

Long post:
I had an interesting day today. We moved to the rural south after growing up in NY. I found a small Italian cafe the next town over from ours (45 min away). I saw on FB that they had St Joseph’s pastries so I decided to take a drive over the mountain to give this place a try. When I got there, I met the owner who was originally from NJ and we chatted a bit. I then saw that they had slices of Sicilian in the case (no one sells pizza by the slice around here), so I grabbed a couple of slices to go, along with the St Joe’s pastry.
When i got home and opened the box with the slices, it was like that scene in Ratatouille, when the grouchy guy tastes it at the end of the movie. The smell that came from that pizza transported me *right back* to being six years old, sitting on the counter of my grandfather’s pizzeria in the early 70s. It instantly brought me to tears. I mean, it smelled *exactly* like my grandfather’s pizza. And I have eaten tons of pizza over the years, and I have never smelled that smell until now (I’m in my 50s).
I called the cafe and told him the story. He said, ‘Ah, your grandfather used semolina in his dough. That’s the semolina you’re smelling. He used a blend.’
Whaaa? It would have never occurred to me to put semolina into the pizza dough. And now I have to try and replicate that dough.
Does anyone have a good recipe for a semolina/bread flour (All trumps) blend? Thanks
by smoosh13
3 Comments
It’s not uncommon. Try replacing 10% of the flour with semolina.
yes of course you can. it makes the dough more chewy. try subbing 25% flour with semolina to see if you like it
I use semolina for launching sometimes but haven’t in the recipe. Either way, I just wanted to say that was a beautiful and touching story. Thank you for sharing!