These home bound times have really improved my baking skills and I am sure all of yours too who love baking. For me, baking is therapy. The magic of flour converting into dough, rising beautifully and then baking into a tall loaf of bread is simply amazing. I love seeing beauty in the smallest of things and my bakes are one among those small pleasures which gives me happiness.

Though my usual bread is this Wheat bread, I happened to remember this semolina bread which I had tried long back but had not come out right. So I made changes till I got the perfect loaf. Now I am confident that I can bake this bread as well as I make my Wheat bread or Wheat Pav.

Semolina bread is a bread with crispy texture but still soft. It is so filling that two slices will make you feel full. Hope you all try and love it. Happy and healthy cooking!

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

3 1/4 Cups Wheat Semolina or Rava or Sooji (fine variety works best) (3 cups + 1/4 Cup)

1 1/2 cups Water

2 Tbsp Coconut oil

2 Tbsp Ghee

1 Tbsp Sugar

1 tsp Instant yeast

1 1/2 tsp Salt

{Little oil to grease the loaf pan, little milk to milk wash the dough and butter/ oil to apply on the surface of the bread}

Step by step recipe:

1. Grind the semolina in a mixer to a fine powder.

Note: Just pulse four to five times and that will be sufficient to powder it. No need to grind a lot.

2. Now take the powdered semolina in a large mixing bowl. Add ghee, coconut oil, yeast, sugar and salt.

3. Add water and mix well using spatula removing any lumps if formed.

4. Now start kneading using hands from 6 to 8 mins till it turns into a smooth dough as shown. This is a very important step as kneading gives a very good texture to the bread.

5. Allow it to rest in a warm place for 11/2 hours to 2 hours till the dough has doubled. It may take more time in cold temperatures.

6. Now grease a loaf pan well with oil and keep aside. Remove this dough and knead once. Place this inside the greased loaf pan and smoothen the surface.

7. Now keep this to rise in a warm place for 45 mins to 1 hour till the dough has risen above the surface of the pan as shown.

8. Now preheat the oven at 180 C for 10 mins. Bake the bread at 180 C for 30 to 40 mins till the surface turns golden brown in colour.

Note: At 30 mins into baking time, remove the bread from the oven, apply little milk over the surface of the bread and keep for 5 to 10 mins till the surface turns golden in colour. Milk wash helps get the colour.

9. As soon as the bread bakes, apply butter over the surface. Allow the bread to cool completely before you remove from the pan. Invert, slice and serve.

Notes:

* For those who have doubts regarding the semolina, it’s the normal rava that you use to make upma which is made of wheat. Do grind it to get the perfect texture for the bread.

* I add a combination of coconut oil and ghee because we like the flavour. You can add any oil that you like but the bread will have the flavour of that oil.

* Do knead well for atleast 5 mins for perfect bread.

* Both the rise times are very important. If you are in a hurry, then don’t try this. It needs proper rise times to get perfect texture of the bread.

* This bread is slightly crispy due to semolina but still soft.

* Do remember to:

– grease the loaf pan well with oil before placing the dough.

– milk wash the bread in the last 5 mins of bake to get the golden colour of the bread.

– apply butter over the surface as soon as the bread is baked so that the surface remains soft.

* I usually bake at night and keep it at room temperature covered overnight for breakfast the next day. It slices well that time.

* Serrated knife works best to slice bread. Use that if you have.

I have tried to note down as much points as possible so that it’s easy for you all to follow but if you still have any doubts, either comment here or message me on my Facebook page Healthy cooking with mitha or on my Instagram handle and I would be happy to help. Happy baking!