Hamelman's Semolina bread
It is really difficult to buy fine ground semolina (durum) flour here in NZ. I found a supplier who could remill it and today tried the above for the first time.
Sponge:
140 g durum
140 g bread flour
195 g water
yeast 3 g IDY and 13.9 g sugar.
mixed and left to mature 2 hours.
Added 237 g water and 34.8 g olive oil and mixed well before adding 209 g durum, 209 g bread four and 12.5 g salt.
I hand mixed and although Hamelman says medium gluten strength I gave up and left to rest. after 20 minutes did another gentle fold and dough started to look lovely and smooth. left another 25 minutes, did another set of gentle folds then left the dough to rest for the remaining 45 minutes. Divided, preshaped - upto this point I had only used oil, no flour on bench and hands and it was easy to work with. Final shape, one into banneton, the other rolled in sesame seed. proof was about 1 1/2 hours. I baked them both together, the seeded loaf in the DO the other on the stone with steaming towells. 15 mins steam, 15 minutes no steam at 225°c. the difference is staggering! one had no ears, but volume increase and a blow out! and a very dull crust. the seeded loaf has a shiny crust, better volume and no blow out!
Lesson learnt! steam, steam, steam!!! larva rocks were ordered but didn't make it in time for the bake :( - next time....
here is crumb shot.
first time I have seeded the outside - lovely flavour.
Rest of todays bake
1:2:3 with 30% multigrain flour - a bigger loaf, lovely shine on this too - baked in DO
and the last 2 smaller loaves - 1:2:3 with 20% spelt
I love 1:2:3 breads - easy to tailor recipe to whatever flour combination you have on hand. always turns out well.
breads are still cooling so no crumb shots.
Happy baking all
Leslie
Comments
Hi Leslie,
I love semolina breads! If you are a "toast person", semolinas make for fantastic toast too. What a nice bake for the D.O. bread and a great looking crumb.
Down the road, do consider trying Mr. Hamelman's Liquid Levain Semolina bread too. Aside from having fun using his very liquid levains, I enjoy trying to keep the ingredients down to the bare minimum of FWS (and sesame seeds too). If that is appealing to you too, then this LL version will be your cup of tea.
A suggestion for the Letter Folds. Try using only water instead of oil as the medium between the dough and the bench. It works great for me. As far a the finely milled semolina - if you have never actually seen it up close, the semola rimacinata is about as fine as baby powder. So if your local miller can do that, you will get as close to the real thing as can be. No need to wait for your "larva" :0)) rocks to show up. Any old solid will do. If you have access to river rocks, nuts and bolts (leave the rusty ones behind!), your Aunt Tillie's heirloom jewelry collection, etc. they should all do. It shouldn't matter. What you are looking for is to get that big blast of steam that (along with a Sylvia's towel or two) the pre-heated mass in the pan will provide.
Your 1:2:3 loaves look wonderful, especially the first, which has a million dollar gringe. Haven't made them yet. Hmm.
here is the crumb shot of the big batard
I wish I had thought of the larva rock alternatives, but never mind will know for the future. I normally do use water when doing letter folds but decided to try oil this time right through to pre shape in an effort to reduce surface flour. only used a little with final shape. Next time will try pre shape with water too.
1:2:3 just works for me - sometimes all white, more often lately with 20% spelt (I seem to get a much thinner crust) either white or wholegrain, or rye not often wholewheat. Now I have added the multigrain flour (7 grains) and this was the big batard. It really opened up this time and I using a different blade. I love the flexibilty 1.2:3 gives, meaning I can just mix up something depending on how much levain is available.
now it is time to go and read your post, pics look great as usual
Leslie
so next bake I will try them out!!
And the yellow color always looks inviting.
How did you score the 1:2:3 spelt loaves? They look so unique!
just an attempt at baguette style score on a 600 g batard, the aim was more height than I get with a single score.
Leslie
Fantastic!
.
Those are all simply beautiful! And very tasty, too. I love 1 2 3 breads too, for the same reasons. I've made a slightly different formula that has a bit lower inoculation (better for overnight fermentation) and a bit higher hydration (around 74% total), but I use that one the same way (i.e. changing up 25% of the flour to see what differences that makes). I've even used teff, corn and amaranth flours as the 25%. Boy, do some flours make a huge difference!
I love the seed coating on your durum loaf - very attractive. And those crumb shots are mouth-watering. :)
you know, when everything just seems to work. thanks for your comments, glad to hear I am not the only one that really likes 1:2:3 breads, I often think I am being a bit lazy, but they are sooo good!
happy baking
Leslie
Your loaves look delicious! I've just started baking with spelt and really like it as well! Very well done!
Here is a crumb shot, I was really happy with it, although I don't aim for all these holes I am pleased to have achieved it, even if the butter, honey or jam will definitely drip through them, lol
Leslie
more often - do I actually need to add the sugar? my preference is to not add sugar to bread dough although I do only with my favourite multigrain loaf
Leslie
just the pure FWS ingredients. However, I once baked my version of the pane di Altamura which is 100% durum everything including a 100% durum biga/levain. And I found the taste, for all that I like semolina, to be be lacking and bland. At least my take on it was.
I've been actually gaping at the pics of this bake --- crust and crumb on all of them are just plain gorgeous.
Thanks so much for sharing them - now if only there were some way to share the aroma and flavour...
Gorgeous!
Laurie