Khobz El Dar Algerian Semolina Bread Food

ALGERIAN KHOBZ EL DAR -- SEMOLINA BREAD

Steps:

• Grease a large round metal tin / pan (approx 12" across / wide & 1.5" high / deep).
• Place the semolina, flour, yeast, sugar & salt in a very large mixing bowl. (In Algeria we traditionally use huge but shallow wooden bowls for mixing doughs.)
• Make a well in the centre & add the beaten egg & the oil along with 1 cup of water. Mix well, adding more water when necessary.
• Keep mixing until you have a soft dough. Now knead the dough for around 30 minutes until it is soft, smooth & elastic. You will need to add a little water from time to time as the semolina absorbs it.
• If you are having problems with a very sticky dough, don't worry - if you've used the correct amounts of ingredients, everything will be OK - just keep kneading & add dribbles of water to bring the dough back together again.
• After 30 minutes, mix in the nigella seeds if using then with wet hands bring the dough together in a ball.
• Place the dough in the greased pan & with wet hands, gently push the dough until it completely covers the base of the pan.
• Sprinkle a little semolina over the top, cover with a kitchen towel & leave to rise until doubled in size.
• Pre-heat the oven to 180°C
• Brush the top of the dough with the egg yolks & sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. Using a skewer, make 6 pricks -going all the way through the dough - 5 evenly spaced holes 1" from the edge & 1 hole in the centre (This will make sure that the bread cooks evenly).
• Place in the upper 1/3 of the oven & cook for approx 35 minutes or until a deep golden colour & sounding hollow when tapped.
• Remove from the oven & allow to cool for 5 minutes bfore turning out onto a kitchen towel. Wrap the bread in the towle & allow to cool on a wire rack before serving.

KHOBZ EL DAR (ALGERIAN SEMOLINA BREAD)

Steps:

• Mix 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons semolina, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, sugar, yeast, and salt together in a large bowl. Whisk in oil, egg, and egg white. Stir in warm milk slowly until a liquid dough forms.
• Cover the bowl with a plate or plastic wrap; let stand at room temperature until frothy, about 1 hour.
• Stir in 2 3/4 cups flour with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Cover again and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a baking mat.
• Sprinkle 1 tablespoon flour over the dough and your hands. Mix dough, adding flour as needed, 1 tablespoon at a time, until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Shape into a round loaf and place on the prepared baking sheet. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise for 1 hour in a warm place until loaf doubles in volume.
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Beat egg yolk and water in a bowl with a fork; brush over the entire surface of the loaf. Sprinkle 1 tablespoon sesame seeds on top.
• Bake in the preheated oven until loaf is golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.

GOLDEN SEMOLINA BREAD

Steps:

• Make the starter: In a medium bowl, whisk together durum flour and yeast; then whisk in water and stir until very smooth for 2 mins; scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover with clingwrap.
• Combine the 1/4 cup of durum flour and the 3/8 tsp of yeast, then whisk in the salt.
• Gently scoop it onto the sponge to completely cover it, cover with clingwrap and allow to ferment for 1-4 hours at room temp (up to 24hrs in the fridge, remove from fridge 1 hr before mixing the dough).
• Mix the bubbly starter together with flour mixture (covering the top of starter) using a wooden spoon until all flour is moistened.
• Knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together, then scrape it onto a surface floured with some of the remaining durum flour and knead for about 5 minutes.
• Add more reserved durum flour as needed to keep dough from sticking (use a bench scraper to scrape and gather the dough as you knead).
• The dough will be slightly tacky and cling slightly to your fingers; cover it with the inverted bowl and allow to rest for 20mins.
• Knead dough for another 5 mins until it is smooth and elastic, adding more reserved durum flour if necessary.
• It's ok if dough is still slightly tacky, but you should be able to form a ball and holds its shape.
• Let the dough rise in a lightly oiled bowl, covered with clingwrap, until doubled in bulk 1 1/2- 2 hours.
• Turn the dough out onto lightly floured counter and shape it into a torpedo-shaped loaf (or regular loaf), set it into a parchment-lined baking sheet.
• Cover it loosely with oiled clingwrap and let rise again until doubled in bulk (1 hr- 1 hr 15 mins); when the dough is ready to be baked, a fingertip-depression will very slowly fill inches.
• One hour before baking, preheat oven to 450F, with a cast-iron skillet or sheet pan on the floor of the oven.
• Make a few 1/4-1/2 inch deep slashes in the top of the dough with a sharp knife.
• Mist the dough with water and quickly set the baking pan on the hot stone/sheet pan; toss 1/2 cup of ice cubes into the pan beneath and immediately shut the oven door.
• Bake for 20mins, lower the temp to 400F and continue baking for another 10-20mins, until bread is golden brown (skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean or instant read thermometer read 208F).
• For crispier crust, lift the bread from the pan with a heavy pancake turner about halfway through baking and set into directly on the baking stone.
• When the bread is done, cool completely on wire racks.

100% SEMOLINA BREAD

Steps:

• Mix the salt into the warm water (120F-130F) and pour into the bread machine pan. Next, add the olive oil, flour, sugar and the yeast last (may be place into a little indentation in the center of the flour). If necessary, add 1/2 teaspoon ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) to help the yeast feed.
• Set the bread machine to a 2 lb size and white light, white medium, white dark, whole wheat or french settings.
• Push start and come back in 3 1/3 to 4 hours. :-).

SEMOLINA BREAD

Steps:

• Place the above ingredients into your bread machine pan in order given.
• Set machine to make a 1 1/2 pound loaf.
• Take out of machine as soon as it is done.