Durum Flour and Semolina

Durum flour has a very high protein content and is milled almost exclusively for the making of macaroni and pasta, never bread. It is milled quite coarsely as you can see when you buy a bag of “pasta” flour; it is bright yellow and it makes the very best pasta and spatzle. Durum flour is different from semolina flour; where durum flour is really a fine flour with coarse particles, semolina is milled from middlings of durum and has an even coarser texture than durum which results in the correct use of the term “grains of semolina” rather than semolina flour. You can make excellent pasta by blending semolina with all-purpose flour. Semolina can also be added in part to bread doughs prepared with all-purpose flour to give the baked product a chewier texture; use 25 percent semolina and 75 percent unbleached all-purpose flour.