How to Make Semolina Bread for Deli Sandwiches at Home

story by EMILY JOHNSON • photo by GRUBBANA STUDIOS

This is the bread. The one every great sandwich is quietly built on. Golden and crisp on the outside, scattered with sesame seeds, soft and slightly chewy on the inside with a tight crumb that knows how to hold its shape. It toasts like a dream, slices clean, and never collapses under pressure. It’s doing exactly what sandwich bread is supposed to do—and doing it well.

You can buy a loaf like this, sure. But baking it from scratch means better texture, better flavor, and that just-out-of-the-oven payoff that store bread can’t touch. And despite how legit it looks, the process is refreshingly manageable.

Just a heads up: if you just swap semolina flour straight into a any ol’ white bread recipe, you’ll end up with a brick. And that’s because semolina bread isn’t actually all semolina flour. That flour brings structure and a subtle nutty bite, but it needs all-purpose flour to keep the crumb tender. This balance is what gives deli bread its signature chew without the heaviness.

Below is a reliable formula for how to make semolina bread. For best results, use the gram measurements provided. And for all you seasoned sourdough bakers, this is also a great place to use discard—it adds depth without changing the texture.

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Easy Seeded Semolina Bread Recipe

Makes two sandwich loaves.

Ingredients:

• All-purpose flour: 260g (2 cups)
• Semolina flour: 130g (1 cup)
• Salt: 1½ tsp
• Sugar: 2 tsp
• Instant or active dry yeast: ¾ tsp
• Lukewarm water: 290g (1¼ cups)
• (Optional) Sourdough discard: 66g (4 tbsp)
• Sesame seeds, for coating: 20g-30g (2-3 tbsp)

Preparation:

1. Mix until a shaggy, slightly sticky dough forms.
2. Let rest in the refrigerator for 12–24 hours.
3. Shape, coat with sesame seeds, and transfer to baking tray or baguette pan.
4. Proof at room temperature for 2–3 hours.
5. Preheat the oven to 450°F with a water bath inside to create steam.
6. Score lengthwise just before baking. Bake for 20 minutes, leaving the water bath in the oven.
7. At the 4-minute mark, score the dough again. Remove the water, reduce the oven to 400°F, and bake for an additional 5 minutes.
8. Let rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Where to Buy Semolina Flour

You can buy semolina flour, often labeled as pasta flour or semola flour, at any specialty grocery store, at some Walmart locations, and online. Just make sure you get the refined/rimacinata variety (not course ground).