Making your own semolina is easy with the right technique

Even grandma knew: semolina tastes delicious and is healthy! Not only is it rich in vitamins, minerals and trace elements, it also contains hardly any fat, sugar or saturated fatty acids. It also provides a lot of fiber and is filling even in small portions. The grains are particularly valuable if they contain parts of the shell and germ. This is often not the case with conventional products from the supermarket.

1. How is semolina made?
2. Hard or soft wheat semolina?
3. Which semolina is suitable for what?
4. Instructions: Make semolina yourself
5. Semolina pudding with homemade semolina

Buy semolina? No thanks. We make our semolina ourselves. In this article you will find out everything about how you can easily make semolina at home - and thus also benefit from the healthy benefits of the grains.

How is semolina made?

Semolina is created as a byproduct of grinding grains such as wheat or spelled. After the grain has been crushed for the first time, it breaks down into flour, semolina grains and shell parts with germ. 

Classic semolina consists of 0.3 to 1 mm starch granules that are held together by protein structures. In addition, fine grit, so-called “fume”, is also produced, the grain size of which is between 0.15 and 0.3 mm. 

At the end of each grinding step, the semolina is separated from the remaining flour components by sieving. The harder the grains, the higher the semolina yield. 

Semolina: The crème de la crème of grains

Depending on the degree of grinding, 50 to 70 kg of durum wheat semolina can be obtained from around 100 kg of durum wheat. 

Depending on the type of grain, grinding and sieving techniques, semolina is a very individual product. For the typical texture of semolina porridge, you need semolina with an even grain size, the lowest possible proportion of fine flour and coarse outer layers. Wheat, spelled and einkorn are particularly suitable for making yourself, but also corn, millet, buckwheat, barley and oats.

By the way: Semolina is also available from whole grains. However, since the flour portion is always separated, all components of the grain can never be retained.

What is the difference between durum and soft wheat semolina?

Hard and soft wheat are different types of grain. These differ simply in that durum wheat (Latin: Triticum durum) is grown in summer and soft wheat (Latin: Triticum aestivum) is grown in winter.

Durum wheat semolina for dough, pasta and couscous

Durum wheat is characterized by a high protein content and a firm structure. It is bite and boil proof. Soft wheat has a lower protein content. It also contains significantly less gluten than durum wheat and therefore cannot bind starch - it is washed out during cooking.

Durum wheat semolina is ideal for the basic recipe of elastic dough, which is primarily used to make pasta, especially for classic Italian pasta. Couscous is also made from this wheat. Durum wheat can be bought in organic stores.

Soft wheat semolina for soups and as a dessert

The soft, floury grains of common wheat are easier to crush than those of durum wheat. This means less starch is destroyed during the grinding process. Semolina made from soft wheat is not only used in soups, desserts or semolina pudding - it is also suitable for thickening and binding dishes such as sauces and soups or as a binding agent when baking bread.

Which semolina is suitable for what?

Before you start making semolina yourself, you should think about what dish you want to create with it. Because not every type of semolina is suitable for all dishes. For example, soft semolina is ideal for sweet dishes such as semolina pudding or porridge, durum wheat semolina for heavy dishes such as pasta, dumplings, baked goods or soup ingredients such as gnocchi and semolina dumplings.

If you feel like polenta, corn semolina is the best choice. The polenta bianca (white polenta), which is particularly popular in Veneto, is made according to the original basic recipe from a lighter type of corn semolina, while the Swiss version Bramata is made from coarse corn semolina. You can also easily prepare polenta from millet, rye or spelled semolina.

If you want to make your bread dough fluffier, we recommend semolina made from rye or spelled. 

If you are looking for an alternative for sweets and desserts, you can also use buckwheat, barley and oats instead of wheat semolina.

Semolina from Oberkulm 

Have you ever heard of Oberkulm red grain semolina? No? Then it's high time. This type of spelled semolina has everything you expect from a really good semolina: regional, organic, pure and particularly nutrient-rich thanks to the gentle processing.

With these instructions you can easily make semolina yourself

To make semolina yourself, you need a grain mill, a flour sieve with 0.3 mm holes and a flour sieve with 1 mm holes. 

And this is how you proceed:

1. Grind the grain, such as wheat, in the grain mill at a fine to medium setting - depending on how fine you want the semolina to be.
2. Sieve out the ground material using the flour sieve with coarser holes. You can use the waste like bran or meal or grind it again at a fine to medium level and add it to the semolina.
3. Sieve out the remaining ground material with the coarser flour sifter. You can save the waste and use it like extract flour for baking. The pieces that are larger than 0.3 mm but smaller than 1 mm make semolina. Tip: If you want it to be coarser, you can also use flour sieves with holes of 0.5 mm and 1.5 mm.
4. Further processing is very simple: Unless the recipe specifies a different preparation time, you boil the self-ground semolina for five minutes and let it soak for five to ten minutes.

 You've had something from the semolina for so long.

The semolina will keep for up to three weeks. After cooking, you can store it in the refrigerator for two to three days.

Cooking semolina porridge from home-made semolina - this is what you should pay attention to

If you grind semolina yourself, you will usually get a less homogeneous result than you are used to with purchased semolina. Be sure to sieve the ground material properly. If too much fine flour remains in the semolina, the semolina porridge could become “mushy” and tend to burn. If you have too many coarse parts in it, they may not become soft and you will end up with hard pieces in the porridge.