Pictures-Snapshots
A place to share my home cooking, gardening and stories, from the past to present. ENJOY!
To fill up the time during the second rounds of the Lockdown for me is being busy, doing good deeds one of them is baking, the journey of learning sourdough bread continues.
A new book about bread and sourdough was
purchased and I have been baking some of the recipes with enthusiasm. This time all is about a large country loaf- MICH E, the traditional sourdough country bread in FranceI had baked the large country loaf a view times,
none of them were perfect. The shape, the looks are acceptable, but the texture is in question. The crumb is dense and the crust is hard. For that reason, I keep on trying, and so far I have been baking three loaves, the last one was much better, the crust has improved to a thinner and softer crust, almost Perfect. Since then I have baked more loaves with the difference.
The MICHE with my initial S is one of my best works, love it so much and I decided not to cut the bread, instead, I will use it as a MODEL. First, dry the loaf, when it is completely dry, followed by the application of furnish, cover the surface a few times until it is well covered. Keep in a dry place, away from dust. It is not completely there yet right now.
Here it is the picture on a baking day. It looks good, loves the scoring.
To make MICHE weights for 2 kg, this is what you need. Based on the book Poilane.
The Formula Based on Poilane, the book by Apollonia Poilane
550g all-purpose flour
450g wheat flour
410 sourdough starter
20g fine sea salt
650g lukewarm water
The Big Four Ingredients for the Miche. FLOUR, WATER, STARTER, AND SALT |
I do mill my own flour since I got Mockmill (lucky me) and fortunate enough the wheat grain is easy to get in the shop, but the all-purpose flour got it ready milled and come in a packet of one kg or two kg. White-Wing brand is one of the best. Ordinary non-organic flour I use, most of the time, on occasions when I love to bake the organic bread, I buy organic flour, also the ingredients that are needed.
Milling the Wheat Grains |
The Starter is ready, it took 48 hours, it is a very easy starter to prepare.
The starter takes only 48 hours to be ready. |
Mixing: Flour, add the Starter, and add the water which is added with salt to dissolve. Mix together to make a nice smooth dough. Shape into a ball and followed by the kneading. |
Kneading the dough by hands for 10-15 minutes. I counted to reach of the smoothness, the developing the gluten about 310 movements. I do the traditional kneading, not the fold and slap. |
One hour later the dough is increased almost doubled |
Cover the basket with plastic and a clean towel, place in a warm place for the final rise let it stays for 2 hours. Two hours after the proofing, it is ready to bake. First transfer the dough to a peel lined with baking paper, brush the dough with egg white to the surface and place the decorations |
Beautifully Decorated with Grapes and its leaves |
The formation of the bread, it does not look bad at all. |
Beautifully Baked Cooling on a Wire Rack for Two Hours |
Magnificent Miche. Beautiful. |
The crumb is dense but soft, the crust is crusty |