Light As Air Semolina Seed Bread

Semolina seed bread has an amazingly light crumb and a crunchy crust. Semolina gives a lovely texture to the bread. It makes great sandwiches, toasts well and is a lovely accompaniment to hot soup.

Light airy slices of Semolina seed bread and hot tomato soup is the ultimate dinner on a cold rainy day. It is a light bread with semolina that lends a lovely texture and is topped with seeds. If your semolina has large grains, pulse it in your food processor/dry grinder.  Semolina texture makes a lot of difference to the crumb. Make sure that your semolina is fine. The dough will absorb a lot of water. Keep adding as long as the dough absorbs water. The dough should be slightly sticky and smooth.

You may add seeds of choice.

Monsoon presents such beautiful vistas in the hills. The showstopper of our homestead – Agapanthus, also known as the Lily of the Nile blossoms in peak monsoons.

The leaves of Colocasia cradle the pearls of rainwater that dance on the rhythm of the passing wind is a sight to behold.

The timer of the oven chimed and we checked the bread.  It had a beautiful golden crust and the yeasty aroma filled up the air. A golden seeded loaf was placed on the cooling rack.

The best part of the cold evening is the fire burning in the dining hall and enjoying dinner around the fireplace. Everyone loved the soft slices of the bread. In the end, some slices were had with homemade apricot jam.

Light As Air Semolina Seed Bread

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina
• 1 ½ teaspoon instant dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons  milk  powder
• 1 ¼  teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 ¼ cups  warm water
• 3 tablespoons mixed seeds (flax seeds, sesame and poppy seeds)

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, take all the dry ingredients and add 1 cup water. Knead to make a  smooth and slightly sticky dough. Initially, the dough will feel very sticky, but as you keep kneading, the dough will come together. Add more water and as much water as required. Semolina will keep absorbing water. I used almost 1 ¼ water.
2. Transfer the dough into an oiled bowl. Turn around once so that the dough is evenly coated with oil. Cover and let rise until double.
3. Grease one 8 ½ inch x 4 ½ inch loaf pan. Punch the dough, shape into an 8-inch log. Place the log in the pan. Top with seeds. Cover and let it rise until double (45 – 60 minutes).
4. During the last stages of rising, preheat oven to 190 degrees C.  Slash the loaf and bake for 30-35  minutes or until golden.
5. Cool in the rack. Slice when cold.

Recipe adapted from www.kingarthurflour.com