Miche from Michel Suas' "Advanced Bread and Pastry"
I have made miches from Peter Reinhart's BBA, from Daniel Leader's “Local Breads” and the Miche, “Pointe-à-Callière” from Jeffrey Hamelman's “Bread.” All were good breads. Reinhart's was the closest to the Pain Poilâne I remember from my single tasting in Paris some 25 years ago.
This weekend, I baked the miche from Michel Suas' “Advanced Bread and Pastry” for the first time. Suas references Pain Poilâne as the best known miche, but he does not say his formula is an attempt to replicate it. His “miche” is a 2 lb boule. This is smaller than my notion of a miche, but what do I know? I'll ask M. Suas the week after next when I'm at the SFBI for the Artisan II class and report back.
Suas' formula and procedures are quite unusual in several respects. It uses 3 builds and specifies a mixture of high-extraction, bread and medium rye flours. The final dough has 50% pre-fermented flour from the levain, and almost all the water comes from the 120% hydration levain. Even more remarkable is the very brief bulk fermentation of 15 minutes. I assume this works because of the very high percentage of pre-fermented flour. After shaping, the miche is retarded overnight before baking.
First levain feeding |
Wt. |
Baker's % |
High-extraction flour |
1 3/8 oz |
100 |
Water |
1 ¾ oz |
120 |
Salt |
1/8 tsp |
0.6 |
Starter (stiff) |
1/8 oz |
10 |
Total |
3 ¼ oz |
230.6 |
-
Mix all ingredients well with a DDT of 70ºF
-
Ferment 16 hrs at room temperature.
Levain formula |
Wt. |
Baker's % |
High-extraction flour |
8 1/4 oz |
100 |
Water |
9 7/8 oz |
120 |
Salt |
1/4 tsp |
0.6 |
First feeding |
3 1/4 oz |
40 |
Total |
21 5/8 oz |
260.6 |
-
Mix all ingredients well with a DDT of 70ºF
-
Ferment 8 hours at room temperature.
Note: I fermented at room temperature for 6 hours, then refrigerated overnight. I allowed the levain to warm up and ferment another 2 hours before mixing the final dough
Final dough formula |
Wt. |
Baker's % |
Bread flour |
5 5/8 oz |
60 |
High-extraction flour |
1 7/8 oz |
20 |
Medium rye flour |
1 7/8 oz |
20 |
Water |
7/8 oz |
10 |
Salt |
3/8 oz |
3.8 |
Levain |
21 5/8 oz |
230.6 |
Total |
21 5/8 oz |
344.4 |
Note on ingredients: I used "Organic Type 85" flour from Central Milling for the high-extraction flour, KAF Bread Flour and KAF Medium Rye flour.
Process
-
Mix water and Levain
-
Mix flours and salt. Add to water/levain mixture and mix to medium gluten development. (I mixed this dough in a Bosch Universal Plus for 3 minutes at first speed and 6 minutes at second speed.)
-
Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and ferment for 15 minutes.
-
Pre-shape the dough into a light ball and rest it for 20-30 minutes.
-
Shape into a boule. Place it in a banneton and cover well with plastic or place in a food grade plastic bag.
-
Retard overnight in the refrigerator. (Suas specifies a temperature of 48ºF, actually.)
-
The next morning, pre-heat your oven to 500ºF with baking stone and steaming apparatus in place.
-
Pre-steam the oven. Transfer the miche to a peel. Score the miche. (Suas specifies a diamond pattern.) Transfer it to the baking stone. Stem the oven. Turn the oven down to 440ºF. (See Note, below.)
-
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until the internal temperature is 205ºF and the bottom gives a hollow sound when thumped. (Note: I baked this in a Lodge Combo Cooker – Convection bake for 20 minutes covered at 460ºF, covered then 25 minutes at 440ºF, uncovered.)
-
Transfer to a cooling rack and cool thoroughly before slicing.
Suas doesn't mention it, but most authors recommend waiting 12 to 24 hours before slicing this type of bread.
The miche
Miche crumb
I sliced and tasted the bread after it had cooled for about 4 hours. The crust was crunchy. The crumb was chewy. The aroma and flavor were unlike any bread I've ever tasted. It did have a mild sourdough tang, but the flavor was uniquely wonderful. It had some nuttiness I associate with wheat germ and sweetness I've only tasted before in some baguettes that have had a long, slow fermentation or were made with pâte fermentée. I assume the wonderful flavor can be credited to the combination of the "Type 85" flour and the unusual process commented on above.
I'm looking forward to baking some other miches using this flour. It's wonderful.
David
Submitted to YeastSpotting [1]