Italy: Sicilian Bread Scroll

Over the last year or so I have more less stopped buying shop bought bread and made my own. I now have a few different standard bread recipes I use (the fig and walnut one here appears out of the kitchen quite often) but when I have the time I like to try something different.

The recipe included here is an adaptation of a Sicilian Bread scroll from a ‘Making Bread at Home‘ book my mum had bought for me some time ago. It’s an adaptation because I ran out of fine semolina and so ended up improvising with the ingredients and amount. I had actually intended to follow the recipe. Anyway because I made a few changes the ingredients list ended up as follows:

Ingredients

• 300g fine semolina
• 130g fine polenta
• 150g strong white bread flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 7g sachet of yeast
• 360ml of lukewarm water
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• sesame seeds

Method

1. Mix semolina, polenta, flour, and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre.
2. In a separate bowl mix the yeast with the water and leave aside for a couple of minutes.
3. Pour the yeast mixture into the centre of the flour mixture with the olive oil and mix to form a firm dough.
   knead for 8-10 minutes, and then place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1-1&1/2 hours (until the dough has doubled in size).
4. Tip the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knock back, knead gently, and then shape it into a roll about 50cm long. Form the dough into an S-shape and transfer to a prepared baking sheet.
5. Cover with a tea towel or cloth and leave it to rise for 30-45
   minutes. Pre-heat the oven to 220°C.
6. Once the dough has risen again, brush the top of the scroll with water and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
7. Bake for 10 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 200°C
   for a further 25-30 minutes, until golden.
8. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Despite the improvisation it turned out fine, probably a bit dry compared to what the original recipe would have intended, and the polenta will have affected the taste, but it’s nice – a bit different, and made the kitchen smell great. So not an authentic Sicilian recipe but worth remembering if you semolina (or polenta) that need using up.