This artisan Italian bread uses semolina flour and an overnight cold ferment for a chewy crust and a silky, airy crumb. Sourdough or yeast options included.
This is a rustic loaf of Italian bread with a thick, chewy, crunchy crust and a gorgeous springy crumb. It’s hearty and flavorful, and the recipe is super fun to play with once you get the hang of the process.
Lately, I’ve been fascinated with incorporating semolina flour into bread recipes. The durum wheat creates a golden, silky interior, a strong crust, and a gorgeous buttery flavor. And it really shines in this sourdough artisan bread.
I’ve spent months tweaking and iterating this recipe, and we've come to love it so much, it is now our official “house bread”. I crave it when I need something hearty to swipe through classic minestrone or creamy dip. It begs for peppery olive oil or a thick smear of salty butter. Plus, it makes extraordinarily craggily breadcrumbs. I even plan our dinners around it!
What really sells me is the structure. Thanks to the semolina, this loaf holds up beautifully. It soaks up brothy soup without collapsing, and really shows off in classic Italian bread soups like pappa al pomodoro or ribollita. It’s soft and bouncy, but never mushy.
This is technically a sourdough bread, but it doesn’t have to be.
If you’re using a starter, plan about 24 hours from start to finish. It looks like a beast on paper, but most of that time is hands-off. A few simple mixing and folding steps, then plenty of downtime while the yeast does the work (see the example timeline below).
If you don’t have a starter, I’ve included an instant-yeast version with a long fermentation that mimics the texture without the tang.
Either way, the payoff is the same: a springy crumb, blistered crust, nutty flavor, and the smell of fresh bread filling the house. It’s always worth it!
How to make this crusty italian bread:
Example timeline:
Day 1
- 7:00 AM: Make levain
- 1:00 PM: Autolyse flours and water
- 2:00 PM: Mix dough
- 2:30 PM: Fold 1
- 3:00 PM: Fold 2
- 3:30 PM: Fold 3
- 4:00 PM: Fold 4
- 7:00 PM: Shape and refrigerate overnight
Day 2
- 6:00 AM: Preheat oven (Dutch oven inside)
- 7:00 AM: Bake bread
yeast-only version (no sourdough starter)
If you don’t have a starter, you can skip the levain entirely. This version uses instant yeast and a long fermentation to achieve a very similar chewy crumb and crisp crust, with a milder flavor.
Dough recipe:
- 200g semolina rimacinata flour
- 240g all-purpose flour
- 50g whole wheat flour
- 400g water
- 10g salt
- ½ tsp instant yeast
Autolyse the flours and water. Mix in the salt and yeast, then proceed with the folding schedule, cold proof, and baking as written in the recipe below.
more recipe tips:
Use semolina rimacinata. This finely milled, double-ground semolina is the same flour used in semolina pasta dough. It’s smoother than standard semolina and essential for the bread’s structure and crumb.
Expect a sticky dough. The high hydration is what creates the open crumb and complex flavor. Early on, lightly wet your hands for folding. As the dough gains strength, switch to lightly floured hands and work gently to preserve the air bubbles.
Weigh your ingredients. Flour scooping varies wildly, and even small differences matter. You’ll always get bread, but you won’t get consistent results if you don’t weigh your ingredients. A digital scale is cheap and makes a noticeable difference in your results.
No proofing basket? No problem. Use a bowl or colander lined with a generously floured linen or cotton towel.
Bake in a Dutch oven. A 4-quart Dutch oven traps steam released by the dough, creating that thin, crackly crust that’s hard to replicate in a home oven.
