I am so happy for 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 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. 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 just could not take my eyes of 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 of the semolina bread. The procedure to bake this bread could not have been any easier. All the ingredients just went into a bowl and was 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 very soft crust (I cover my bread after it comes out of the oven) and perfect even crumbs. This is one of the breads 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 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.
Preparation time – 15 minutes plus about 3 hours of inactive time
Cooking time – 35 – 45 minutes to bake
Difficulty level – easy
Recipe adapted from – The Fresh Loaf
Ingredients to make Semolina Bread – (Makes 1 standard sandwich loaf)
- Semolina flour (Fine) – 3 ¼ cups
- Tepid 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 so very 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 with a plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature until double the volume. It took me about 1 ½ hours.
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 the plastic wrap and let the dough proof again until it rises just above the rim of the pan. (It took me about 1 hour 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 softer crust cover the loaf loosely with foil when cooling.
- The semolina bread would stay fresh for about 3 days outside (not tested as mine disappeared within 12 hours).
Semolina Bread
Ingredients
- Semolina flour Fine – 3 ¼ cups
- Tepid water – 1 ½ cups
- Instant yeast – 1 tsp
- Granulated sugar – 1 tbsp
- Salt – 1 ½ tsp
- Olive oil – ¼ cup
Instructions
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 so very 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 with a plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature until double the volume. It took me about 1 ½ hours.
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 the plastic wrap and let the dough proof again until it rises just above the rim of the pan. (It took me about 1 hour 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 softer crust cover the loaf loosely with foil when cooling.
-
The semolina bread would stay fresh for about 3 days outside (not tested as mine disappeared within 12 hours).
Check out the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM# 51
Ddhi says
Which stand mixer u r using ?
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I have kitchen aid stand mixer.
Suneetha gr says
Hi, gorgeous looking bread!! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
My pleasure Suneetha! Thanks 🙂
Suzy | The Mediterranean Dish says
Love homemade bread!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Me too!
Sarah @ Champagne Tastes says
I need a stand mixer so that I can make these gorgeous homemade breads! YUMMMM
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Stand mixers do help! Thanks 🙂
CC says
That is a gorgeous looking loaf, and how impressive that it’s made with semolina!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks and I was amazed as well at how well the semolina flour rises.
Beth @ Binky's Culinary Carnival says
I am so glad you shared this! I just saw a huge bag of semolina at a restaurant supply house (my friend let me borrow his membership card). I’ve never used it and put it on my mental list to look up recipes! You saved me the trouble! Thanks!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Beth, I am so happy that you found a use for the bag of semolina. Trust me, I have many unused ingredients in the pantry and I am clueless about how to use them. Hope the recipe works and you can use the whole bag making several loaves of bread 🙂
Jolina says
Omigosh that is a perfect loaf of bread! I’m just starting to experiment with bread making so it’s great that I stumbled upon your post! I will refer back to it for sure. I haven’t used semolina before so thanks for the detailed instructions!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Hi Jolina, thanks a lot for your feed back. This was the first ever time I used semolina flour for bread and I was very happy with it. I make it very often now a days.
Maya says
Hi Sandhya,
I definitely want to make this bread today !!! One question, can coarse semolina be blitzed to make the flour ? I can’t get semolina flour here . Thanks
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Maya, thanks a lot for trying out the recipe. You could buy the finest semolina that you can find or you can grind the coarse one that you have to make it as fine as possible to make the bread. Do let me know how the bread turned out.
Sylvie says
Hi ! This bread is very original and looks so good ! I will try your recipe very soon. Thank you for sharing !
Vandana says
Hi Sandhya .tried your semolina bread yesterday followed your recipe to the T. So the problem with my bread was on second prove the dough rose literally poured out of the tin and I brushed with oil and immediately put in the hot oven ..but after 10 mts it sank in the middle .its usual with my breads..so can you help me on that
Pooja says
Loaf tin size..?
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Standard 9 x 5 loaf pan Pooja.
Epcibha says
Wow that’s so lovely recipe..ur bread is a treat for the eyes nd even treat for our tummy’s for recipe hunters like me.. can we knead it with our hands..will it be perfect like this?.will try nd let u know the results..😍
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks a lot! You can absolutely knead using your hands. I have done it many times and it comes out great. Do let me know when you try it.
Epcibha Oliver says
Sorry for a late response..it was so yummy nd it was soft too.. going to make today again .. planning to add more sugar to make it sweet ..wish me luck 😊
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
I am so glad that the recipe worked well for you. Be a little careful when adding sugar and do not add too much of it, as it could change the texture of the bread.
Anamika jain says
How to make bread without yeast
Would be happy if u share
Without yeast baking recipes
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Anamika, to make the traditional bread, we need to use yeast. There are many quick breads and loaf breads that you can bake but they would not be the traditional breads.
Uma Vinay kumar says
Hello
Iam uma and am based in bsngalore. I have a bread machine – just checking if this recipe will work in that. I have kenwood breadmaker.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Hi Uma, Thanks for dropping by. I am sure the recipe would work in the bread machine. I have not tried it using the bread machine, but I don’t see why it won’t work.
Poonam says
Excellent recipe Sandhya. I made it and bread came out so good and tastes awesome!! Thanks for sharing the detailed recipe.
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Poonam, Thanks a lot for trying out the recipe and letting me know. So happy that it worked great for you. It is one of my favorite bread and works fool proof each time 🙂
PK says
Hi, lovely looking bread! Thanks for sharing.
Do we need to apply anything on the crust of the bread (after 2nd proof) before baking?
Thanks
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Thanks a lot! There is no need to apply anything on the crust. If you prefer, you can brush with egg wash but not really needed.
Rajeswari says
Hi Sandhya
What is tepid water?
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Luke warm water is tepid water. This is to proof the yeast.
Bharati Sudhir says
Inspiring! Motivated to try my hand at bread making :-).. Thank you Sandhya Ramakrishnan !