Italian bread from Semolina

PhotoCourtesy of | Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide

Mom’s Italian bread | Rufus' Food and Spirits Guide

Sponge

1 1/3 cup semolina flour
1/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 cup warm water

Scoop flour into a bowl. Combine water and yeast and let sit for five minutes to activate the yeast. Add water to flour and mix until smooth. The batter will be thick.

Bread

2 cups semolina flour
4 tbsp white flour
3/4 tsp yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix half cup flour, yeast and salt. Sprinkle over sponge until covered. Let rise for four hours or one hour and then overnight in the refrigerator. Add 1/2 cup flour and knead three to four minutes. The consistency should be somewhat soupy but still a dough. If necessary, add more flour, using white flour first. Begin to knead dough adding 1/2 cup of flour at a time. Do not add too much flour as the kneading process will cause the dough to stiffen as well. Knead until smooth, about five minutes. Let rise for two hours in a bowl. Deflate and shape into one large or two small loaves. Put on greased pan and let rise for an hour. Place a pizza stone on the second lowest shelf in the oven. Preheat to 425 Fahrenheit. When dough is ready place pan on top of stone. Place a pan with six to eight ice cubes on the rack under the bread. After 10 minutes reduce the temperature to 400. Cook until golden brown, about 35 minutes. At 20 minutes remove dough from pan and rotate on to stone directly.

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