Altamura (Semolina) Bread

Today I’m featuring Altamura Bread.  I really like breads made with semolina flour and this bread is no exception.

 

Semolina flour feels gritty when dry, but doughs made with this flour become smooth and silky and very easy to work with. This particular bread incorporates semolina flour as well as a sponge of whole wheat and all purpose flour for a beautiful, rustic texture. It's a delightful bread!

 

 

 

Altamura is a town in Puglia, Italy where they grow their own Durum wheat. This wheat is so special that the Altamurans have achieved the DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) for their breads which are made with semolina flour milled from the durum wheat grown in the area.

 

Although my version is made with flour from the farmer’s market, and not flour from Italy, it delicious nonetheless.

 

 

Altamura (Semolina) Bread

Makes: 1 small loaf

 

The recipe for this Semolina bread is from Bread Matters: The state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own. For more information about the book, please read my review of Bread Matters.

 

 Ingredients:

 

Sponge:

• 1/4 heaping teaspoon active dry yeast
• 2/3 cup Water
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon stoneground breadmaking whole-wheat or graham flour

 

Final Dough:

• 1/2 cup Sponge (from above)
• 1 2/3 cups Semolina flour
• 3/4 teaspoon Sea salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons Water
  

Directions:

Making the Sponge

To make the sponge, dissolve the yeast in the water. Add the flours and mix to a soft sponge.  There is no need to mix it vigorously.  It will ferment for a long time so the naturally occurring enzymes and acids will develop the gluten.

Put the sponge in a bowl with plenty of room for expansion (up to 3 times its volume) and cover with a lid or plastic bag to conserve moisture.   Let it ferment at room temperature for 16-48 hours.  During this time the sponge will rise up and collapse.  The yeast cells will multiply and the acids will begin to develop.

I marked it with the date and time so I could remember how long to let it rest on the counter.  I made the sponge on Sunday, then made the dough and baked it on Tuesday.

Here is the dough after resting on the counter for 2 days.  You can see how it has risen then fallen.

Making the Dough

Add the semolina, salt, and water at a temperature that will finish the dough at about 81 degrees F.

 

Knead it well until the dough is silky and stretchy.  If it's hard to stretch and seems to tear easily, add some more water.  It takes semolina a little while to absorb its full complement of water because the granules are bigger than flour.  Be prepared to adjust the dough while you are kneading.

I didn't have to add more water, but I did add some more flour because the dough was just too wet.  There, now I can stretch it without it tearing or sticking to the counter too much.

Put the dough in a bowl.  Cover it with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for1-2 hours.  This is the dough after rising on the counter for 1 1/2 hours.

Mold into an oval loaf that is slightly tapered at the ends, the shape of a rather fat football. Dip the loaf into a bowl of semolina flour so that the whole thing is covered.  The semolina coating gives a wonderful crunch and nutty flavor to the crust. If the dough is too dry for the semolina to stick to it, wet it and try again.  I just rolled it in the semolina on the counter to cover it.  Couldn't really get a photo of this because I didn't have enough hands. 


Dust a lined baking sheet with semolina flour and place the molded loaf on it.  I put my loaf on a parchment-lined peel dusted with semolina flour so I could slide it off onto the hot baking stone.  Cover the loaf with plastic wrap.

Allow plenty of time for a full proof so the bread will expand.

When the loaf is well risen, take a sharp blade (I used a serrated bread knife) and make 2 cuts, from point to point, about 3/8 inch apart at their widest and following the "contours" of the loaf.  I followed the contour for the cut on the right but I didn't quite get the one on the left curved the right way.  We'll get it right one day!

Slide the loaf onto a baking stone that has been preheated with the oven as hot as possible -- 450 to 470 degrees F.

 

Close the door as quickly as possible and bake the loaf for about 30 minutes, reducing the oven temperature by 60 to 70 degrees after 10 minutes or so.  I preheated my oven to 475 degrees F. and baked the loaf for ten minutes at that temperature, then lowered it to 425 degrees F to finish baking.

 

The finished loaf should have a golden brown crust that is quite hard immediately after baking.

The 2 cuts should have helped the inside of the dough to expand and push up a little through the crust.  There should be a pleasing contrast between the cuts and the semolina-dusted crust.  Allow the bread to cool before slicing or serving.

 

Now, it's time to enjoy a slice!

 

 

It tastes great toasted with butter or jam. I particularly like it with Pear Pineapple Jam.

