I keep semolina flour in the freezer, and you should at least refrigerate it if you plan to keep it over a long period of time, as it can go rancid. I know you didn't ask about storage, but I thought I would mention this anyway, just in case...

I frequently use semolina in breads, especially when I was making sourdough (I no longer have any starter) and always use it in pizza dough. I use it instead of cornmeal when I put the pizza on a peel, to make it slide more easily. When I'm making bread, I don't use more than 1/4 semolina, but when I'm making pasta, I use 1/3 semolina, although you can use more.

Unfortunately, I haven't used it for anything else, but you can use it in recipes that call for vital wheat gluten, since semolina is high in gluten. Some people use it for thickening soups and sauces, but I haven't tried that yet. I think it would take quite a while to use 50 pounds - that would be a lot of pasta and pizza. Good luck in your search!! I'll be interested to see what other uses people come up with.

Lars

You could do a lotto. LOL

Semolina flour is made from durum wheat, which is a MUCH different variety than hard red or hard white wheat varieties used for bread flour. Semolina is milled from the endosperm of the grain (innermost portion with the bran and germ removed), so it's not a wholegrain product. It's also a coarse grind, compared to regular flour.

I like to use semolina instead of cornmeal when it's used on a pizza pan or stone, or when I make English Muffins. Semolina doesn't burn as readily as cornmeal.

There are two types of protein that make up the "gluten group" in wheat - glutenins and gliadins. In regular wheat flour used for making bread, the dominate protein is glutenin - for that high-rising bread. The dominate protein in durum wheat, used to make semolina flour, is gliadin and is better suited for pasta, not bread.

I mill a wholegrain version from durum wheat and generally use it for making pasta, or mill durum wheat into a flour to use for noodles, but I also use it in the recipe posted below. Even if you don't have a bread machine, the ratio of flour to semolina will give you a fair idea of how much you can substitute in your favorite recipe.

BUTTERMILK FARM BREAD
(source: Bread Machines for Dummies)

Recipe for 1-1/2-lb. loaf with changes for 2-lb. in (---)

3/4 c. (1 c.) buttermilk
1/4 c. (1/3 + 1 T.) water
2 T. (3 T.) oil or butter
1 t. (1-1/2 t.) salt
2 T. (3 T.) sugar
2/3 c. (1 c.) semolina flour
2-1/3 c. (3 c.) bread flour
2-1/4 t. (1 T.) yeast

1. Be sure that all the ingredients are at room temperature before you place them in your bread pan in the order listed.

2. Select the Normal or Basic setting and a light to medium crust color and press START.

3. Open the lid after the machine has kneaded the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough should be formed into a very soft, sticky ball. If the dough is sticking to the sides or the bottom of the pan, you need to add a bit more bread flour. If the dough is crumbly and not in a ball, or if the ball appears firm, add more water. Your machine still has kneading time and will work the water into your bread dough. Keep checking your dough until you're satisfied that a soft, sticky ball has formed.

4. After the machine has completed the baking cycle, remove the pan from the machine and the bread from the pan to cool on a wire rack. If you cut the bread before it's cooled for about an hour, it will look doughy. The bread has to cool completely to allow the structure to set.

Cooking tip: If you don't have buttermilk on hand, you may use 1 T. of lemon juice or vinegar to 1 c. of milk as a substitution.

Per serving: Calories 180; protein 5g; carbohydrates 27g; dietary fiber 1g; total fat 1g; saturated fat 0g; cholesterol 0mg; sodium 15mg.

[Grainlady note: I use 1 c. unbleached bread flour and 2 c. freshly-milled whole wheat flour, instead of 3 c. bread flour. I also add 3 T. flaxmeal, and at the add-in beep I add 1/2 c. dry multi-grain cereal for added fiber, nutrition, and a bit of "tooth" (crunch). I mill my own multi-grain cereal blend, but any Bob's Red Mill varieties (5-grain, 7-grain, 11-grain etc.) will work well in this recipe. I also make the dough and divide the dough into 2 loaves and bake it in the oven.]

-Grainlady

Thank you! OK, based on the ratios Grainlady posted, I made one of my "stand=by" sandwich breads - usually a mix of WW and white flour, this time I subbed some of the semolina for some of the WW. I'll know tomorrow how it tastes! (or maybe later tonight when it comes out of the oven if I'm sampling).

Lars- I do have much of it frozen, the part I'm keeping out is in my garage which runs barely warmer than a refrigerator (in winter). I'm curious that you only use 1/3 part semolina in pasta - I thought it was often the ONLY flour in pasta? Why do you use less?

soonergrandmom - I could! I am fortunate that the North Dakota Mill is about a half mile down the road from us and one of my neighbors purchased the big bag for me.

Grainlady, you are, as always, a wealth of information. I had no idea about the two types of protein in the gluten group. I read that semolina absorbs more water - is that correct? Seems that would be a great thing in pizza dough to keep it from getting soggy.

Thank you again!

Semolina absorbs more water because of it's high protein content. Durum wheat has the highest protein content of all wheat varieties, which would make one think it would be great for making bread, but because of the type of dominate protein, the viscosity of that protein does its "thing" best with pasta.

There are a number of recipes at Bob's Red Mill, I forget to give them a look yesterday. (Scroll down the page - about 3/4 down - and you'll find them when you click on the link below.)

If you check the back of a box/bag of pasta, it will say semolina if it's refined (white) pasta, and durum if it's wholegrain - normally regular wheat products aren't used commercially in conjunction with semolina/durum in pasta. Using 100% semolina, or a mixed blend with other flour/s is a choice we get to make, but other non-durum wheat products are not necessary. It's about the texture you like.

I mill the ancient grain, kamut, the "grandfather" of modern durum wheat, into a coarse flour and use it for pasta, or into flour for noodles.

-Grainlady

Here is a link that might be useful: Bob's Red Mill - Semolina Pasta Flour

PL, the reason I do not use all semolina flour when making pasta is that it is easier to roll out and handle. I've found that if I use all semolina flour, then it tears more easily. If I were making macarroni in my extruder, that would be less of an issue, but I frequently make ravioli with pasta dough. I like ravioli to be soft, but for lasagna, it would be okay to have more tooth. I generally make lasagna using half semolina and half white flour, but for smaller cuts I use 1/3.

Lars

When I make homemade pasta and use my manual machine for cutting, it work great for noodles, but on the spaghetti blade, they don't separate. The strands just want to stick together. Do you have to add more flour if making smaller noodles, or is there another trick?

Halva and Galaktoboureko are also made with semolina. It could you give a sweet break from the bread and pasta :)

Sorry, I don't have any tried and true recipes, but I do have a good Greek cookbook that probably has recipes if there aren't any CFer's with tested recipes.

Galaktoboureko is a custard dessert made with phyllo and very good when made well. Halva is a bit different and may not exactly be a 'main-stream' dessert for many, but since you have soooo much, maybe an experiment is worth a try!

Soonergrandmom, one way to keep the spaghetti strands from sticking is to allow the pasta sheets to dry on a rack (such as a broom handle) for at least an hour before running them through the cutter. Adding flour helps too, but it is more important for the sheets to be dry enough. Drying time will vary according to your humidity, and you do not want to dry them too long or else they will become brittle.

Lars

Thanks Lars. I have one of those wooden drying racks somewhere in storage so I guess it is time to dig it out.