Pointe-a-Calliere Miche - move over BBA "Poilane"...
a while ago I asked for recommendations on which recipe is best for a Poilane style miche...
thanks dmsnyder for telling me about the Miche, Pointe-a-Calliere in Hamelman's book, a recipe from Montreal baker James MacGuire. I baked it for the first time today and it was outstanding!!
The crumb was gorgeous (IMHO ;) ), a nice moist crumb, with really nice hole quality and variation, delicious flavor, crust, everything. The only "variables" I did were that I ground the flour from wheat berries just before using, did a little over 60 minutes for the autolyse (they give a 20-60 minute range), and I added the levain build first to the flour-water, then added the salt after that was fully kneaded in.
It's interesting the difference in hydration, the Pointe-a-Calliere at a whopping 82% with the Reinhart at 62.5%.
I had some doubts as to whether it was going to "fly" with that hydration in combination with "underkneading" to only moderate gluten development and folding later... plus I wasn't convinced the bulk fermentation of 2 to 2-1/2 hours was going to be enough for all natural yeast...
It was a fantastic learning experience, best miche I've ever made.
I stirred up some controversy before saying Montreal had the best bagels, now I'm thinking maybe Montreal has the best miche too!
I highly recommend this recipe to anyone who's after a Poilane style miche. Thanks again to David for bringing the recipe to my attention!