Semolina Cranberry Bread Recipe. Well, I don’t really want to bring up the “C” word but I guess it’s right around the corner. You all know what I’m talking about. You know, that one day of the year that we all love and hate at the same time.
Shopping till we drop and spend, spend, spend, great food and smiling faces. The happiest time of the year. OK I’m about to say it, here I go …. Holidays! There I said it and I feels a little strange, I guess that’s because it’s still July.
But, you all know how time flies and all us foodies like to come up with food gift ideas to send to our families, friends and not to forget our coworkers. Well, one of the gift ideas I would like to pass on to everyone is this Semolina Cranberry bread.
Not only does it look festive, all stuffed with cranberries and looking delicious. But, I also created cranberry bread crisps out of this bread. I added extra cranberries, 2 cups to be exact, which makes this bread taste like candy.
The flavor works really good when the bread is sliced very thin and put on a cookie sheet, than placed in the oven at 200F for about 40 minutes. Being sure to flip them every 10 minutes until the slices become very dry.
You don’t want them to really toast and change color. You just want them to dry. These crispy little bread slices have a wonderful flavor all on there own. You could jazz them up with a little cream cheese topped with a chilli jelly.
These cranberry crisps would make a great gift for this coming holiday season. Place a handful in those cello bags with a beautiful ribbon and you have a tasty gift for someone special.
The Semolina Cranberry bread would be great anytime of the year even if you don’t make it into crisps. The sweet, sour flavor of the cranberries and the nuttiness of the semolina is a perfect combination.
In the bread recipe, I only used 1 cup of dried cranberries which was perfect. If you want to make cranberry bread crisps I would add 2 cups of cranberries.
Semolina Cranberry Bread Recipe:
Ingredients
Night Before:
- 1/4 cup starter
- 1/2 cup bread flour
- 1/4 cup lukewarm water
Day of:
- 1 1/4 cup warm water
- 1 cup semolina ( fine granular not flour )
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 2 1/4 cup bread flour
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- ( 2 cups cranberries if you are making bread crisps )
Method
- The day before you want to make the bread combine the starter, bread flour and water. Mix till smooth and cover with plastic wrap; allow to sit on the counter for 12-16 hours.
- The next morning in a large bowl combine the "night before" mix with wooden spoon the semolina, maple syrup, instant yeast and water.
- Allow mixture to rest for 15 minutes uncovered. Add in the salt and about half the flour. Mix till smooth. Sprinkle some of the flour on a flat surface and pour out the dough.
- Add some more flour on top amd begin to slowly knead while slowly adding in the remaining flour till the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
- After the dough has been kneaded allow to rest for 10 minutes uncovered. Flatten the dough out a little and add the dried cranberries. Knead till well distributed through out the dough.
- Add a little oil to a clean bowl, place dough in and give a few turns to lightly coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 2 hours or till double in bulk.
- After dough has risen, pour out onto a very lightly floured surface. Cut in half and flatten out one piece of into a thick rectangle. Begin to roll and using your thumb press the dough down with each turn. Pinch the seam closed with your fingers and roll back and forth to form a torpedo shape.
- Repeat with the other piece of dough. Place loafs onto a cornmeal sprinkled parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for 1 hour.
- About half way through the rising process turn on the oven to 400F and place your baking stone on the bottom rack and a cast iron skillet on the bottom of the stove to heat up.
- After the bread has risen remove the cling wrap and sprinkle a little semolina on top of the loaves. Using a very sharp knife cut some slashes on top of the loaves.
- Place the loaves onto the baking stone and pour a cup of boiling water into the cast iron skillet to create some steam.
- Close the door and allow to bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
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