Miche with Heirloom Wheat Flour

Miehe is traditionally a large round loaf (“miche” is French slang for a butt cheek). It’s the bread that used to be baked in communal ovens and fed a family for a week. The bread precedes modem milling methods and commercial yeast. It was made from a sourdough culture and used a mix of different grain flours (usually wheat and rye) which were somewhere between white flour and whole-grain flour. Our modern definition of miche is vague at best. It usually means that a sourdough culture is used and there is some proportion of various whole grain flours. Below is a home oven-sized simplified miche, which is meant to give you the confidence to use more and various whole grain flours. It uses ~50% whole grain flour and has a good amount of flavor. It also has the option of adding a little bit of commercial yeast in addition to the sourdough, so that there is a greater chance of success as you become familiar with your sourdough culture. As you increase the amount of whole-grain flour, you’ll usually also need also to increase the amount of water (whole grains are thirsty) and maybe do a few more folds to develop the gluten. 100% whole grain doughs can need equal parts water to flour, or more. This recipe is for a ~900g (2 lb) dough. Total flour is 500g (not counting the flour in the sourdough to simplify the math). Make 2-4 loaves at a time if you can to experiment with proofing, scoring, etc.

Great

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Mix everything together in a mixing bowl by hand until well incorporated. Cover.

Step 2

Do a series of stretch and folds in the bowl every hour for 6 hours. (I omit the instant yeast.)

Step 3

Place the dough in the covered container in the fridge for 8-12 hours.

Step 4

Remove the dough from the fridge and preshape it gently into a round. Place it seam up in a seasoned banneton. Place banneton inside the plastic bag and tight it, so there is a dome over the dough. Refrigerate for another 8-12 hours.

Step 5

Preheat oven 475F with the steal/clay stone and a cloche inside. Remove the dough from the fridge, gently remove it from the banneton, stencil/score it, and keep covered with a large bowl until ready to bake.

Step 6

Bake for 25 minutes covered with a cloche. Reduce the heat to 425F and bake for another 25 minutes uncovered. Let cool on a rack at room temperature. If you want a crispy crust, keep you bread not covered for the first 6-8 hours, then place in a paper bag. If you want a soft crust, wrap your bread into the cotton kitchen towels when cooling.

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