My Sicilian Roots: Semolina Bread!

My blood flows with remnants of many lands, but my heart longs for Sicily. My mother's father's parents immigrated from Sicily in the early twentieth century and settled in Tampa, Florida.

Their journey fascinates me, from a craggy island rich with the remnants of ancient civilizations, across the vast Atlantic, through the crowds of Ellis Island...then finally settling near Tampa Bay. What fears did they have as they left the familiar semi-arid, rocky, volcanic land of tradition, and settled in a sandy, humid, lush land. At least both lands caressed them with a warm climate and and fertile seas.


Durum wheat, which yields semolina when milled, produces well in semi-arid regions such as Sicily. It is a hard wheat with a very high gluten content and a high ratio of protein to carbohydrate. Semolina makes pasta as well as a flour with a distinctive nutty flavor. Semolina bread, a staple in Sicily, was brought to America by the immigrants.


Recipes for Semolina bread can be found at the following:
http://www.jamieoliver.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=28217
http://www.ciaoitalia.com/mary-anns-blog/snow-bored-let-s-bake