July 29, 2012 - 4:18pm
Miche, Pointe-à-Callière (from Hamelman's "Bread")
Miche, Pointe-à-Callière
I haven't made this one in a while. It is still a favorite. I made it with Central Milling's "Type 85 Organic, unmalted" flour. I retarded the firm levain overnight, but the bread was baked on the same day the final dough was mixed.
Episodic supervision and taste testing were provided by granddaughter, Naomi.
Miche, Pointe-a-Calliere, crumb
Tasting notes
Crunchy-chewy crust. Chewy crumb. Sweet, nutty, wheaty flavors with moderate sourdough tang, tasted 18 hours after baking. Naomi, who doesn't eat the crust on bakery bread, 1. Asked for a second slice. 2. Finished both slices to the last crumb and said the crust was her favorite part.
David
Happy baker/grandfather
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Comments
Great looking bread, and cute little muncher too!
-Floyd
Beautiful bread, and a real coffee machine?
David,
What priceless photos of your granddaughter! Your bread looks pretty good too but the look on her face says it all in that last photo. That child has good taste and has now been spoiled by eating the best crust there is - freshly baked sourdough. Always my favorite too. :-) ( I can't eat bread now but I can eat mochi and, in a way, it reminds me of the SF sourdough I grew up on. Crusty and crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.)
Thanks for the post and wonderful pictures!
Take Care,
Janet
Hi David,
The photo of the big smile, and expression, on your granddaughter's face as she samples this bread -
that's a tasting note that says it all!
:^) breadsong
Such a splendid airy crumb and rich looking crust you've achieved on this loaf David. The flavour..if the expression on Naomi's face is any indication must be wonderful. Isn't she lucky to have a grandfather as skilled in baking as you are. We can write volumes about the bread we make, describing formula, process and flavour, but nothing says it better than this sort of photo in my opinion. Truly, I can't think of a better reason to pursue our hobby,and/or vocation than the obvious pleasure I see in your grandaughter's expression. We have a grandchild on the way in September and I fully intend to make sure she or he knows what real bread should look and taste like when the time comes . Thanks for the preview of what I have to look forward to.
Always a pleasure to read your posts David and looking forward to the next addition to your blog.
Franko
We all know that having family eat our bread with pleasure is a real high. What you don't know yet is that Naomi and I made a couple loaves of Reinhart's Cinnamon-Raisin-Walnut bread this afternoon. She helped check the fermentation for doubling and bubble formation ("I didn't believe it would really do it, Grampa!"). I shaped one loaf, then she rolled out the other, measured it to 5 X 8 inches, sprinkled on the cinnamon sugar and rolled it up. She checked it for peaking above the loaf pan before baking. Six year old Naomi and little sister, three year old Sasha, both wanted a slice for their dessert after dinner.
We had a great Skype video chat with the girls' parents this afternoon. They are vacationing on Santorini after Momma presented a paper at an international music perception conference in Thessaloniki. They expect Naomi to have made a batch of bagels for their return later this coming week. Sasha wants to make bagels too.
What fun!
David
Beautiful Pointe-à-Callière, David! Perfect to me. The crust is lovely colored, just the way i love it, and the crumb is open and irregular.
I have baked this twice, and the 82% hydration always results in a low profile Miche, doesn't seem to be the case with you. Is it the Central milling flour water absorption, or have you reduced the hydration?
Absolutely Lovely classic Miche, David.
I am going to recalculate the hydration. I know there is an error in the "Test" column for the water amount. I need to recheck my "correction."
David
must be about as good as it ever gets David!
Best wishes
Andy
This is a delicious bread.
David
taste tester is way prettier than mine, and not nearly as furry! She seems much happier after tasting your bread than mine does after tasting mine.
Don't tell me you have a bagel machine to go with that coffee maker :-)
The crust and crumb are gorgeous. Glad it tastes good too.
Very nice baking as usual David.
Lovely looking miche!
I've been meaning to pick up some of this flour, and on my next central milling run (I'm about half through my previous bag) I may have to see if someone will split a 50# sack of 85 with me. I'm absoultly in love with the type 70, and use it instead of AP for nearly all my breads, but sometimes you want just a bit more germ/bran in there for miches like this.
