Re: Sicilian No Knead Bread

mightychef — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:43:33 -0000

Reading your recent addition of the Sicilian No-Knead Bread, there seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding Durum Wheat and Semolina.
All Semolina produced in the U.S. is made from Durum Wheat. This is a federally mandated standard.
Semolina is milled from the endosperm of the Durum wheat berry. The germ and bran are removed.
Most Semolina is used in the production of high quality pasta. The ingredient list will state "100% Durum Semolina" or Durum Semolina plus other ingredients such as egg in egg noodles.
Most Semolina is granulated (coarse grind).
It can be reground by the home baker to produce fine Semolina flour in a blender, food processor or grain mill.
A couple of sources I researched on bread stated that the coarser version of Semolina can be used in bread with extra time being allowed for the Semolina to fully hydrate.
This should not be a problem in the No-Knead recipe, due to the 12-18 hour fermentation time.
Duram Atta flour is by definition a whole wheat product.
The percentage of germ and bran is variable.
"Atta is the Hindi word for a kind of wheat flour commonly used in South Asian cooking. It is a whole wheat flour made from hard wheat." Wikipedia.com
In Canada flour can be referred to as "whole wheat" with as much 70% of the germ removed.
Canadian consumers can be assured of whole-grain products by a label stating "100% whole grain whole wheat".
The confusing thing regarding the Sicilian No-Knead bread is the use of Durum flour.
The Sicilian bread recipes that I am familiar with use Semolina as an ingredient, as a topping and under the loaf much as cornmeal under rye bread.
I think that your viewers can feel free to experiment with both products of the Durum wheat berry.
I also would like to relate that many people from South-Western Asia, i.e. India, Pakistan, etc... have a dim view of Golden Temple Durum Atta Flour, at least when used in their traditional breads.
For Roti, Paratha, Naan and Chapati this is not a product comparable to the flour of their homeland.
This is not meant to infer that GT flour is not acceptable for the Sicilian NK bread.
I have included several excerpts from other websites on the subject of Durum and Semolina.
Thank You,
Darrell

Durum wheat or macaroni wheat (also spelled Durhum); (Triticum durum or Triticum turgidum durum) is the only tetraploid species of wheat of commercial importance that is widely cultivated today.
Durum in Latin means "hard", and the species is the hardest of all wheats. Its high protein and gluten content, as well as its strength, make durum good for special uses.
Durum wheat is a tetraploid wheat, having twenty-eight chromosomes, unlike hard red winter and hard red spring wheats, which are hexaploid and have forty-two chromosomes each.
Production
Most of the durum grown today is amber durum, the grains of which are amber-colored and larger than those of other types of wheat.
Durum has a yellow endosperm, which gives pasta its color.
When durum is milled, the endosperm is ground into a granular product called semolina. Semolina made from durum is used for premium pastas and breads.
There is also a red durum, used mostly for livestock feed.
Processing
Durum wheat is subject to four processes: cleaning, milling, tempering and purifying.
First durum wheat is cleaned to remove foreign material and shrunken and broken kernels. Then it is tempered to a moisture content, toughening the seed coat for efficient separation of bran and endosperm. Durum milling is a complex procedure involving repetitive grinding and sieving. Proper purifying results in maximum semolina yield and the least amount of bran powder.[16]
To produce bread, durum wheat is ground into flour. The flour is mixed with water to produce dough. The quantities mixed vary, depending on the acidity of the mixture. The dough is fermented for hours and then mixed with yeast and lukewarm water. The quality of the bread produced depends on viscoelastic properties of gluten, protein content and protein composition.

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Re: Sicilian No Knead Bread