Bob's Red Mill Semolina Pasta Flour (24 Ounce, Pack of 3)

Wednesday night is pizza night around here, and I've spent years toying with pizza crusts. While we've achieved some pretty tasty pies, until now, I was never satisfied: I always longed for that perfect crust: the one that is crispy on the outside yet soft, chewy, on the inside.Recently, we experienced a major advancement in pizza-pie science when I came across a recipe by the Bread Monk (Fr. Dominic Garramone) promoting bread flour. Eureka! I thought as I watched the pizza dough rise like a loaf of bread then pulled the puffy pie out of a very hot oven. I was giddy with excitement as I lifted my first slice up to the sky in a gesture of gratitude and smug satisfaction, but as I sank my teeth into that beautiful slice, I immediately knew this was not the crust: it was almost perfect, but lacked the crisp outer shell I was dreaming of. Everyone said it was great, but I didn't care what they said: the heart wants what the heart wants.  So, after spending a few more sessions experimenting with oven temperatures, oven humidity, and kneading/rising times, I gave up. Whatever, I thought, I'll focus on something else for a while- maybe Indian food- and with that decision I unwittingly became the protagonist in my own Zen parable.So there I was, minding my own business, flipping through the pages of an Indian cookbook, not even thinking about pizza, when something caught my eye. I stared in breathless amazement at what was a recipe for vegan pizza."Oh, whatever; it's probably not even real pizza", I thought, "it's probably cumin tomatoes on a roti," but it was no such thing: Indian cuisine, it turns out, is a serious culinary endeavor- nothing halfway about it; it's opulent cuisine, fit for a sultan- if I'd known that going in, I would've realized that when an Indian chef prepares pizza, it will be "real" pizza, worthy of any cook's attention: in this case, a  "real" pizza recipe featuring bread flour and an ingredient I'd always thought of as pasta flour or something-to-keep-your-pizza-from-sticking-to-the-peel-as-you-shake-it-off-onto-the-stone flour: Semolina.Naturally, I slammed the book shut and headed for the kitchen and commenced to incorporate semolina flour in my pizza recipes, and Behold! The perfect pizza crust. So that's all there is to getting the perfect crust: Semolina flour and bread flour. Who knew? When the student is ready... Anyway, I needed a whole lot more semolina flour, and because we live more than four hours away from the nearest whole foods, Amazon it is, and I logged on and bought the brand I trust: Bob's Red Mill. This is a good deal, and I don't mind buying four because the little packages go fast (about 1/2 a bag per pizza session yielding 4 pizzas). This is an excellent product. Five Stars. Good Luck.

I believe this product is of equal quality of some the Italian imported Semolina flours. I am one who does NOT use egg nor white flour to mix in my pasta dough and I find this semolina to be extremely pliable. Not to mention the price here! I love the Italian-imported flours but it becomes way too costly because of the shipping. The fact that Amazon is offering FOUR BAGS of this flour for just over $12 is a steal!!! I live in New York, and when you want a high quality product, you usually end up having to go to a foo-foo upscale gourmet store where you'll end up paying an arm & a leg. I found a 1 lb bag of semolina for roughly $6.00...absurdity! I think this is one of the items where I'll take advantage of the re-order feature because it's simply more economically effective considering I don't want to purchase manufactured pasta anymore. Can't say enough about the quality of this flour...really all I use in my dough is semolina, water, salt and a tbsp of olive oil- makes perfectly flavorful, delicious pasta!!

Do not use cornmeal for flouring surfaces, peels or stones for pizza. You should use semolina. Does not burn. Also use this 1 part to 2 parts of bread flour for my pizza crust recipe. My only fault with it is that is is a little coarser than I care for to use in the bread or pasta dough. But it is more economical than fancy fine milled imported semolina. When necessary there are one or two stores within driving distance that carry this also. I picked this up at Amazon because the price was not too bad and I am handicapped and the less driving I have to do the happier I am. I especially don't want to drive to a store far away and find they are out of it or I just can't find it wherever they moved it since the last time I was there. This will last me the winter. I make my own pizza every two weeks or so and pasta once a month maybe.

We happen to absolutely love semolina bread & have been trying to get it at Panera Bread; however, they rarely seemed to have any left when we try to get a loaf. I finally was told by a server there that they only make ONE LOAF per day to sell whole!! They also bake & slice 2 more loaves that they use to make their sandwiches. Since I found this to be utterly ridiculous & annoying & since I happen to already own a bread machine, I decided to experiment with my recipes & substitute some of this Semolina Pasta Flour for a portion of plain bread flour. Result was excellent!! Lovely pale yellow loaf with nice semolina flavor on my first try! I'll continue to tinker with different ratios of types of flour and now be able to enjoy beautiful semolina bread without relying on craziness from Panera! And I still can't get over a bakery that only wants to sell one loaf of bread per day!!

High quality semolina, I add a little to pizza dough to increase the gluten and also use it to prevent sticking when stretch the dough.A lot of people seem to think that bakers and pizza makers use corn meal for this use. I guess some do, but none who know what they're doing.Using ground corn to stretch your pizza or form your loaf is a non sequitur. Corn contains a lot of sugar, it is very very hard and burns in the oven. People have been served pizzas etc in quality pizzarias and assumed the coarse yellow meal stuck to the bottom was corn meal, out of ignorance. It is not, we use semolina, which tenderizes in the oven, is made of wheat as is the crust itself and is a great "lubricant" and absorber of moisture that would cause the dough to stick to the table or pizza peel.I don't really make pasta dough at home any more, but when I did I used a large percentage of semolina like this one. Fine 00 flour, semolina, eggs and salt.