Let's just say I made a mess of the pane siciliano. In trying to halve the recipe (and doing three or four other things at the same time), I halved everything but the water, and only noticed this when I had added almost all of the amount and had thick pancake batter instead of dough. Starting over would have meant a new pâte fermentée and a delay of a couple of days, so I added more flour and semolina, threw in a little more salt and yeast, and hoped for the best.
I decided I had enough dough for 2 loaves, and would bake them separately as I had them on separate pans. Then my baking distractions continued and I failed to turn down the oven temperature from 500 to 450 after the steam spritzing for the first loaf. It was very dark brown--not a burned taste, but well beyond where you want your bread to be. I managed the right temperatures for the second loaf but it was still a little too brown when I first checked it and then covered it.
Taste results? It's not really fair to say, I think. My crust was certainly not really crackly, and the texture didn't have as many open holes as I wanted. I didn't get any character from the semolina--maybe overwhelmed by my unmeasured additions of flour. I'd say I'd try the pane siciliano again someday, but I think there are breads I like better out there.
I've done that too where I've messed up one ingredient and then tried to fix it.
ReplyDeleteYour loaf looks good. I love Semolina. :)
Susie
we all goof once in a while, human nature.You will really enjoy the Siciliano when it's made right.I's one of my favorites ,as close to NY semolina Italian bread as can be.
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