Italian Bread Recipe (Sourdough or Yeast)
This artisan Italian bread uses semolina flour and an overnight cold ferment for a chewy crust and a silky, airy crumb. Sourdough or yeast options included.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices)
- Category: Bread
- Method: Dutch Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Diet: Vegetarian
Ingredients
levain
- 25g mature starter (24 hours after a feed)
- 100g all-purpose flour
- 25g whole wheat flour
- 100g warm water
final dough
- 200g semolina rimancinata flour
- 150g all- purpose flour
- 50g whole wheat flour
- 310g warm water
- 180g levain (most of the recipe above)
- 10g fine salt
- ¼ tsp instant dried yeast
Instructions
levain
- Combine starter, both flours, and water in a medium bowl and stir with a large spoon until a shaggy dough forms.
- Cover and let rest at room temperature for 6- 8 hours before mixing the rest of the dough.
final dough
- When the levain is ready (6- 8 hours after mixing), hydrolyze the flour: combine semolina, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, and warm water in a large bowl. Stir together with a large spoon until just incorporated, cover loosely, and let sit for 30 minutes.
- Add 180g of the levain, salt, and instant yeast and combine with the dough by using your thumb and forefinger as pincers to squeeze and pinch off big chunks of dough. Pinch through the dough five to six times, rotating the bowl as needed, then fold the dough over itself a few times. Lightly wet your hands every now and then. Repeat the pinching and folding until the dough is fully mixed. Cover the bowl and let rise 30 minutes, or until it’s relaxed and flattened out, at which point it is ready for the first fold.
- To fold the dough, moisten your hand and reach underneath the dough. Pull about a quarter of the dough up, just until you feel resistance, then fold it over the top of the dough. Rotate the bowl and repeat this folding four to five times, or until the center is covered and the dough has tightened into a ball. Take the entire ball of dough and invert it in the bowl, so the seams are now face down and the top is smooth. Cover the bowl and let rise another 30 minutes, or until the dough has relaxed and flattened out.
- Repeat the folding 3 more times, allowing the dough to rest 30 minutes in between (which will be 4 total folds in the first 2 hours of mixing the dough). After the fourth fold, let the dough rise another 3 hours (5 hours after initial mixing).
- Dust a proofing basket with flour and set aside. Lightly flour a work surface and your hands, then gently loosen the dough around the edges of the bowl, being careful not to tear the gluten strands. Sprinkle flour along the edges and bottom of the dough, as needed, to keep it from sticking and gently ease the dough onto your work surface.
- To shape the dough, stretch a quarter of the dough up just until you feel resistance and fold it across the top. Repeat this folding over until the dough is in a ball shape and the inside is fully enclosed. Flip the dough over so the seam is on the work surface and move it to a spot with no flour.
- As you face the dough, place your hands around the back side of the ball and gently drag it 6 to 8 inches towards you. The dough will grip the un-floured surface and the movement will tighten the ball. Give the loaf a quarter turn and repeat the tightening two to three times, or until the ball has enough tension to hold its shape. Place the shaped loaf in the proofing basket, seam side down and lightly flour the top. Place the basket in a large pot and cover with a lid (or a large plastic bag to cover) and refrigerate overnight.
- The loaf will be ready to bake 12- 14 hours after chilling. Put a rack in the middle of the oven, place your 4-quart Dutch oven on the rack with its lid on, then preheat the oven to 475°F. Let it heat up for 45 minutes.
- Invert the proofed loaf onto a lightly floured surface, so it is now seam side up. Very carefully, remove the hot Dutch oven from the oven, remove the lid, and place the loaf in the Dutch oven seam side up (you don’t need to score the bread, these seams will naturally open up as the loaf bakes).
- Put the lid on the Dutch oven and return to the oven to bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake uncovered for another 15- 20 minutes, or until the bread is a rich brown color all over. Take the Dutch oven out of the oven and carefully tip the bread out onto a work surface. Let it cool on a rack for at least 20 minutes, then slice and enjoy.
Notes
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1
- Calories: 165
- Sugar: 0g
- Sodium: 325mg
- Fat: 1g
- Saturated Fat: 0
- Unsaturated Fat: 1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 34g
- Fiber: 4g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
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