Semolina Cilantro Loaf | Sooji bread


It seemed to be a day of butterflies. We woke up to a light drizzle. Cool breeze infused with the aroma of buttery Magnolia flowers and scent of rain-drenched earth carried the song of the birds. A babbler chasing a moth raised alarm as she saw our cat. Some more babblers joined her till the flock flew away to the higher branches of a bush laden with wild orange berries.


Butterflies swarmed the flower-laden trees in extraordinary numbers. 




Some stretching and spreading their wings on the neem tree, while a swallowtail butterfly fluttered in the Ashok tree. Some chasing each other whilst some flitting from flower to flower. 


Perhaps, wet earth, an abundance of flowers and pleasant weather are doing the magic.


We had some late crop of cilantro growing at home. We harvested it all and I used a big bunch in the Semolina Loaf that I baked yesterday. 


The flavour wasn’t too distinct, but it gave a lovely crumb speckled with green flecks.


Semolina Cilantro Loaf

Ingredients

  • 3 ¼ cups coarse or fine semolina
  • 1 teaspoon yeast
  • 1 ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ cup  oil
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 ½ cups warm water
  • ¼ cup finely chopped cilantro (adjust the quantity according to preference) or any fresh or dry herb of choice

Instructions

  1. Mix sugar in warm water. Keep aside.
  2. In a kneading plate or a deep bowl, whisk together all the remaining ingredients.
  3. Add 1 cup water and start kneading. The dough will be gritty and will not come together initially. Keep kneading and add water in small quantity. Semolina grains will absorb water and swell up. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes. Knead adding more water. Repeat till you get a slightly sticky but very soft and elastic dough.
  4. Transfer dough to an oiled bowl. Turn around to coat evenly with oil. Cover and keep in a warm place to rise for 1 hour or until doubled.
  5. Grease one 8x4 inch loaf pan.
  6. Punch dough and knead for 2 minutes. Roll out the dough into a rectangle not bigger than the width of the pan you are using. Roll the dough towards you, tightly. Pinch seams to seal. Place the roll in the loaf tin with the seam side down. Cover and keep it to rise for 45 minutes – 1 hour in a warm place or until it crests above the rim of the pan.
  7. Bake in the preheated oven at 190 degrees C for 25 to 30 minutes or till the top turns brown and the bottom of the pan sounds empty when tapped. If the loaf is browning too quickly, tent the loaf loosely with a foil.
  8. Remove from the loaf tin after 10 minutes. Cool in the rack.
  9. Slice the next day.


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5 comments:

  1. Hi Nomita! I would like like this dough will be gritty and will not come together initially. Keep kneading and add water in small quantity and it's maybe so much helpful for me.Amazing blog.

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  2. Fine samolina means..chiroti rawa...right

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello Deeksha, Here we get two varieties of semolina in the market. One is the coarse variety and the other is really fine. I have used the coarse variety for this bread. Infact Deeksha it does not matter which variety you use because after kneading semolina grains become soft and make a very supple dough. You may use any variety.

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  3. I made this with only half quantity as I was baking for the first time. But it came out great. Only problem was while slicing it was too crumbly even though I slced ti when with a serrated knife and when it had cooled dpwn completely. What could have been the reason?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hello, Semolina bread is a little crumbly specially after a day. Try using fine semolina and add maximum water while kneading.

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