Piolane Miche

[FoodMan]

Mr. Reinhart, it is a pleasure having you as our guest this week. Your "Bread Baker's Apprentice" is my absolute baking bible at home, there is flour smudges on every page and I am determined to go through all "formulas". My latest success was with some Pane Siciliano a couple of days ago. It came out great.

The recipe that never worked out for me was Piolane's Miche, it always comes out very dense and with a wierd taste that I can best describe as raw and sour. Now, I've never had the real thing from France but I am assuming it should taste better than that. Do you have any tips that could help me with this? The loaf on the cover looks so good I have to get it right at some point.

Thanks for your time,

Elie

[Peter Reinhart]

Mr. Reinhart, it is a pleasure having you as our guest this week. Your "Bread Baker's Apprentice" is my absolute baking bible at home, there is flour smudges on every page and I am determined to go through all "formulas". My latest success was with some Pane Siciliano a couple of days ago. It came out great.

The recipe that never worked out for me was Piolane's Miche, it always comes out very dense and with a wierd taste that I can best describe as raw and sour. Now, I've never had the real thing from France but I am assuming it should taste better than that. Do you have any tips that could help me with this? The loaf on the cover looks so good I have to get it right at some point.

Thanks for your time,

Elie

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Dear Elie,

Thanks for your kind words about "...Apprentice."

The Poilane-style miche (country loaf) is tricky. The problem you're having is probably the whole wheat flour you're using (I'm assuming you're sifting whole wheat flour as described, or blending white flour with whole wheat). This can sometimes create a more acidic loaf and, depending on how much bran gets through the sifter, cause a denser loaf. You might want to try making it with what bakers call "Clear Flour." This is a high protein flour that hasn't been sifted as much as "patent flour" (regular white bread flour), and thus still retains some of its bran and germ, but not too much. I find that it tastes great, rises well, and makes a pretty good miche. The best way to get this flour is to go to a local bakery that makes their own rye bread and ask if they have any in stock. Explain that you're a home baker and beg them to sell you 10 or 20 pounds from their stock. Most bakers will do so and the price should be lower than a regular bag of flour from the supermarket (if they're kind and generous, as they should be).

You might also check with King Arthur Flour to see if they have anything that approximates the wheat flour of Poilane (the Baking Circle on their website is a goldmine of information sharing). They also carry a white whole wheat flour that makes great bread and, while I haven't used it yet in the Poilane bread, it would be worth trying. Also, regardless of the flour, be sure you're getting a good first rise before you go to the shaping stage. if the first rise isn't significant, then the second (final) rise will be very slow and probably make a very dense, tight loaf. Please let me know if these suggestions help.

[FoodMan]

Many thanks for the tips. So it is the flour mixture. I will try different combinations of white flour/whole wheat flour and will try to get me some clear flour. Also I will make sure the first rise is significant. I will let you know once I succeed.

Elie

[KyleW]

Hi Chef!

Thans for the tip on using clear flour in the miche. I'm not sure about the whole wheat flour you described, but I know King Arthur sells clear flour.

KyleW

[FoodMan]

This First Clear Flour is what we are talking about. Right?

Elie

[KyleW]

This First Clear Flour is what we are talking about. Right?

Elie

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Yep, that's the stuff!