Was discussing with Tom this week about Pane di Altamura. As I was in the middle of making this Melissa, over at breadtopia, posted her recipe for Sesame Durum Sourdough Bread so I thought why not coat my Pane di Altamura with sesame seeds?
- Rimacinata 100%
- Water 70%
- Salt 2%
- Starter 20% (@ 70% hydration)
- Sesame Seeds
That looks nicely plumped up, doesn't it? I just received my 2 kilos of imported Italian rimacinata. That's not very much and I will be thinking hard about how I want to try using it.
Looking forward to your crumb shots.
TomP
Thank you, Tom. All in all very happy with this bake. Used a new starter which seems to be very healthy and strong. The brand I used was caputo semola flour (rimcainata). Crumb is very even and soft (typical of a loaf pan bread).70% hydration is high enough for a good crumb and handles well. Will toast up nicely.
That slice looks just about perfect, whether with EEVO or toasted and buttered.
The brand I just got is "Molino Paolo Mariani Semola Rimacinata". Very expensive in the US ($4.89/kg + shipping) so I hope I can get similar results with local durum flour, which is however stone-ground so not really like rimacinata.
Even though semolina is available from coarse to fine even the fine semolina doesn't produce the same results as rimacinata. I find that fine semolina is good as a mix with bread flour but on it's own does not match rimacnata when it comes to Pane di Altamura. So use your rimacinata for 100% durum breads and use your locally durum flour as a mix.
Alan's Semolina with Fennel, Raisins and pine nuts has a 60:40 mix of semolina and bread flour. Which is a very tasty bread and one of my favourites.
Durum and sesame a match that can't be beat.
Very nice combo.
This. ☝️ It looks great.
I think I want to use a whole grain durum. The durum I have been buying in 50 Lbs bags, General Mills extra fancy Durum wheat, is a patent flour. So, bolted, and sifted. Are there any sources for whole grain durum remicinata? I am about ready to restock.
Golden Temple durum atta flour is whole grain, and is ground much finer than normal stone ground flour. It's usually available (in the US) in Indian markets and other subcontinent stores.
Happy New Year!
It seems, the Golden Temple durum wheat flours are blended with other wheats. It is also possible bran is added that is not from the same plant.
The variety I've used does have some wheat bran blended in, but not other parts of the wheat kernel. I had forgotten about that extra wheat bran. It is ground very fine, though. Almost all the flour went through a #50 screen. By comparison, stone-ground WW from my local mill sifts out about 10% with a #30 screen.
https://shop.dececco.com/en-pt/product/semola-rimacinata-di-grano-duro-whole-wheat-semolina-shop-de-cecco
I'm not sure whether it is available in the USA.
No love with DeCeeo. However, it lead me to this one. Shipping would be an additional 10.00 on two boxes. Pricey. I was about to pull the trigger for experimenting. Sadly I was turned off by part of the check out. It seems I would be ordering without knowing if the item is out of stock.
https://www.bellaitaliafoodstore.com/la-molisana-durum-whole-wheat-semolina-1kg-2-2lb.html?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAiA7Y28BhAnEiwAAdOJUJzE4lwEX…
But if it helps that is a good brand. I've used their rimacinata before.
How can they accept orders and not know if it's in stock?
There is a drop down menu asking what you would like them to do if the product is out of stock.
A. Send a similar product
B. Only send the in stock items
C. Store credit
D refund
choose D?
You won't lose anything.
Having to pay up front before they know the status of there stock. Before I resort to that I will try a source the product elsewhere.
Back on topic great job with this bake Abe. Kudos.
Hope you find what you're looking for. Until you do why not buy some bran and use rimacinata + bran? Ok it might not be a perfect substitute but it'll be interesting! The bran is about 14.5% of the grain.
Yes, sesame is the perfect foil for durum. The crumb looks nice and soft and I like the thin crust. Lovely!
Lance
Always enjoy a Pane di Altamura. The Sesame Seeds are a lovely addition.
I think that will be enough to digest, with out mad scientist mixing. Good idea. It good to know you like the brand. I may in the end use that source. No rush. Right now on the front burner, besides my daily bread, is the wine & cheese bread. Do you have any experience adding wine as the liquid in a formula? ,
Best
Will Falzon
When it comes to making alcohol!
Different yeasts have different alcohol tolerance. Wine and beer yeasts have been bred for making alcohol and each variety will have it's own alcohol tolerance.
When dealing with wild yeast you're in unknown territory. They won't have as high an alcohol tolerance and you won't know what the tolerance will be.
Bread yeast is bred for it's ability to produce CO2. It'll still make alcohol, it won't be as high as wine yeast but it'll be more than wild yeast.
Wine yeasts can have a tolerance for 12-18% ABV before they cap out. Depending on variety.
Bread yeast is a bit more uncertain but 10-12% is a good average.
Wild yeast is even more uncertain so 8-10% is an educated guess but playing it safe at 6-8% might be better if using a wild ferment.
So it really depends on your yeast and formula.
If you keep it under 5% of the total formula (and don't forget that 5% won't be all alcohol as the alcohol itself will have a % ABV, you aren't adding pure alcohol), and preferment a large percentage of the final dough before adding in the alcohol, you should be fine.
Thanks for taking the time to pass on this knowledge. Switching gears. I am now leaning towards a commercial yeast formula. Maybe one of the lower hydration baguette formulas.
You could probably work out the upper most limit with wine used, its ABV and formula of the bread but I think you don't need to go into that much detail.
I also don't think too much wine would be nice anyway. You only want a taste, it shouldn't be overpowering. So using yeast (with its higher alcohol tolerance) and keeping the wine at the max of 5% of total formula I think is a good balance.
I'm also thinking what flavours would go with wine. Perhaps any combo of fennel, rosemary and figs comes to mind.
Asiago cheese, and kalamata olives. I'll take your suggestions under advisement.
The project is still in the flexible stage.
Then you could soak dried figs in the wine which would be a good way to add it. You won't need to add it as a liquid. You can also add in cheese as figs pairs well with many cheeses.
David
Thank you, David.
I am thinking about making a couple of small breads. I have dry cranberries on hand so I will definitely be using them. I like the idea of the wine soak. That being said, I still want to use wine as the hydration.
Will F.