This recipe is a spin-off of a 2008 Breadtopia classic, Sicilian No-Knead Bread. It’s made with barley malt syrup, olive oil and, in this shot, sifted durum wheat flour, which is high-extraction durum wheat flour. The result is a delicious buttery, nutty flavored bread with no acidity, even with retarding the dough overnight. The crumb is decidedly moist but not at all rubbery. It is soft and pliable and ages very slowly. This is a wonderful bread for simple snacking, dipping into olive oil and stews, and using for sandwiches.
With some sifted bran, this dough is slightly stronger than a whole wheat dough, but still has a deep golden color and full of delicious durum flavor. For an even more spectacular crust, we used a mix of white and black sesame seeds. Black sesame seeds are actually just sesame seeds with the shell still on them, and they have a nuttier flavor that is vaguely reminiscent of peanut butter (at least to me). Plus they’re crispier!
In addition to the original Sicilian No-Knead Bread, some cousins ​​of this recipe are: Altamurano-style naturally leavened bread, naturally leavened bread with hard cheese with herbs and naturally leavened rolls of hard semolina with sesame. If you want to use Kamut or khorasan flour instead of durum wheat flour, you can find a comparison between them here: Kamut, Khorasan and Durum Wheat Comparison.
Here are the photos of the crumb of a durum wheat whole grain bread and this durum wheat high extraction bread. The whole grain on the left is a simple flour-salt water recipe while the high extraction grain on the right (recipe below) contains olive oil and barley malt syrup. I suspect these two ingredients cancel each other out in terms of their impact on crumb opening, but either way, you can see that this high extraction bread is higher and perhaps a little more open.
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Whole semolina
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High extraction hard semolina
Be sure to check out the Photo gallery after the recipe for photos of the process.
Sourdough Durum Wheat Bread
The buttery, nutty flavor of this sourdough bread is so unique and delicious (and slow to stale). Enjoy it as a snack on its own, dipped in olive oil or stewed, or to make sandwiches.
Total time
1 hour and 5 minutes
Instructions
- Using mature sourdough and a combination of room temperature and overnight refrigeration, the bulk fermentation of this dough took 18 hours and the final rise took about 1 hour. If preferred, the process can be done all at room temperature, most likely in less than 8 hours.
- Mix the dough ingredients together, then transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl or straight-sided bucket. The dough will be sticky but cohesive.
- Durum wheat doesn’t have as much gluten strength, but to increase chewiness and aeration, let the dough rest for 20-30 minutes, then do 1-2 rounds of stretching and folding with 20-30 minutes of rest in between .
- When the dough has expanded by 75-100%, finish the bulk fermentation. My dough rose for about 4 hours at room temperature, followed by 11 hours in the refrigerator and another 3 hours at room temperature.
- Place the dough on a floured work surface, pat it gently until it forms a square. Fold it in thirds and then in thirds again. Cover and let the dough rest for about 15 minutes. Shape it to fit your proofing basket: boule, batard, oblong loaf.
- To finish the crust, scatter the sesame seeds on a plate. Brush water over the top of the dough and invert the top of the wet dough onto the seeds. Roll the dough over the seeds and place it in the proofing basket with the seeds side down. The seeds form a non-stick barrier, so you don’t need to heavily flour the basket.
- Cover and let the dough rise again. You can bake the dough the same day by letting it rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours. My dough proofed for 1 hour at 68°F. If you want to retard the dough and the room temperature is above 75°F, refrigerate the dough immediately after shaping. Otherwise, let it rise for 20-40 minutes at room temperature before placing it in the refrigerator. The dough can be stored in the refrigerator for 8-16 hours.
- Before baking, preheat oven and baking pan to 500°F for 30 minutes.
- Invert the dough from the proofing basket and onto a sheet of baking paper or a silicone bread sling, score and load the dough into the pan and into the oven. I find it quite easy to cut through the seeded crust, but you can also try scissor cuts if you prefer.
- Cook for 20 minutes at 500°F, covered.
- Lower the temperature to 450°F, remove the lid and cook an additional 10 to 15 minutes.
- When the bread is done, it should have an internal temperature above 205°F.
- Let the bread cool for several hours before slicing.
