Hamelman's Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere with Golden Buffalo flour

Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere

Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere

Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere crumb

Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere crumb

I have made Hamelman's Miche, Ponte-a-Calliere several times. It has been one of my favorites. My previous breads have used 100% First Clear flour from King Arthur.

Several other bakers had enthused about Golden Buffalo flour from Heartland Mill, and their description made it sound ideal for this Miche, so that's what I tried for my first baking with this flour.

Golden Buffalo is more coarsely ground than most bread flours, other than pumpernickel. It absorbs lots of water. I followed Hamelman's formula however, resulting in a dryer dough than using First Clear. It was quite tacky, but not really a slack dough.

The crust color is really nice, I think. The crumb, while not as open as it is meant to be, is still nice and the chew is wonderful. It tasted really good 2 hours after baking. I bet it will taste even better today.

Next time, I'm going for higher hydration and, if I remember, I will make a soaker with at least part of the flour, as suggested by bwraith.

David

dmsnyder's Blog
Log in or register to post comments

I see your point about the crust, but it looks good! One of these days I am going to have to tackle this one.

--dolf

See my My Bread Adventures in pictures

As Hamelman says, this bread tastes better after at least 12 hours. I had a couple slices for lunch with soup. It tastes more like a whole wheat bread than anything. The flavor of the wheat was more assertive and the sourness less so today. I'd encourage you to "tackle" it.
David

David,

That's a really nice loaf and the interior is lovely; nice, evenly distributed holes, throughout. You do great work. I've got to try that one.

Howard - St. Augustine, FL

I'm a big fan of this bread. It turned out well, even though I didn't water it enough. Maybe it's partly the size, but I do love taking those 3+ pound loaves out of the oven.
David