A sourdough loaf using semola rimacinata di grano duro
Here is a sourdough loaf using 100% semola rimacinata by Caputo. It resulted in a mildly flavored and soft crumb, but a very crisp crust, which is the perfect combination.
The process to render this loaf included building the levain using a regular starter and semola rimacinata at 100% hydration. The amount of fermented flour in the levain accounted for 12% of 340 g semola flour for an overall hydration slightly above 75%. The semola was autolysed for about 40 min before mixing the levain in. Salt has been added during the first stretch and fold of a total of 3 sets. After 3 hours at room temperature (18C), the dough was bulk fermented overnight at 12C in a wine cooler. Once out of the cooler, the loaf was shaped and proofed for another 90 min at room temp (14C), and baked in a clay pot dutch oven for a total of 30 min at 240C. Long overnight bulk fermentation at lower temps (12C) has been yielding good results and consistency. It is worth trying this approach.
Enjoy!
Comments
Beautiful loaf Peter, funny I have a semola rimacinata levain fermenting away right now. Great minds think alike. I really like how your bread opened up on top with those two amazing ears. Great baking.
Benny
Benny, looking forward to seeing your loaf result. I am having some issues with heat distribution in the oven, so the
buttonbottom is almost unbaked. Overall, I got great oven spring and big ears. The picture below gives a better idea about the open crumb.IMG_20201210_080529_1.jpg
The crumb is very impressively open for 100% Semola rimacinata Peter, well done by you!! I’m also really impressed that you were able to get so much oven spring with so little bottom heat.
I haven’t baked a baguette in a while so wanted to make sure I haven’t forgotten how to make them after working so hard on them this past summer. So I’ve used up my supply os Semola rimacinata to make the dough for this. I’m waiting to add the salt next so will hopefully have something to show for it tomorrow.
Benny
Love the crumb, and was impressed that this could be pulled off with 100% rimacinata.
(Did you notice tearing of the dough when you tried a window pane? I had that with a 50% rimacinata)
I have made to date about 4 loaves using 100% durum flour. I typically use those gritty semolina flours found in ethnic food stores. It is the first time that I have used 100% semola rimacinata on a loaf, and I was impressed with the results. I typically do not check window pane, so I cannot tell whether it was tearing. However, I built the levain in two stages, so it was very active, and did very little work on the dough. I think the long overnight bulk fermentation helped the gluten to develop well in a cool environment.
Thanks
Your lead photo looks fabulous. Really nice oven spring. I usually keep my durum to no more than 60% total flour%, so this is even more yellow, and most appealing to the eye.
Yes, it is a top-notch flour and so easy to work with. It does not even get sticky during the process. I think the color of the bread is spectacular, inside and out. It also had a pleasant nutty flavor in the crumb and crust. I have been using the gritty semolina version, which I think would benefit with some AP flour. I will try in the future.