When I was first introduced to semolina bread, I was in awe. I usually thought of semolina in terms of pasta but after trying it in bread form, I was hooked. The bread had a light golden color and a soft, fine crumb that craved to be toasted and buttered. Whenever I get my hands on semolina flour I always look forward to making a loaf that stands up to that vision.
This past week I went to a local grain store and purchased a few bags of different flours. Some bread flour, some wheat flour, and gladly some semolina flour. I was a little dismayed when the vendor wasn’t sure where the flours came from (I was hoping for some local flour milled in Pennsylvania) but nevertheless, home I went.
I fed my sourdough starter and adjusted a recipe from Jeffrey Hamelman’s “Bread” book for a semolina sourdough loaf. The recipe yields two loaves and is quite easy to make. If this is your first time using semolina, you’ll be surprised by how it transforms from granular flour to soft dough.
