TUTTOSEMOLA

SEMOLINA BREAD

Leggi In Italiano

Yes, I know very well that it is spelled ALL SEMOLINA, but I really like that these two words are so close that they touch each other and become a single name: the one I have been looking for over the past few months.

Semolina bread has always been my obsession. The reason is that I’m from Puglia and therefore I could not fail in this mission ( semolina bred is one of the tipical bread of this place of Italy). This type of bread to literally drive me crazy and bring back to me deep memories, I managed to find, with no little effort, the recipe that most satisfied my palate and that of my wife Claudiu (so demanding by nature hahhha).

The task, I must be honest, to obtain a bread that was soft, “open” as I wanted, that would last a long time and that had the right flavor of the past, was not easy.

Processing semolina bread, as many of you know, is not such a simple undertaking and success is not immediate. I tried about 3/4 types of dough before this, but none of them could satisfy me.

I didn’t want to compromise: I didn’t want to mix the semolina with other flours to have a more honeycombed bread. I wanted to work in purity (ah, how much I like this term!) This, however, involved a study of the level of stringing that must not be absolutely translated. You don’t have to work the dough very little, but not too little. In short, it made me suffer a lot!

Attention, I don’t want to frighten you, but make you understand that, behind the success of a dough, there are factors that should not be underestimated.

I did well not to give up and to churn out up to 3 doughs in one day, changing hydrations, autolysis times, spot and ripening times.

The result is this that you see in the picture and the recipe I bring it below with immense pleasure! I wait to know what you think, a warm hug.

Dough characteristics:

•  80% hydratation (not considering the percentage of water contained in the licoli)

Rising characteristic:

• 9-hour overnight in the fridge

Ingredients FOR LIQUID SOURDOUGH REFRESHMENT:

• 50 g liquid mother yeast starter + 50 g water + 50 g TYPE 1 flour

MIX INGREDIENTS:

• 500 g of semolina
• 80 g mature and active liquid sourdough (licoli) *
• 400 g of water
• 10 g of salt

* for anyone who has just started their licoli, I recommend using 90 g, because it will certainly be weaker than mine, which in this period is slightly exuberant!

Preparation for step

Refreshment of Sourdough

Mix all the ingredients listed in the liquid yeast composition above, in a jar and keep a warm place for 3 to 4 hours at 25-26 ° C. This will depend on the strength of your yeast and how you usually “take care” of it. The yeast will have to double in about 3 hours if it is strong.

3-hour autolysis

For autolysis, we combined all the water and semolina. We left the dough in autolysis * for 3 hours.

Using your hands, or a planetary mixer, mix the ingredients until there are no dry residues of flour left. Cover and keep somewhere at room temperature until the time to start the dough: estimated time three hours.

* The autolysis technique was born basically for these reasons: to facilitate the absorption of water, the development of the structure, the scents and the shelf-life, as well as reducing the final processing times. It is particularly useful when using very resistant flours, with a high P / L (ratio between toughness and extensibility, a rheological characteristic of the flour indicated by the belonging mill), or with durum wheat, with a much more “closed” gluten and slower and gradual absorption; in this case, in fact, it makes the glutinic mesh softer.

Dough

Begin to mix everything, adding the licoli, until you have an almost totally strung dough. Add the salt. The salt will have to be inserted when we begin to see that our dough “pulls”, that is, it starts to string, but it is not completely ready. Stir everything until it comes together in a homogeneous mass, but still full of wrinkles. Work for 2-3 minutes. Then, turn the bowl over on the work surface and proceed with a type of dough called “slap and fold”. Work it like this until it has a smooth and homogeneous appearance and until it detaches completely from the surface. Based on how you will feel the dough, you will decide whether to knead it again or not. Alternatively, the first few times, you can keep the dough in the bowl and do a series of stretches and folds towards the center, with one hand while you rotate the bowl. Do this for about 4 minutes (it all depends on the strength with which you work the dough, so this is subjective. It is important, for this reason, to know how to “feel” the stringing of the dough). At the end of this process, your dough should be more toned.

Rest

Let the dough rest in a bowl for half an hour. Take the dough again and start with the spot-welding and folds phase.

Spot welding and creases 2 hours (of which 1 hour and a half + half an hour rest)

Proceed with the spot-welding and every 30 minutes give a round of stretch & fold folds to your dough. After the last fold, rest the dough for half an hour. After half an hour, make a slight preform and after half an hour, continue with the actual forming.

Forming + Leavening and aging in the fridge overnight 9 hours

Proceed giving tension to the dough which otherwise will lose most of its tension during the night. We put in the leavening basket and put in the fridge for 9 hours at a temperature of 9-10 °. If you have a fridge that has lower temperatures, lengthen the ripening times in the fridge. Look at the dough and see the signs of fermentation.

Bake

(I cooked in a pot, then pre-heat the pot at least 40 minutes before)
The next day, preheat the oven to 250 ° C for 1 hour.

Pour the dough on parchment paper and using a straight cut razor blade, give a clean cut to the bread.

Bake for 60 minutes: the first 30 minutes with a lid at 250 degrees, the remaining time without a lid at 200 degrees.