A Peek into My Kitchen: Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Sesame Seeded Semolina Bread) ~ We Knead to Bake #24

For this month's We Knead to Bake challenge, Aparna chose an Italian crusty bread made with semolina flour, sprinkled with sesame seeds. Here is a brief history of the bread and how to shape the bread. I just copied the recipe from Aparna's blog My Diverse Kitchen.

On the 13^th of December every year, feasts are held in Sicily and around the world celebrating the bravery of Santa Lucia. One way is by baking a special bread which is known as Pan Siciliano. What is different about this bread is that it is made with semolina (what we know in India as rava/ sooji). In Sicily (and Italy), the semolina used for this bread is a specific grind of durum wheat called “semola di grano duro rimacinato” or just “rimacinato”, which translates as 'ground again'. This refers to semolina which is ground once more to break the coarser grain into finer flour for bread.

If you can find rimancinato where you live, then go ahead and use that for this Pane Siciliano. Otherwise use the finest grind semolina you can find which is what I did. In India, there’s a variety of semolina that is very fine (but still grainy) that’s used for making laddoos, halwa and batters. Otherwise, just run the regular semolina you have, the kind used to make “upuma”, in the chutney jar of your mixer-grinder or coffee grinder till it’s as fine as you can grind it.

Though there are a lot of recipes out there for making this bread in a shorter time, traditionally this bread is made using a pre-ferment which the Sicilians/ Italians call “cresciuta”. This produces a more flavourful loaf of bread and isn’t all that much more work than a recipe without the pre-ferment. This particular Pan Siciliano recipe calls for gluten which improves the texture of the loaf. If you do not have it, leave it out.

The Pane Siciliano is generally shaped into one of two shapes – the “Occhi di Santa Lucia” meaning the “Eyes of St.Lucia” or the “Mafalda” meaning “Snake”. I chose to make the “Mafalda” as I had earlier baked St. Lucia rolls in the “occhi” shape, and I had never tried shaping my bread into a snake!

To form the Occhi di Santa Lucia or a scroll shaped loaf of bread, roll the bread dough into a long rope and lay it out straight. Then coil it from each end in opposite directions. (Please see my post on making St. Lucia Buns for a detailed pictorial for this kind of shaping )

The Mafalda produces a rather odd looking bread, but if you’d like to shape your bread like this, then wind the rope of dough back and forth on itself a few times, leaving about 7” for a “tail” to lie over the top.

This video of Mary Ann Esposito making the Pane Siciliano with Peter Reinhart is quite helpful, and worth taking a look.

Pane Siciliano (Sicilian Sesame Seeded Semolina Bread)

(Adapted from Ciao Italia)

Ingredients:

For the Cresciuta (Biga/ Pate Fermentee):

1/4 cup lukewarm water

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the Dough:

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

1 cup lukewarm water (110° to 115°F)

2 tsp honey

All the prepared Cresciuta

2 to 2 1/2 cups fine semolina or durum semolina flour

1/2 tsp vital wheat gluten

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

A little water for brushing on the bread

1/8 cup sesame seeds

Method:

First make the Cresciuta. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a small bowl and stand it aside for about 10 minutes till it is frothy. Stir in the flour with a fork and loosely cover the bowl. This mixture should be a little wet/ stringy. Leave it in a slightly warm place for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

The next morning, mix the dough for the bread. In a large bowl (or the bowl of your processor), dissolve the yeast in the warm water mixed with the honey. Let it stand for 10 minutes till it is frothy.

Add the cresciuta and mix well. Mix together 2 cups of the semolina, gluten and salt and add it to the bowl with the olive oil. Mix well and then add as much more semolina as is necessary until you have a smooth ball of dough.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it to coat well, then loosely cover and let the dough rise till about double in volume. This should take about 1 1/2 hours.

Deflate the dough, and then roll it out into a “rope” that is about 30” long. Place baking parchment on your baking tray, grease it lightly, and then gently lift up the rope of dough and place it on the baking tray.

Curl the dough back and forth on itself leaving a 6 or 7 inch tail. Roll the tail a little thinner than the rest of the body so that it looks like it’s tapering off. Fold the tail over the shaped loaf. Do not tuck it under the loaf. If you’re making the “occhi”, then shape the rope accordingly.

Loosely cover and let the shaped dough rise for 2 hours till almost double in size. Lightly brush the top of the dough with water and then sprinkle the sesame seeds over this pressing them in lightly with your fingers.

Pre-heat your oven to 190C (375F) with a baking tray placed upside down in it. Place your baking tray with the dough on the hot tray and bake for about 30 minutes until the bread is brown and done, and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.