Two semolina breads

We needed some white bread to use for Thanksgiving stuffing, so I made a Hensperger recipe that features a bit of semolina: pane italiano (p. 208).

Tragically, the stuffing recipe used the whole loaf. Still craving semolina bread, I made a similar (but not as tasty) recipe a couple of days later: semolina country bread (p. 202). I soon tried the first loaf again, but it turned out to be quite different from the first time.

Pane italiano numero uno

I made the 1.5 pound loaf with no ingredient changes except for the usual halving of yeast and salt. I baked it on the normal cycle, not noticing that the recipe called for extra kneading, accomplished using either the French bread cycle or by resetting the machine to double the kneading time. The recipe calls for a dark crust, but I specified a normal crust, figuring that stuffing bread needn't be overbaked.

I should've made the 2 pound loaf so we could've had some left over! The little bits that stuck to the paddles were delicious and crunchy—semolina's a great ingredient. The crust had some big bubbles for some reason. I couldn't resist poking one, and it shattered.

No picture, unfortunately. But the stuffing was really good.

Pane italiano numero due

When I made the bread again, I still used the 1.5# recipe, but I measured by weight instead of by volume. That was probably a mistake, as the recipe specifies only volume, and I think that the flour bag's weight/volume ratio was too high, resulting in more flour than when I measured by volume.

Otherwise, I followed the recipe instructions more precisely than before. I specified a dark crust and reset the machine after kneading was finished, so it could knead again. I checked the consistency when I reset the machine; it seemed dry, so I added some water. Then, unfortunately, I had to go to bed, so I didn't get to see the bread until the next morning. 

The loaf was much taller than before—too tall to fit into the breadbox unless I took out the cutting board. It wasn't noticeably darker than before, and it wasn't crisp at all by the time I saw it.

A very tall loaf

We liked it OK, but it's just kind of a semi-interesting white bread at this point. I have a feeling that this bread is much better if you eat it while it's warm.

If time allows, I prefer the Italian semolina bread recipe (p. 252). I might make pane italiano again, but only for stuffing bread or if I plan to eat it right after it finishes. And I'll measure by volume.

One good thing about pane italiano is that you can make it using a delay timer. I'd have to create a homemade course to be able to do the extra kneading without intervention. (My machine doesn't have a French bread setting, which would make the extra kneading happen automatically.)

Semolina country bread (pane di semola)

This bread has a higher proportion of semolina than the first, with no sugar or potato flakes. It also has sesame seeds, which make it a little more interesting. But not much more.

Cooked on dark, this bread doesn't look very dark
(the side wasn't as dark as this picture makes it seem)

This bread was fine, but I probably won't make it again.

One step back

This Saturday we had a bunch of people to feed, so I baked two breads I'd made before and loved: Hensperger's semolina bread and Josey Baker's sesame bread. Both were good this time but not as great as before, and I'm trying to figure out why.

Side note: We finished up the Bohemian black bread, a great sandwich bread that lasted a long time. I'd made it Saturday or Sunday, and it was still good (even untoasted) through at least Friday. That recipe's a keeper, and I've moved it from the will probably make again list to the hall of fame list.

Back to the two breads, what didn't I like so much this time? The semolina bread didn't taste quite as amazing as before, probably because we weren't eating it warm. The sesame bread had a flying roof (love that term) and might've been a bit overbaked/undermoist; its texture wasn't as great as before.

Fixing the semolina bread should be simple: eat it warm, add a little more salt, and/or use an older biga. (I started the biga late Tuesday and baked the bread Saturday afternoon, so the biga was about 4 days old; the last time, the biga was 10 days old.)

Semolina bread

Whether you eat the semolina bread fresh out of the oven or after it cools, you want to eat it within a few hours of baking, since the crust isn't crackly-crunchy the next day.

Equipment note: I used a lame (bread scorer) for the first time. It worked great on the semolina, but not quite as well on the sesame, perhaps because the semolina dough has great surface tension by the time you cut it. The sesame bread, on the other hand, takes some shaping shortcuts, so it's a more relaxed piece of dough.

Fixing the sesame bread might be a little more complicated, since there are more variables. From start to finish, this bread took just under 3 days. (Previously it had taken 4 days and 1.5 days.) Here are some notes on the timing for this loaf, all of which seems to be within the range of what I did before:

1. Make seed soaker & pre-ferment: Wednesday night
2. Mix dough, rise 3 hours, refrigerate: Thursday morning (I had the morning off since I was going to a very important technical conference that afternoon: Stitches West!)
3. Shape, refrigerate: Friday late night
4. Bake: Saturday afternoon (I left it out of the fridge for maybe 45 minutes before baking it; maybe that's what caused the flying roof?)

Note for next time: I found a review of Josey Baker Bread that said it'd be easier to mix the dough if you mix the water and the pre-ferment first to make a kind of batter. Then add the flour, a little at a time. Makes sense.

Sesame bread and Diet Coke, a still life by Johnny Chow

A couple of miscellaneous notes about the sesame bread:

• I accidentally removed the pot about 10 minutes early. (You start it out with an overturned pot on top, to keep moisture around the bread during early baking.) This probably had an effect on the texture and crust.
• The first scoring didn't seem to work, but the second did. Surface tension or just inexperience?

More biga breads

I made two more breads with the biga starter I talked about in my last post:

• Pane bigio: A second attempt at this small, round, crusty bread that has a bit of of whole wheat and buckwheat flour
• Italian semolina bread: A crusty white bread

The pane bigio I'd made before without salt, but it had tasted flat. This time (on the 8th day of biga) I added a scant teaspoon of salt, which made a big difference in flavor. (My other modification was reducing the yeast to a teaspoon.) I took the bread to a New Year's Eve party, where people said they liked it. I liked the bread OK on its own, but it was great as a vehicle for chocolate fondue. This bread was also good with chili.

Pane bigio: try it with chocolate fondue

The Italian semolina bread—wow, what a crust! I was a little worried because the kitchen was cold and the last rise didn't seem to have any visible result, but once the bread got into the oven, it rose high and developed a wonderful, crackly crust. I made this bread on the biga's 10th day.

Italian semolina bread

Besides having a great crust and moist, flavorful interior, the semolina bread just smells good. When my friend cut the bread, she said it smelled like cake, somehow. I don't know how long the bread would last because we ate it all up (with soup).

My staycation is over, so that's all the biga baking I'll do for now. I managed to make 4 of the 6 biga recipes in The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook. I expect the pane di cereale to become part of my repertoire, alongside pumpernickel and Scandinavian light rye. I don't plan to make the white breads again, although they were very good, because I'm on the hunt for great whole grain breads.