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Submitted by cpc on February 21, 2010 - 7:17pm

Mixed-flour miche

Today I baked the Mixed-flour miche from Hamelman's Bread.  I really like the Miche Pointe-a-Calliere, and this bread seems similar, so I wanted to try it.  I stuck to Hamelman's instructions, except I increased bulk fermentation to 3 hours (3 folds at 45 minute intervals) because my bulk fermentations always seem to take longer than the times given in Bread.  Final fermentation was 2.5 hours.  I steamed the oven as usual after putting the loaf in (by pouring hot water into a hot frying pan on the bottom rack), but also put a roasting pan over the bread for the first 15 minutes to try to keep it in a moist environment and encourage a thinner, crispier crust.

The crust seems thinner than on my previous miches, which I attribute to the roasting pan.  Like my previous attempt at the Miche Pointe-a-Calliere the crumb seems a bit less open than it ought to be.  Tastewise, I think the mixed flour miche has a bit more sour tang than the Point-a-Calliere.

I also tried a Rubaud-inspired no knead bread this week (sorry, no photos).  I followed the standard NYT no knead formula, but used the same mix of flours as the Gerard Rubaud formula.  I omitted the yeast, and added 16 grams of 100% hydration whole wheat starter.  (I reduced the amount of water and whole wheat flour accordingly).  It produced a loaf with an intense sour flavour that overwhelmed all the other flavours in the bread.  This was a fun experiment, but I'm not sure I would recommend it.

Submitted by cpc on February 15, 2010 - 8:35pm

Gérard Rubaud attempt

I decided to try the Gérard Rubaud bread that so many people around here seem to be enjoying.  I followed dmsnyder's instructions using a single levain build.  I had quite a bit of trouble shaping this dough into batards; it was sticking to everything and didn't seem to have much strength at all.  I proofed the loaves in a (improvised) couche but during proofing they seemed to fall and spread out instead of rise.  Fortunately they sprang quite a bit in the oven.

My scoring mostly disappeared! This seems to happen quite a bit to me.  I think they might be under-proofed or not scored deep enough.  Maybe?
I'm not sure about this crumb.  Yes, there certainly are holes!  But I'm wondering if they are from poor shaping technique because the non-hole crumb is a bit dense.
Nitpickiness about scoring and crumb structure aside, these loaves taste great!  Thanks to dmsnyder and TFL for the formula for a fantastic loaf!
Submitted by cpc on February 7, 2010 - 3:36pm

First post: Miche Pointe-a-Calliere

I've been reading this website for a while, but this is my first post.  Yesterday I baked the Miche Pointe-a-Calliere from Hamelman's Bread.  I made this for the first time last week, and loved it, so I was excited to try it again.  I halved the recipe, because I'm the only one who eats bread in my house and don't know what I'd do with an almost 4lb loaf!  I used a whole wheat as opposed to white flour culture because that's what I have.  And I extended the primary fermentation and proofing time a bit because it's about 70F in my apartment (not 76F which the recipe recommends).

Here's the loaf!

And the obligatory crumb shot.

The crumb is a bit dense and moist.  I think it was a bit underbaked.  (I was concerned that it would be overbaked because I baked it for the full hour even though I halved the recipe, but I guess that wasn't the case...)  Tastes great though!