Simple Semolina Sourdough Bread
Simple Semolina Sourdough Bread
Semolina sourdough bread is so tasty. It's one of my very favorite to make for dinner. I love what the hard semolina flour does to the texture and color of this bread. It's moist and light with a slightly chewy crust and the semolina gives it a warm inviting yellow color. It's yummy with butter or dipped in your favorite olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This bread would make excellent French Toast too.
Here is a step by step tutorial on how I put this bread together. Click on the pictures for a better look and more details.
Look at the beautiful warm color of this bread! It looks like it's just calling out to be buttered or dipped in something.
I do hope you'll let me know how yours turns out if you make my Simple Semolina Sourdough Bread. I love hearing hearing from you!
Happy Bread Baking,
~Melisa
Simple Semolina Sourdough Bread
Ingredients
3 1/2 cups All Purpose Flour ( I use King Arthur All Purpose Flour for this)
3/4 cup Semolina Flour ( I use Bob's Red Mill Semolina Pasta Flour)
2 tablespoons room temperature butter
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1 cup sourdough starter
1 cup water or whey
Method
(40 minutes active 2 1/2 to 3 hours total)
1. Add dry ingredients and butter to a stand mixer ( I don't sift) and mix on low speed with the hook attachment to somewhat combine.
2. Add sourdough starter all at once and mix again on low speed to somewhat combine.
3. Begin to drizzle in the liquid very slowly with the machine running on low speed until you have used about 1 cup.
4. Allow the machine to continue to work the dough until it begins to pull away from the sides of the mixer adding more liquid tablespoon by tablespoon if it seems too dry. If you go too fast and the dough gets too wet add more bread flour a few tablespoons at a time. The dough should become just slightly sticky and be very soft in about 5 minutes. Let the machine knead a few minutes after it comes together about 6 minutes total. The dough should be very soft and not too sticky.
5. Turn the dough out onto a floured board with a spatula. Flour your hands and then knead the dough just a few times by folding it over itself one direction and then the other.
6. Gather the dough into a ball and place it in a large bowl that has a teaspoon of oil in it and roll it around so it's lightly covered with the oil. I use grape seed oil but any good oil will do.
7. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and set it somewhere warm to rise for 1-2 hours or until it has doubled in size. The more you bake in your house and the warmer it is, the faster your bread will rise. The extra yeasts in the air and some warmth will do amazing things!
8. When your bread has risen until you can still see your fingerprint when you poke it gently and it doesn't immediately spring back then it's time to form your loaf!
9. Turn it out onto a floured board and degas the dough by folding it over on itself 3-4 times, then gather it back into a ball and put it into a floured proofing basket. I cover this with a cotton kitchen towel and set it back in my warm rising space on top of my stove with the range hood lights on for a little extra warmth.
10. Put a cast iron dutch oven in your oven and begin heating it to 450 degrees for at least 30 minutes.
11. After 30 to 40 minutes the dough should have nearly doubled in size so prep for scoring by putting a piece of pop-up parchment paper on the breadboard and sprinkle it with cornmeal, polenta grits or semolina flour.
12. Very carefully remove the preheated dutch oven to your stove top leaving the lid on.
13. Gently roll/flip the formed loaf out of the proofing basket onto the parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal and then quickly score the loaf with a razor blade making almost 1/2 inch deep slashes.
14. Remove the lid from the dutch oven with an oven mitt and gently transfer your loaf by lifting the parchment paper and setting the whole thing in the pot paper and all. Replace the lid using an oven mitt and put the whole dutch oven back into your oven.
15. Turn down the temperature on the oven to 425 degrees at this point and set a timer for 45 minutes. If you would like a darker crust you may want to keep it on a higher temperature but it should be done within 40-45 minutes.
Bread is done when it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom. Let cool at least an hour before slicing.
See the gallery above for more tips on baking this bread.
