A lovely soft very tasty durum bread. Of course it was an off the cuff recipe with nothing prepped that’s why it took ages but it was well worth the wait.
(?) water - however much to make a soft silky dough
10g salt
50g yeast water (unprepped from the fridge)
50g kefir
20g olive oil
plenty of time
Method:
Mix salt and flour. Make a well.
Add the yeast water and kefir plus enough water to add up to 300g to the well.
Begin forming the dough.
As it’s coming together and it’s still like sand add the olive oil and continue to form the dough.
Knead till full gluten formation adding enough water to make a silky smooth dough.
Cover and bulk ferment till ready. Should be very billowy, aerated and at least doubled. Mine took more than 12 hours due to using unprepped yeast water in small quantities but time = good bread.
Shape and final proof for two hours.
Bake.
The flavour is wonderful. Nice contrast between the caramelised dark crust and the soft sweet creamy crumb with a gentle yoghurt like tang. One of the best durum breads i’ve made. A perfect sandwich loaf which toasts up a treat.
Lovely soft yellow crumb Abe, that does looks like a tasty loaf. Reminds me that I have three small bags of semola rimacinata to use sometime and that I’ve never used it for a pan loaf.
Thank you Benny. I think for a sandwich loaf the addition of kefir/yoghurt and olive oil works very well for durum flour. And I also think for durum flour a modest bulk ferment often results in under fermentation. So unlike a typical tartine recipe of 30% risen for the bulk it needs more time and a more generous rise to get a good crumb.
Beautiful, tastey loaf, Abe. Wouldn’t you know that I have two boules proofing with 90% semola rimacinata dough using RYW for my rimacinata levain and for the water in my final dough. I’m addicted to the flavor of durum wheat and have a supply of whole wheat durum, finely ground, and rimacinata. I’ll have to try your loaf recipe in the near future. I’m experimenting using RYW with Hamelman’s Durum Bread recipe. My yeast water was ripe and bulk was only 1 hour, and I doubt that I’ll make an hour for the proof.
Richard
Thank you, Richard. Surprised myself with this one. Really pushed the ferment and it paid off. The kefir and olive oil was a nice touch too. Very happy with this formula and explore it further.
I’ve got a good supply of semola rimacinata but never used wholegrain durum flour before. Would like to one day but need to source some.
Usually when I use yeast water i’ll do a large % of pre-ferment, in one or two builds, and the final dough takes much quicker. However this was only 10% unripe previously matured a few weeks earlier. So it did take quite long but all the better for it. Next time I try this technique i’ll start the evening before instead of the morning. Was up till the wee hours of the morning baking this loaf.
Glad you’re enjoying this lovely flour. Looking forward to your bake.
I am very happy at my outcome. Although my yeast water wasn’t quite ready, i used the test dough along with some starter - thanks to Abe’s help. One of my best loaves yet.