Nice looking bake, David, as always. It turns out that this past weekend's etage of my 2012 Summer Tour de Hamelman also passed through Pointe-à-Callière.
My SD bakes rarely achieve the loft of yours, this one being no exception, with its more the classic miche profile. I don't have easy access to CM's flours and adopted JH's suggested alternative of 85:15 WW:AP/bread flour. I think that's a dubious compromise and next time will return to your/SFBI's approach of adding wheat germ (and even some bran) back to AP/bread flour, rather than 'diluting' WW 15% with AP/bread flour, to simulate hi-E flour. And that 82% hydration was certainly a challenge for hand mixing. Still a very satisfying loaf, with some local aged sheep cheese just now.
Bingo! You've hit upon the solution to the vexing challenge of transmitting bread flavor and fragrance via the internet: (1) Hand the loaf to an appreciative and expressive grandchild, (2) Photograph response, (3) Post.
Cheers,
Tom
Nuff said.
Larry
at KAF using KA high-extraction flour, and then made it with the Central Milling Type 85 a few days later. Loft and crumb both times similar to yours David, though probably not as exquisite. But as to taste, I actually preferred the KAF by a wide margin. It had a nuttiness or maybe "wheatness" that the Central Milling has always lacked for me. So, something worth trying if you are on the east coast and Central Milling too expensive to ship.
There is a gremlin in my keyboard that makes me always misspell his name!
Thanks for the compliment!
I've not seen a high-extraction flour sold by KAF. Is this a new product? For sale to the home baker?
David
I was also intrigued by your reference to KA Hi-E flour and dug through their site last night in search of it: no joy. They sell some specialty flours to be sure, including an "Artisan", "French style", "Italian style", etc, but nothing explicitly high extraction. So perhaps the flour you used in your Hamelman class was only made available to those in the class(es)?
Thanks,
Tom
which is their distributor in the NE (including distributing to the KAF store in Norwich, VT). I believe it is only in 50 lb bags however. Give them a call at (518) 580-1550 and see if they will ship to you. Or, contact KAF and ask about distribution sources where you are. It's great flour... worth the hunt!
...for the Hillcrest info. I'll give them a try.
Tom
Your miche sure looks great, David, but it's not quite as pretty as Naomi.
If you do the bagels, sure hope you take a photo of Sasha at work. We haven't seen her since her highchair days, chewing on rye.
No easy bake oven for your grandgirls!
See Snyder Bakers: The Next Generation.
Maybe I can get Sasha to do a bagel tutorial.
David
I saw that nice thread of Naomi doing bagels with Glenn.
But Sasha still seems to be missing from the kitchen. Age discrimination? ;-)
You're correct. I called Naomi by her sister's name. Not the first time.
David
What a cute helper you have, and the breads not too shabby either!
Lovely, lovely,lovely! And your granddaughter is cute, too! Bravo!
Jay
David your breads continue to inspire us, as always.
My granddaughters, all now young adults, are persuing their careers or educations, to far away or to busy to grace my kitchen. I envy you.
David G
I'm very much aware of my good fortune in being able to have the granddaughters here at this time. However, each age and stage has it's own rewards and challenges.
David
... and the bread looks wonderful, too :) So happy to read your post, it left me warm, glowing and maybe even a tad teary. I have a twelve year-old now, and I can only imagine how wonderful life will be when she runs off for a much-deserved vacation while leaving the grandkids with me to bake.
I admire the lovely rounded shape of your miche, they are so often flat-ish in shape. Picture perfect.
re: KAF high extraction flour, I suspect that their first clear flour may fit the bill in smaller packages.
Just wait 'til you see the granddaughters making bagels! (To bake for their parents, returning from Greece tonight.)
Before I first sourced any high-extraction flour, I did use KAF First Clear for miches. It lent a delicious and unique flavor to the breads. Subsequently, there were a number of discussions in which it was pointed out that First Clear flour and high-extraction flour are not the same. Okay. I'll accept that and still agree with you that First Clear does make a most satisfactory miche.
David