Cured meats, cheeses, vegetables, savory or sweet jams, butter, and marmalade, the soft semolina bread with seeds can be paired with everything we like, to create delicious sandwiches or to accompany breakfast. It is similar to sandwich bread but without oil or butter, baked in a loaf pan, enriched with the aroma and taste of semolina and seeds that give it an extra touch. The softness of this bread is due to the presence of potatoes in the dough and a long rising and maturation in the fridge that makes it much lighter, more digestible, and good for several days. With this dough, we can also create delicious rolls, perfect for leisure time, for a buffet, etc…
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 14 Hours
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: About 2.2 lbs
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups Boiled potatoes
- 4.4 oz Sourdough starter
- 1 2/3 cups Manitoba flour
- 2 cups cups Semolina flour
- 1 1/6 cups Water
- 0.4 oz Fine salt
- 1 tbsp Poppy seeds
- 1 tbsp Flax seeds
- 1 tbsp Sunflower seeds
Preparation
Refresh the sourdough starter according to our habits. Take 4.4 oz, put it in a well-sealed container, and let it rise.
When the starter has doubled in size, transfer it to the bowl of a mixer or a large bowl (it is a very easy and pleasant dough to work with even by hand).
Combine half of the flours (well-sifted) and half of the water provided by the recipe. Knead very roughly, cover well, and let the mixture rest for 30 minutes.
After the time has passed, add the remaining flour, salt, seeds, and start kneading, pouring the remaining water slowly (because you might need a little less or more, depending on the ambient humidity and the flours, which do not always absorb the same amount of liquids), until it has been completely absorbed. Knead the ingredients for about ten minutes. If kneading by hand, do it directly in the mixing bowl, to avoid adding extra flour to work it better. You will get a very soft and elastic dough.
Cover the obtained dough well, place it in the fridge, in the lowest part, and let it mature for 12 hours.
After 12 hours, take it out of the fridge and leave it at room temperature for an hour.
After an hour, transfer the dough delicately onto a surface dusted with a little semolina flour and give it a final fold, rolling the dough on itself to form a cylinder, transfer it to the loaf pan, already lined with parchment paper, cover it, and let it triple in volume.
Turn on the oven to 338°F and bring it to temperature. When the soft semolina bread with seeds has more than doubled, bake it in the middle rack, for about 40 minutes, or until it turns golden.
The bread baking times are referred to my gas oven, static, with heat only from below. If your oven, however, is electric, with simultaneous lower/upper cooking, the times are reduced, so check the bread often while it is in the oven.
As soon as it’s cooked, remove the soft semolina bread with seeds immediately, to prevent the residual heat from drying it out too much. Let it cool before slicing; store it in a bread bag, made of fabric (without the smell of detergents/softeners) or paper, to maintain softness and flavor intact for several days.
If instead of bread we want to make rolls, after rolling the risen dough, separate balls of about 2.8 oz, which we will roll on themselves.
For buffets or aperitifs, the ideal size is about 1.4 oz. Place the rolls to rise on a tray lined with parchment paper. The baking times will be about 25 minutes at 338°F.
