or bruschettas. Slice it and wrap it in plastic or put it in a Ziploc bag. It will last for a month.
I wanted to bake an all-semolina bread, but it didn't turn out well. It just didn't work. So the compromise was to find a bread that had semolina and also bread flour.
I found it, and it's perfect.
How to substitute semolina in a bread recipe.
Semolina flour is unique due to all that I explained above.
But, if you still need to substitute it use spelt or Kamut flour, available at specialty stores, online or at many supermarkets.
Other recipes you might like:
Tomato Ricotta Bacon Bruschetta
Roasted Tomato Bread
Beer Bread Rolls
Whole Wheat Mountain Bread
Mozzarella Pesto Naan Bread
Easter Braid
Chorizo Sandwich with Chimichurri
Let me know if you make this recipe! I’d love to hear what you think about it.
Thank you for being here, I appreciate it! Let’s connect via Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest.
Semolina Bread
- Prep Time: 150 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 12 slices 1x
- Category: Breads
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Italian
Description
A gorgeous golden loaf of Italian-style bread. It's made with regular wheat flour and durum flour (semolina). The crust is crackly and the texture creamy and just plain amazing! One of the best bread recipes I ever made.
Ingredients
Sponge:
- 1 cup warm tap water
- 1 teaspoon active dry yeast
- 1 ½ cups (210g) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
Dough:
- All the sponge, above
- ½ cup (70g) unbleached all-purpose or bread flour
- ¾ cup (120g) semolina flour
- 1-2 teaspoons salt (If you normally don't use much salt go for the 1 teaspoon)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
Instructions
To make the sponge:
- Place the warm water in a mixing bowl and whisk in the yeast.
- Stir in the flour, mix lightly and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
- Set the sponge aside to rise at room tº (draft-free and warm) until the sponge doubles, about 1 hour. I do this directly in the bowl of the standing mixer and then add the dough ingredients.
To make the bread:
- Have ready a baking sheet lightly dusted with semolina.
- Stir the sponge to deflate and add the flour, semolina, salt, and oil.
- Adjust the bowl in your stand mixer and knead on low speed with the dough hook for about 5 minutes, to form smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky dough. Alternatively, turn the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for about 6-7 minutes. See post above for images and further details.
- Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl. Turn the dough so all the sides are oiled. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour.
- Turn the risen dough out on the floured work surface.
- Press with the palms of your hands to deflate.
- Shape the dough into an oval, folding as you would a cinnamon roll, pinching after each fold, and place tucked side down on the prepared pan and cover with oiled plastic wrap.
- Allow it to rise until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.
- About 20 minutes before baking, turn the oven to 400ºF / 200ºC.
- Hold a razor blade or sharp kitchen knife at about a 30º to 45° angle to the loaf, and slash 3 lines.
- Bake the loaf for about 35, until well risen, golden brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped. All ovens are different, so if 20 minutes into baking you feel the bread is darkening too much, turn it down to 375°F/190°C for the rest of the baking.
- Remove from oven and cool on a rack until able to lift from baking sheet with a spatula, and wait until completely cooled to cut.
Notes
Top tips
- Organization: read the instructions carefully first. This is important so you take into account the resting times and tools you need.
- Semolina: buy the superfine one. Though it would be labeled differently, semolina comes in different sizes. Couscous is also semolina, for example.
- Bread flour: there is flour specially made for bread. It has more gluten than all-purpose. Gluten is the ingredient that develops with kneading and helps the bread grow. The bread will also work with all-purpose (not cake) flour, but it's a good idea to look for it or buy it online.
- Pan: I like to use flats baking sheets dusted with semolina. But cornmeal or oats will work too.
- Freezing: this a wonderful bread to freeze in slices and have ready for toast or bruschettas. Slice it and wrap it in plastic or put it in a Ziploc bag. It will last for a month.
Keywords: semolina bread
adapted from How To Bake by Nick Malgieri
This did not work for me. I followed all of the directions to a T. Everything looked great through the scoring part. It simply did not bake. It remained flat. A crust did not form. It did not rise or brown. It remained the same color as the raw dough I put in the oven.
Could you help me troubleshoot what could have gone wrong? The yeast was brand new and proofed perfectly. Help! I'd like to try this again.
Hi Domenick, so sorry about your result. I have so many comments about turning out great that of course, let's troubleshoot.
Did you use tepid water and not hot? Hot water kills some of the yeast's power to act as it should.
Did it rise until doubled but not more? Because too much rising time and the bread starts to deflate. Did you have a good dough after kneading it? I assume you followed the kneading time in the recipe.
The water was 108° F. The yeast was active. It did rise, not sure that it fully doubled, but it did not deflate. I kneaded it for 5 min on low in a stand mixer with a dough hook - the dough felt great after the process.
