Semolina Sourdough Bread
Why I Love This Recipe
Now that I have succeeded in fermenting a sour dough starter, my bread making has taken a new route. I used my bread machine to knead the dough and experimented with baking in the oven. It turned out great, although the original instructions were for using the bread machine for the entire process. I think using my newly purchased bread rising basket (purchased through www.breadtopia.com), and a preheated pizza stone resulted in a nice crunchy crust artisan-type bread. This makes a 1 1/2 lb. loaf.
Ingredients You'll Need
1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast
2 1/4 cups semolina flour (a golden, very high gluten flour used mainly for pasta)
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
3 Tbsp. cornmeal
3/4 cup sourdough starter
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. water
1 1/2 tsp. sesame seeds, optional for the top, if desired
Directions
Add all the ingredients, except the sesame seeds, in the order suggested by your bread machine manufacturer's recommendation. Process on the DOUGH cycle.
When the cycle completes, punch down your down and form into a round shaped loaf. Dust a bread rising basket with cornmeal and place your loaf into it.
Preheat oven and a pizza baking stone to 375 degrees F
Cover dough with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place, about 1 hr., or until double in size.
After dough has risen, carefully turn it out onto the hot pizza stone. Bake for about 45 minutes. An instant-read thermometer should read between 200-210 degrees F temperature when inserted in the center of the loaf. An underbaked loaf will be soggy inside, so try to check the internal temperature until you get a knack for baking bread. The crust will be dark brown.
Cool and a wire rack.
