Semolina Bread Loaf - Amateur's delight

What is Semolina to a lot of people, is good old Sooji/Ravai to many of us.
It is also predominantly used to make pastas of different shapes and sizes. When one could make so much out of it, why not bread?

The last time I did a bread post, the most comments I got were how daunting bread making was to most of them. I really wanted to make something that was approachable and doable by even someone who is just starting out. So here it is, this time I forbid you from leaving comments that you can't do this :)

If you have never tried making bread before, this is a great place to start. And if you are a bread maker in the family, then this is something you should never miss.

For someone who is into healthy food like me, it may not be as "healthy" as whole wheat flour, but it does come out light, fluffy and has a beautiful light yellow tinge to it. How can one resist that?

Semolina flour should be available in the flour aisle of your grocery store, but I doubt there would be a pantry that uses Indian provisions where Semolina/Sooji/Ravai is missing!
So grab that, and grind it into a fine powder. It is sometimes difficult to achieve that because they are still coarse after grinding. If you have a heavy duty blender, sure give it a shot. I just got mine from the store. It was way easier.
But even the semolina flour that I got from the store, was a little coarse (texture was like fine granulated sugar)
I found the recipe from here, but the method I have followed is slightly different, and hence the detailed procedure in this post.

Go ahead, be bold, give it a try. I have tried to explain step-wise with pictures for your benefit.
Bread making doesn't have to be daunting anymore. Go girls and boys!

Semolina Bread Loaf

Ingredients:

Semolina flour - 3 1/4 cups (finely ground)
Warm water - 1 1/2 cups
Instant yeast - 1 1/2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tbsp
Olive oil - 1/4 cup
Celtic sea salt - 1 1/2 tsp (Or to taste) (Can substitute with regular salt)

Method:

Dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water and set aside for 5 minutes. It will froth up.

Add the flour, olive oil and salt and mix well.

Knead for about 15 minutes by hand till you get a smooth ball. Dust with flour if needed.



Coat with a teaspoon of oil, cover and let rise for 2 hours.

Grease a loaf pan and set aside.

After 2 hours the dough would double in size.



Take it out, folder over three or four times. There is no need to punch it down.

Roll into the size of the loaf pan, place it seam side down into the pan. Cover and let rise for about 1-2 hours. This method is called proofing.

Preheat oven to 375F.

When you see the dough spilling over the sides of the pan after rising, it is time to bake it off.



Bake it for 35-45 minutes, and the crust should be golden brown.



Remove from loaf pan, and let it rest for about an hour.
You may store this at room temperature for about 3 days, and store in the refrigerator for longer. I doubt if one can keep their hands off of this bread! Tastes divine.





This goes to:

Susan's Yeast Spotting
Mansi's Vegetarian Thanksgiving
Boaz's Bread Baking Day #14: Colored Breads
Suganya's Vegan ventures