I am so happy about this month-long baking marathon as by the end of this I will have the best recipes for loaves of bread. In the past, I had tried out the buttermilk bread for the first time and have made it a few times since then. I was very sure, that was the perfect loaf of bread I would ever be baking until I baked this Semolina bread. Semolina flour is something that I have never worked with before for baking. A couple of months ago, there was a semolina bread that was suggested for one of the baking groups I am in, but I never got around to baking it. When looking for bread loaves to bake for this month, I came across this beautiful loaf of Semolina bread and I could not take my eyes off it. Still, I was not convinced that semolina flour could yield such a soft loaf of bread and so I just bookmarked the recipe and moved along. When looking through the list of recipes I had baked for the marathon, I realized I still needed some bread loaves to bake. That is when I went over my bookmarked list and came back to this recipe for semolina bread. The procedure to bake this bread could not have been any easier. All the ingredients just went into a bowl and were mixed and kneaded to make the dough. I used the fine semolina flour from Bob’s red mill. Other than the flour, this bread had some yeast, sugar, and salt along with water and olive oil. Very basic ingredients for the recipe and it yielded the most perfect loaf of bread. The bread had a very soft crust (I cover my bread after it comes out of the oven) and perfectly even crumbs. This is one of the bread where I sliced the loaf perfectly. My boys just ate the bread with some butter smeared the evening I baked the bread. The next afternoon, the remainder of the bread became grilled cheese for lunch. This sandwich bread loaf lasted for about 12 hours in my house. Now that I found one more recipe for the best bread to add to my collection, I need to shop around for the big bag of semolina flour. These days, I have been rising the dough in my Instant Pot. The proofing time is literally cut in half and it is so convenient and quick. I use the yogurt setting in my IP. Preparation time – 15 minutes plus about 3 hours of inactive timeCooking time – 35 – 45 minutes to bakeDifficulty level – easyRecipe adapted from – The Fresh Loaf
Ingredients to make Semolina Bread
Semolina flour (Fine) – 3 ¼ cups Warm water – 1 ½ cups Instant yeast – 1 tsp Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp Salt – 1 ½ tsp Olive oil – ¼ cup
Procedure to make Semolina Bread
Making the dough
I made the bread using the stand mixer. In the bowl of the mixer, add the tepid water along with yeast, sugar, flour, olive oil, and salt. Using a spatula mix everything until it comes together. The mixture will be very moist.
Now start kneading the dough using the dough hook until it is very shiny and smooth (about 8-9 minutes). The end dough will be very soft to touch and wonderful to work with. If kneading by hand, mix everything with a spatula and then transfer to the work surface that is lightly dusted with semolina flour and start kneading. Knead for about 10-12 minutes until the dough is soft and smooth.
Transfer the kneaded dough to an oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature until doubles the volume. It took me about 1 ½ hours.
These days I use my Instant Pot to proof the dough and it took me just 30 minutes to do the first proofing. I set it on yogurt mode and set it to low heat and timed it for 30 minutes. Make sure you use a glass lid to cover the IP and not the actual lid as it could get stuck under pressure.
Shaping the dough
Grease a standard loaf pan with oil spray and keep it ready.
Transfer the dough to a lightly dusted work surface. Using your hands spread the dough to form a rectangle keeping the width of the rectangle as close to the loaf pan size.
Beginning from the far end start rolling the dough into a tight roll. Pinch the seams very well and place the loaf seam side down into the prepared loaf pan.
Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough proof again until it rises just above the rim of the pan. (It took me about 1 hour and 15 minutes).
Baking the bread –
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Once the dough had its second rise, place it in the middle rack of the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes until the loaf is golden brown.
Remove the bread from the pan and cool it entirely on a rack before slicing. If you want a softer crust cover the loaf loosely with foil when cooling.
The semolina sandwich bread would stay fresh for about 3 days outside (not tested as mine disappeared within 12 hours).
More Bread Recipes
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