I did have some trouble with the slashing process. I used a very sharp paring knife, but the cuts did not come out very clean (I will try a razor blade next time). I think the issue is most likely my flours. They were older than I thought (I'm just getting back in to baking). I'm going to try the recipe again with fresh bread flour and semolina flour. Any other tips for my next effort? Thanks.
I think the process was good and the bread should've risen fine. About the cuts, I sometimes get the same result with the slashes not being deep or easy, but the bread rises anyway. So now the oven: is the temperature accurate or might there be a problem with the thermostat? Was it preheated and prepared according to the recipe? The flours might be old, though I think that might impact the flavor more than the rising. But maybe they had some issues, like mold that is not easy to spot or something that weighed down the whole bread.
Could you tell me the water qty in grams as us cup size says 236g and australia cup size where I am says 250g. I found my dough very loose.
Hi, I convert a cup of water to 240g. Bread baking can have variations depending on the day, type of flour, etc. so adding a couple of extra tablespoons of flour is OK if you feel it needs it. Did you bake it and it didn't turn out right?
Thanks Paula yes it did, definitely will give it a go with 240g water as my water amount was larger. Bread was still tasty but hoping for a better oven spring with a better shaped loaf. Thankyou for your prompt reply.
Hi, Paula - Thanks for sharing what looks to be a great recipe; will be trying it soon. Just wondering about subbing 100% whole wheat flour for SOME of the all-purpose or bread flour...have you tried that and do you have any suggestions?
Thank you.
Hi Sandy! I haven't tried but there's a whole wheat flour that's superfine and is very similar in texture to white flour. I have great results with it and think you should have no problem swapping it in this recipe.
Thanks very much!
New standby for us; thanks! It's a buttery, soft Italian bread with a great crust. Absolutely fantastic toast, too. I quadruple the recipe and make it in our Bosch Kitchen Machine.
★★★★★
SO happy you left this comment Michael! It's great to know the recipes work and that they become staples. Have a great day!
I've been working on this recipe today and I let the sponge rise, then added the flour/semolina as per the instructions. I'm currently waiting on the first actual rise after adding the flour and it's been an hour and 20 minutes and it barely looks to have risen at all. As my house is very cold, I have it in my oven on "bread proof". What did I do wrong?
Hi Laresa, if it's in a warm environment it should rise. I literally wrap it in blankets when the room is too cold. Were you able to bake it?
The quality o semolina is very important, I think...
made this afternoon. delicious but the time i put into it does not equal the time it quickly disappears! can i double the recipe and separate the dough at the end of all the rising before shaping, scoring and baking?
Haha, so true Suzi! You can double it. If you're using a standing mixer make sure it can hold all of the dough, and if kneading by hand it will take a few more minutes. You then make two loaves.
Hey thanks for the recipe I made this bread few days ago and all the members of the family absolutely loved it. I just have one question is it possible to let it rise overnight in the fridge after I mad and transferred the dough to an oiled bowl?
Hi Elli, so happy you all loved it! You can leave it to rise overnight. I don't have specifics about how many hours and other details because I haven't tried it recently, but I will do so today as so many have asked the same question. Pop it in the fridge before the last rise, well covered but with enough some space for it to grow (a deep bowl for example). It will take a couple of hours to go back to room t° before you can go on with the recipe.
Easy recipe! Is using instant yeast as asked previously: should we use the same quantity? (1 tsp of instant yeast)? Thanks 🙂
Hi Patricia, as long as it's dry yeast it is the same amount. And when making the sponge mix the instant yeast with the flour and then add the water. Let it rise and follow the rest of the recipe as instructed.
Hola! Muchisimas gracias por tu rapida respuesta! Es la primera vez en mis 41 anos que le perdi miedo a hacer pan, y este de semolina me quedo super bueno y se ve super presentable. Habia tratado por mucho tiempo pero el “fear of failure” me ganaba, y los resultados eran espantosos, ja ja!
Ahora con tus recetas practicare mas. Practice makes perfect 🙂
Buenos noches desde Singapore!
Ay cuánto me alegro Patricia! La realidad es que todos mejoramos con la práctica. Vamos por más panes!
I made this bread today and we had meatball hoagies for dinner. I am new to breadmaking and the instruction were easy to follow and understandable.
I plan on baking a few loaves this week for my neighhbors. Thank you for a wonderful recipe.
Thank YOU for the comment Sharon. It's great to know when a recipe works well! Have a great week.
This was my first time making bread today. Wow! This is amazing bread! Thank you for the recipe!
Do you know if adding cheese and jalapeños would work between the rolls or would it not bake correctly?
★★★★★
Oh, thank you Mignon! I'm so happy when it works! I think cheese and jalapeños would work well. Don't add too much the first time to see how it goes, you don't want the filling to add too much moisture that the bread doesn't bake well.
How to alter recipe using instant dry yeast please?
Hi Maude, when making the sponge mix the instant yeast with the flour and then add the water. Let it rise and follow the rest of the recipe as instructed. Enjoy the weekend!