Semolina Flour

Semolina flour gives extra texture to the crust.

This clever appetizer is halfway between a pizza and a flatbread.

IMPROV: For a milder, creamier version, use a blend of Parmesan and Fontina instead of all Parm. (Semolina flour is sold at some supermarkets, Italian markets, and specialty foods stores.)

Eating one of these individual pies is quite different from your basic fork-and-plate experience. A bite through the crisp pastry, sparkling with sugar, reveals a thick filling of sweet-and-tart fruit.

The beauty of plums becomes all the more evident when they are displayed in a galette. Accompanied by sweetened Armagnac crème fraîche, this one makes a wonderfully sophisticated dessert.

Galatopita, or milk pie, has a crisp phyllo crust and a dense, satisfying custard filling made with semolina flour. It is among the dairy specialties of Epirus and Thessaly; we like this version from Ioannina.

(Music Paper Bread) _Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Giuliano Bugialli's book _Foods of Sicily & Sardinia. We've also added some helpful tips of our own, which appear at the bottom of the page. This recipe originally accompanied Jumbo Shrimp with Fregola.

(Pão) Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Jean Anderson's book Process This!. Anderson also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. To read more about Anderson and Portuguese cuisine, click here. What I wanted to do here was turn the food processor into a bread machine, that is, to see if I could proof the yeast, mix and knead the dough, even let it rise in the processor. I'm pleased to say that it worked perfectly. I don't recommend this technique for bigger batches of yeast dough, for more complex recipes, and certainly not for wimpy food processors with small work bowls (you need at least an 11-cup capacity). For this simple five-ingredient loaf, however, a big, powerful machine does it all. This "daily bread" of Portugal is both crusty and chewy thanks to the steam ovens in which it's baked (I bake my bread at very high temperature over a shallow pan of water). Because Portuguese flours are milled of hard wheat, I've fortified our softer-wheat all-purpose flour with semolina and find the texture exactly right. This dough is unusually stiff and for that reason I use the metal chopping blade throughout — the stubby dough blade merely spins the dough against the sides of the work bowl. I also use high-speed churning throughout (the ON button) instead of a "dough mode" because it does a better job of developing the gluten (wheat protein) that forms the framework of this bread.

Editor's note: The recipe and introductory text below are excerpted from Paula Wolfert's book The Slow Mediterranean Kitchen. Wolfert also shared some helpful cooking tips exclusively with Epicurious, which we've added at the bottom of the page. Here's a fast bread for slow foods. Small as a pancake, these easy-to-make, grainy-textured griddle breads are similar to those sold on the streets of Casablanca and Tunis. No yeast is required. A combination of coarse semolina and fine pasta flour provides a butter-colored interior and blotchy black exterior. Serve these breads as a hot hors d'oeuvre with North African herb or tomato jams or for breakfast brushed with butter or argan oil and honey.

This fennel-and-scallion-enriched version of tyropita (Greek cheese pie) uses feta and cottage cheese to create a filling that's mildly tangy yet mellow.

One of Morocco's major grains, barley brings a malt-like flavor to this surprisingly light bread. Nigella seeds add a pleasant crunch and just the faintest hint of onion. To order the barley flour and nigella seeds, visit kalustyans.com.

This no-bake dessert features alternating layers of savory pistachio-studded semolina and a cooked cream called kashta, set into a springform cake pan and chilled in the refrigerator overnight. If you are feeding a crowd, double the recipe and forgo the cake shape for a looser presentation: Spread all the semolina mixture on a large platter, spoon the kashta over it, and garnish with the nuts and powdered sugar; then spoon it into dessert bowls. There is no English translation for kashta, pronounced "ahshta," but it is often described as the Arab equivalent of clotted cream. This fragrant cake filling is also delicious as a breakfast treat, drizzled with honey or swabbed on a piece of toast.

Ravioli al Radicchio Rosso Stuffed pasta shows up less frequently in Florence than it does in the nearby Emilia-Romagna region. But when it does appear on menus, it's usually dressed simply, like the ravioli here, with a little butter and a bit of grated Parmesan.

Semolina flour, made from durum wheat, is sometimes labeled "pasta flour."

Orecchiette (little ears) is a specialty of Apulia, in southeastern Italy. This recipe was created to accompany Orecchiette with Sausage and Red Pepper Sauce and Orecchiette with Red Wine Veal Sauce.

Samali One of the great sweets of Thessaloniki, made in pastry shops, at home, and hawked from small carts on the streets all around the Kapani market.