The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

semolina color

chleba's picture
chleba

semolina color

Hi:

Why is store-bought semolina flour yellow? How do they get it yellow?

A few years ago I purchased a few varieties of whole semolina wheat berries grown somewhere in central California, I can't find my receipt to identify exactly which varieties it was.  After grinding the berries at different levels of coarseness, none was yellow.  Sifting the bran to make bolted flour didn't change the color.  My breads didn't turn yellow either.

It's always made me wonder, and I finally remembered to post and ask :)

Ilya Flyamer's picture
Ilya Flyamer

Did you buy durum wheat? Yellow semolina comes from durum wheat, same type that is used for dry pasta, and the yellow colour comes from carotenoids.

chleba's picture
chleba

Hi, total face-palm moment, I meant durum wheat.  I bought three types of durum wheat berries, Iraqi Durum, Frassinetto, and Senatore Capelli.  When milled whole, or milled and sifted, the resulting flour was not yellow. 

One possibility is where the wheat came from, but I'm still curious.  Has anyone ground their own durum wheat berries?  Is the resulting flour yellow?  Where'd you get the durum berries from?

Abe's picture
Abe

Semolina is from the endosperm only. If you grind your own durum flour it'll be the whole berry and may differ in colour just like bread flours differs in colour to whole-wheat flour.