Semolina Millet Bread
Makes 4 loaves of bread
Adapted from Otto Gilbert’s recipe
Semolina Millet Bread is a fragrant, yellow loaf that keeps well and is great for toast and sandwiches. It freezes well, so you can keep one loaf out to eat right away and freeze the rest. Ayse and Otto use only Bob’s Red Mill flours. When asked why, Ayse said Bob’s Red Mill is “a good company that makes a good, consistently fresh product. And where else can you get the spelt and kamut you need?”
3 cups milk
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 Tbsp. salt
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. dry yeast
2 cups warm (not hot) water
2 1/2 cups semolina flour
1 1/2 cups millet flour
6-8 cups unbleached white flour
Put milk, butter, salt, and sugar in saucepan, and heat until just before it boils. Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm. In large mixer bowl, combine yeast and water and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir cooled milk mixture into yeast and water.
Beat semolina and millet flour into liquid ingredients. Beat in 6 cups unbleached white flour. Beat in enough of remaining white flour so dough is soft but no longer sticky; don’t add so much flour that dough is stiff. If there is too much dough for the mixer, dump dough onto a well-floured counter and knead in the flour. When dough is the correct consistency, knead it for 10 minutes, adding small amounts of flour, if necessary. Put kneaded dough in greased bowl. Let rise until dough has fully doubled in sized, about 2-3 hours.
Preheat oven to 425°F (convection) or 450°F (regular oven).
When dough has risen fully, divide it into 4 equally sized pieces. Shape each piece into a 12” oblong loaf. Place on parchment covered baking sheets, 2 loaves per sheet. Let rise 30 minutes.
Place loaves in oven, bake 10 minutes and lower heat to 400°F convection or 425°F regular. Bake 15 more minutes or until done. The easiest way to tell if bread is done is to take its temperature. Stick an instant-read thermometer into a loaf’s center; bread is done at 195°-200°F.
NOTE: If you’re using a convection oven, all loaves can be baked and shaped at the same time. If baking in a conventional oven, shape two loaves, let them rise, and bake them. The minute you put the first two loaves in the oven, shape the remaining two, let them rise, and bake them when the first batch comes out.
Rachel In Love with Semolina Millet Bread
