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Semolina rimacinata (finely re-milled durum semolina)

A finely re-milled durum wheat flour giving Sicilian and Southern Italian tray doughs their characteristic colour and denser crumb.

Grain
Durum wheat (Triticum durum)
Protein
12-13%

Behaviour

Distinctive yellow colour and a slightly coarser, denser crumb than soft-wheat flours

Used in Southern Italian tray and Sicilian doughs, often blended with type 00 or bread flour

Style compatibility

Traditional in Sicilian-style (Italian sfincione) doughs and some Southern Italian tray pizzas

Styles using this flour

  • SfincioneTraditionalGenerally accepted

    Gives the thick, spongy Sicilian base its characteristic yellow colour and slightly denser, coarser crumb, usually blended rather than used alone.

  • Focaccia bareseTraditionalGenerally accepted

    The defining Apulian milling tradition's flour, giving the potato-enriched dough its characteristic golden colour and slightly coarser bite.

Substitution

Best used as a partial blend (20-50%) with a softer wheat flour rather than a full substitution outside its traditional context

Not interchangeable with coarse pasta-grade semolina, which behaves very differently in a bread dough

History and cultural context

Twice-milled durum wheat semolina, central to Sicilian and Apulian baking, where durum rather than soft wheat is the historic grain. Its use in pizza and focaccia there is a continuation of the local bread tradition rather than a variation on a Neapolitan one.

Traditional regions: Sicily, Puglia, Basilicata

Used in sfincione and focaccia barese doughs, in blends for colour and flavour, and separately as a dusting flour on peels because its coarse particles roll rather than burn.

Where it is actually used

  • SicilyDefiningTraditional practiceDriven by local availability

    The historic grain of the island's bread and sfincione tradition, giving a yellow crumb and a distinct sweetness.

    Generally accepted
  • PugliaDefiningTraditional practiceDriven by local availability

    Focaccia barese is made with a proportion of semola and boiled potato.

    Generally accepted

What it is called elsewhere

  • Semola rimacinata di grano duro — Italian
  • Semolina flour — English — English usage often conflates coarse semolina with the finer twice-milled semola.

Commonly repeated, and not supported

  • That semolina and semola rimacinata are the same product. The coarse semolina sold for dusting is not the fine twice-milled flour used in these doughs.
Generally accepted