Cheesy Semolina Bread Fail

Finished Loaf

Not everything I make is a resounding success.  I frequently try recipes and end up throwing them out or pretending they never happened while trying to come up with something better.  This state of mind leaves me one of two ways, I am either sobbing and trying to figure out why I failed or I feel like a totally mediocre cook who can’t do anything right.  Though, sometimes I am trying a new recipe and it just falls flat, like in the case of this bread.  It looks tasty right – the cheese is golden and crispy on top and the whole thing is a lovely golden brown?  It’s not.  It’s dense and chewy and sits in your belly like a bowling ball, just making you feel full but not satisfied in terms of flavor or texture.

Mise En Place for bread

I’ve had semolina flour sitting on my shelf for quite a while now, initially it was there as a pasta making addition but more and more I’ve been coming across semolina breads.  These breads, when I buy them, are fluffy and airy – like a baguette or ciabatta but with a little more texture to the crumb and I am a  fan.  So one day last week I decided to try it out, make my own semolina bread.  So I looked in all of my cookbooks, I looked on the internet – I looked everywhere and found one recipe for semolina bread.  It was a recipe on the King Arthur Flour website and it only called for semolina flour, so I was wary of it but went for it.

First Rise

The dough was a cinch and mixed up in just a few minutes, it rose well, and then rose well after shaping – but in terms of flavor it was flat and disappointing.  Will I try semolina bread again?, of course, I’m nothing if not persistent.  Will I use this recipe again, no.  It needs work – too much semolina flour created a dense bread that weighed heavily and didn’t do either my baking skills or the bread any justice.  I’ll definitely be trying semolina flour again, and maybe then I’ll find a recipe worthy of sharing.  In the meantime – here are some pictures of this bread.

Final Rise

 

Barrio is Popping Up

I know, I know it’s a cheesy title.  But it’s true!  Last Thursday I had the privilege of attending a dinner at Barrio.  Barrio is Chef Wheeler del Torro’s vegan-Cuban street food pop-up that is set to soon descend on the Boston area.  I went into this pop-up a little warily, if you read this blog much you know how great my affinity for all things butter and (in general) not vegan.  I found the idea hard to grasp.  I shouldn’t have worried.

The dinner was awesome, though.  From our secret meeting place (shhh, you’ll know if you go!) to the fantastic champagne to the world class dessert (I can’t tell that either, it’ll give too much away) I was in love. Check out my awesome visual recap! If you want to go, you should probably go put your name on the email list!

Getting to chop up a pineapple and play in the kitchen with a chef! #dreamsihavehad

The wild blueberry, goat cheese Ice cream.  Megan would have died for this!

The plantains – how is it I have gone 27 years with eating so few plantains????

The pork taco (made by a chef friend of Wheeler’s), it was juicy and delicious

Perfect champagne. A great end to a great evening.

Discalimer: I attended this pop-up dinner (my first, and definitely not last) for free, but all opinions posted here are my own.