First time trying 100% semolina bread using yeast water for leavening. I used a basic recipe with semolina, yeast water levain, salt and water. Because semolina is a bit coarse and hard, I decided to autolyse it for 12 hrs with added salt. This was the same time it took for the levain to mature. At the end of the autolyse the semolina was soft and held to its structure.
Levain (12 hours to mature)
40 g semolina
40 g yeast water (grapes)
Autolyse
282 g semolina
187 g water
5 g salt
The overall hydration was about 71%, but I felt the flour could not take much more water. The dough was mainly developed by 4 sets of stretching and folding after initial mixing and kneading. Bulk fermentation took about 3 hours, shaped and retarded in the fridge for about 5 hours. Removed from fridge and let rest on the counter for about 2 hours before baking. I thought the dough was over proofed because it looked like a pancake when it hit the baking vessel. Fortunately, oven spring was great and crumb not too bad, even though I see some shaping issues. The crust came out nicely with a red hue color, while the crumb is a traditional golden color. The flavor has some sweetness, delicate crumb that goes very well with butter.
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Beautiful crumb, love the colour. Great job Peter. It sounds like the very long autolyse with salt did a great job softening the semolina.
Benny
Thanks Benito, I saw Yippe did a long autolyse and it seemed to help in the process. Now I am having some fun with yeast water leavening.
Bet it tastes awesome too!
I have not tasted many semolina breads in my life, but I think the result was really good.
I like the way your double score turned out.
Interesting, I had not noticed it looks like a double score, but it was actually a single slit
Did you use the gritty "Semolina #1" or the "(Extra) Fancy Durum Flour" ?
That was the gritty version bought from an Indian Food Store.
i love durum. Your long autolyse really seemed to work and gave you a nice open crumb. Perfect for grilling with some olive oil and cheese ?.
I think the long autolyse made a big difference. Most is eaten as toast since I am slicing and freezing. It feels fresh all the time.