Semolina Sesame Artisan Bread

Step 1

Mix the yeast and salt with the lukewarm water in a large 5qt container. I use a large plastic tub with a lid, but I do NOT seal the lid to make it airtight.

Step 3

Mix in the flours using a large spoon. (I use a large wooden spoon. By the end of adding all the flour, I wet my hands to mix in the last bits of the flour into the dough. The dough is a fairly wet, sticky dough. You can certainly use a mixer if you'd like to, but I don't find that I need one.)

Step 5

Cover (not airtight...this needs to off gas a bit...but then...don't all God's creatures need to do that? Yeast is no exception.). Allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top) approximately 2 hours.

Step 7

The dough can be used at this point, or you can store it in your fridge for up to 14 days. As if you could wait that long!!!

Step 9

When You're Ready to Bake

Step 11

If you're going to bake one 2 lb. loaf, dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and cut off about half of it. (About 2 lbs.) Return the other half of the dough, to the plastic container and store it in your refrigerator till you're ready to use it. Dust the dough you'll be baking with more flour and quickly shape it first into a ball, and then into an oval (ish) shape. Allow to rest for 40 minutes on a sheet of parchment paper that you have sprinkled with cornmeal. (If you HAVE a pizza peel, then use that to let it rest on, and to help you transfer it into the oven. I don't have a pizza peel, so I use parchment paper as my sling for transferring the bread dough loaf to the oven onto my baking stone. It can stay on the parchment paper for the baking: no problem. No need to transfer it off directly onto the stone.)

Step 13

Twenty Minutes Before Baking

Step 15

Preheat the oven to 450º, with a baking stone placed on the middle rack, and the bottom of a broiler pan on the shelf just below that.

Step 17

Time to use that mysterious cornstarch that’s in the ingredient list.

Step 19

You’re going to make a Cornstarch Wash to make the bread shiny, and help the sesame seeds to stick to the outside of the bread.

Step 21

Cornstarch Wash

Step 23

Blend the 1/2 t. of cornstarch with a bit of water to form a paste. Add 1/2 c. of water, and whisk with a fork. Microwave for 60 seconds, till mixture appears glassy. You can store the unused portion in the fridge, covered with plastic, for the next loaf.

Step 25

Just before baking, paint the surface of the loaf with the cornstarch wash, sprinkle with sesame seeds, and slash the surface of the bread (I usually make 3 diagonal slash marks) about 1/2″ deep, using a serrated knife.

Step 27

Gently place the loaf and the parchment paper onto the hot baking stone, using the parchment paper as a sling to carry the loaf to the baking stone. Pour 1 c. of hot tap water onto the broiler tray below it, and quickly close the oven door. Bake for around 30 minutes, until deeply browned and firm. Adjust baking time to the size of your loaf, and your own oven’s performance.

Step 29

Allow to cool before slicing and eating.