Sourdough Pane Siciliano — Lobster Wedding

This is a bread of my childhood — of Sunday evenings spent in my Nana’s house, loudly socializing with my dad’s family, eating pasta and meatballs, and sopping up any remaining sauce with a dense, soft slice of Semolina bread. It is deeply nostalgic

I tend to make all of my sourdough breads way more starter than is likely needed. See my Sourdough Challah recipe for more on my lack of control and how to adjust this or any recipe to scale up or down the starter amount.

My recipe was roughly based on this recipe from Perfect Loaf however instead of making a levian, then making an autolyze dough, and then mixing those together, I put all the ingredients in one go to really simplify the process. Ideally you would feed your starter with the semolina, but using a standard starter will work just as well. As with that recipe, this one makes two smaller loaves or one very large one.

Ingredients:

545 grams of active starter, at 100% hydration (ideally last fed with equal parts water, fine durum semolina to equal part inactive starter)
724 grams of Fine Durum Semolina Flour
476 grams of Water
35 grams of Olive Oil
20 grams of Salt
Sesame Seeds (optional)

Tools:

Cast iron Dutch Over, bread backing cloche, or a baking sheet and a spray bottle with water
Sharp knife or bread lame
Stand Mixer is optional but helpful

Steps:

Mix the flour, starter, salt and water together until they become a rough dough without too much in the way of wet spots. Allow this to sit for around 30 minutes to 1 hour to autolyze (which is fancy talk for letting the flour hydrate.)
You can leave the salt out for now, as many recipes do, and incorporate it later with the oil if you’re worried about the activity of your yeast, but I’ve never had an issue.
Knead the dough for a while, probably around 5 minutes if by hand or 2-3 if using a machine. It should start to become elastic.
Add the oil in. You can do this by drizzling it in while it kneads in a bread maker or stand mixer, or pour it on top and pinch it in while kneading or folding the dough. Continue to knead until the oil is fully incorporated.
If the dough is very wet at this point, and far too sticky to handle, you could add in a bit more semolina. If it is too dry, more water instead.
Next is the bulk fermentation step. Leave the dough covered in a warm spot for 30 minutes, then do a stretch and fold. Wait another 30 minutes and repeat the folds. Let the dough sit a further 2 hours, for a total of 3 hours of bulk fermentation.
If you need a resource for stretching and folding sourdough, you can find one here.
Shape the doughs. You could get fancy and braid the dough. A Mafalda, which looks like this, is the most traditional shape. You could also make an S shaped scroll loaf. I went for a simple oval. Roll the top of your load in sesame seeds or other toppings, if using.
Transfer to a proofing basket or towel lined bowl for the final proof in your fridge overnight.
The next day, heat your oven to 450 F (230 C). Lower the dough into a Dutch oven or place on a baking steel or stone with a tray full of ice in the bottom of your oven for steam.
If using the Dutch Oven, bake 30-40 minutes covered or until the crust of the dough is fully set, then uncover and continue baking until the crust is a nice golden color. If using a steel or baking stone, bake until the internal temperature is around 200 F (93 C).
Move the loaf to a cooling rack and let sit for at least an hour before enjoying.

Notes

Sesame seeds are very common for coating the top of this style of bread, but you could leave them off or swap them for something else like poppy seeds, everything bagel seasoning, etc.
If you are using a high heat capacity cooking vessel, such as my cast iron being used here, you will need to put down a layer of course grain semolina, course grain corn meal, or even a thick layer of sesame seeds. This will keep the bottom of the loaf from burning. I have also had some luck with a single layer of paper towel sandwiched between layers of parchment paper. Most bakeries use the layer of meal or flour, so that would be the more traditional option.