[Sca-cooks] Flour question

[Terry Decker]

> >I am working on the menu for my upcoming A Day in the Middle East feast.
>>  And I'm having a dandy time going through my new copy of "Annals of the
>>Caliphs' Kitchens."  In several of the recipes, reference is made to
>>"...pure, fine *simidh* flour (high in starch and bran-free)...".  The
>>question is...would this be just a general all-purpose white flour...or
>>should I use a specialty flour such as bread or cake flour?
>
> I've been using semolina, since it's frequently mentioned in (translations 
> of) other Islamic cookbooks, but I don't know if that's a correct 
> translation or not. It seems to work all right.
>
<clipped>
> ...
> -- 
> David/Cariadoc

If it is supposed to be bran free, then semolina is definitely not simidh. 
Semolina is the coarser flour left after bolting out the fine flour and it 
usually contains bran.  Also, semolina is commonlu made from durum wheat, 
which is high in gluten and lower in starch.

That being said, I wonder if simidh is related to simit.  Simit is a 
bagel-like bread that appears to have been around since Ottoman times.  Most 
of the recipes I've looked at use AP flour, but there was an interesting 
note on one of them that Ottoman simit were made with simit flour, which 
only certain mills were licensed to produce, and which was taxed at a 
different rate from other flours.  I haven't found anyway to attack the 
question, so I'llo let it sit for know.

Bear