 

 

I'm submitting this bread to Bread Baking Day #24 -- Mixed Breads.  This bread qualifies as a mixed bread since it utilizes a sponge of whole wheat, and all-purpose flour in addition to the semolina flour.  Very yummy indeed!

 

Bread Baking Day #24

 

To learn more about BBD #24, click here.

 

You have until December 1st to submit your own mixed bread.  Go ahead and get started...

 

Be sure to check out all of the fabulous breads in the BBD #24 Roundup.  You'll definitely want to start baking once you see them.  I already want to start baking them.  So many breads...so little time.  Enjoy!

 

 

 

Thanks for visiting The Bread Experience Bread-Baking Blog. We hope you enjoyed your visit and will join us again next time.

Happy Baking!
Cathy 

 

Bread Matters: The state of modern bread...

For the past several weeks, I’ve been reading (devouring rather) Bread Matters: The state of modern bread and a definitive guide to baking your own by Andrew Whitley.  This book had been on my reading list for several months so when the publisher contacted me to see if I would like to review it, I was delighted.

I definitely recommend this book to anyone who bakes their own bread, but also to those who don't bake their own bread yet because I believe it will open your eyes to some interesting insights about the bread industry as well as introduce you to some really great bread tips and techniques!

Would you like to win your own copy of Bread Matters?

The publisher provided an extra copy of the book to give to all the wonderful visitors to The Bread Experience blog and web site.  To enter the giveaway, all you need to do is click here and post a comment about why bread matters to you...



The deadline for entering the contest has been extended to Nov. 20th.  Anyone that entered the drawing  by submitting a bread recipe is already in the hat.  Thank you so much for your submission!

Or, you can always get a copy of the book by visiting our Bread Cookbooks store.


Now, on to the review...

The author, Andrew Whitley, is a professional organic baker who has been baking bread in his award-winning bakery in Cumbria, England, since 1976.  He founded Bread Matters, an organization devoted to improving the state of bread, in 2002.  He is also one of the founders of the Real Bread Campaign in Britain. Although this book was written about the state of the bread industry in the UK, it has been updated with references to the U.S and definitely addresses concerns we face here as well.

What initially caught my attention was the background information the author provides on the issues surrounding commercial bread production.  He provides a breakdown of the different enzymes used in breads and what they are used for. I found it very interesting and a bit disturbing that this information is not necessarily disclosed on all labels.  I have a friend who is a vegetarian so information on the types of enzymes that could potentially be in his bread is particularly important to him.  Even though I’m not a vegetarian, some of the information isn’t very appealing to me, either.  I prefer to know what’s in the food I eat.

I’m a big proponent of making my own bread.  In fact, I’m fascinated by the whole process – from the wheat seed planted in the ground to the flour used to make the bread I put on the table. I really like what Mr. Whitley has to say about quality, wholeness, and health. “When we choose a loaf of bread, we are not simply choosing a shape, a flavor, or even the method that was used to make it.  We can also choose how its basic ingredient is grown. We can opt for bread made with organic flour…Or we can choose flour from conventional wheat production…”   I already incorporate organic flours in my breads whenever possible and mill most of my own whole wheat flour, but this book has inspired me to do further research into the quality of flours and grains that I use. 

In addition to the information on flour, wheat production and the bread industry, I really enjoyed reading his comments regarding illogical instructions for bread-baking.  I’ve wondered about a lot of these instructions myself.  I had to chuckle when he talked about “making a well in the flour”.  I never have understood the purpose for that and as it turns out, there isn’t one – well, at least not a modern one.  This myth is probably from a time when bread was made in large quantities.  According to the book, “the bread consumption in a country clergyman’s family in the middle of the nineteenth century was about five pounds of bread per person a week – equivalent to not far short of a small loaf each per day, or more than three times what the average person consumes now.” Wow!  That’s a lot of bread!  A lot of wonderful, delicious bread! 

As you can tell, I enjoyed reading this book.  It has a wealth of information.  Not only does it provide interesting insights on what goes into breads, it also includes some wonderful recipes (more than 50) and great tips for simplifying the bread-making process. There are chapters on Starting from Scratch, Bread--A Meal in Itself, Easy as Pie, and chapters on gluten-free baking and how to use day-old bread.  You can bet that I’ll be baking breads from this book.

In fact, I already tried the Altamura bread.  It's a delicious, Semolina bread that utilizes a sponge of whole wheat, and all-purpose flour. Look for the post on making Altamura bread soon.

We would love to know your thoughts on why bread matters to you. Click here to leave a comment and enter the drawing or just feel free to leave a comment.