Poilane Style Miche (BBA)

This was my second bread that I had made with the barm that I had cultivated according to the instructions in BBA (create seed culture, mix with flour & water, let sit for a day). I am relatively happy with this massive loaf. The crumb is not as hole-y as on actual pain poilane which I assume is a combination of operator error and different types of flour used. Overall, though, it is a beautiful loaf that I highly recommend.

Reinhart's Miche from Bread Baker's Apprentice

Firm starter:

• 190g barm
• 125g stone ground WW flour
• 125g bread flour
• 110g water

I mixed all of the ingredients together until the flour was all hydrated and the barm was evenly distributed throughout the dough. My place is relatively cold, so I went to sleep after making the starter and left it out for about 8 hours prior to refrigeration. Upon waking up in the morning, I stuck the dough in the fridge. It almost doubled in size, but probably not quite, as my barm has not been as active as I'd like, probably due to the cold temps in my place.

Late in the evening, I cut the dough into 12 pieces and let them sit in my mixer bowl. To speed up the process of coming to room temperature, I created a warm environment for the dough by pouring hot water into a large bowl, setting a smaller, empty bowl inside of the large bowl, and finally putting the mixer bowl on top of the empty bowl.

After the dough was room temp, I added the main ingredients as follows:

• 550g firm starter
• 400g stone ground WW flour
• 400g KA bread flour
• 500g water
• 20g salt

I mixed it in my large kitchen aid for about 6 minutes, took it out, kneaded it by hand, put it back in for another 4 minutes or so, until it passed the windowpane test.

The dough was relatively tacky (a little more than I had expected it to be, as the overall hydration of between 62-65%), and I let it ferment at room temp for until the morning. This is where I didn't follow the recipe as I probably should have.

The next morning, the dough had doubled, and I stuck it in the fridge, as I did not have time to continue the process at that point. Reinhart's instructions say to shape the dought, then put it in your proofing basket, then stick it in the fridge. Oh well.

I came home later in the day, took the loaf out of the mixing bowl, shaped it, and put it in my proofing basket. I created a modified proofing area with warm water on top of and on bottom of the loaf. It's kind of hard to explain. It essentially just creates a warmer environment for the dough, akin to a proofing container. I did this because I did not want to wait 4 hours for the dough to come to room temperature.

I got the oven quite hot (about 500 F), and let the oven warm for about an hour. After an hour, I put the dough onto a large cutting board with corn meal on it as a modified peel, slashed it, put it on the pizza stone in the oven, and poured about 2 cups boiling water into a loaf pan in the oven. Once in the oven, I lowered temp to 450. After 25 minutes, I turned down the temp to 425, rotated it 180 degrees and cooked for another 30 minutes.

I took the bread out, let it sit for a little over a day, and then cut into the beast last night.

One of my slashes was a little too deep, hence the blow out. The overall loaf weighs about 1.7 kilos or 3lbs 10oz. I used a little higher ratio of firm starter to final dough (about 70% vs the suggested 62.5%). The crumb is tight, but I guess that is to be expected with so much WW flour, the lower hydration of the dough, and the long knead the recipe calls for. I think that the next loaf I make, i'll try to do the french slap and fold that people seem to be using for kneading with the lower hydration doughs.

The flavor of the dough is heavenly. The crust is to die for. It is quite strongly flavored with my barm. It's not my overall favorite loaf that I have made, but it is one of the best, and certainly the most complicated. Again, the flavor of this bread is quite complex, and the chew is delightful.

Matt