Sourdough Bread: Poilâne-Style Miche

The most famous bread baker in the world is probably Lionel Poilâne, whose boulangerie in Paris’s Latin Quarter makes only a few products. The most famous is a round, two-kilo, naturally fermented (wild-yeast) country bread that he calls a miche but that everyone else calls pain Poilâne. His system (described on pages 18–19) is simple—each baker, Poilâne’s personally trained apprentice, is responsible from start to finish for his loaves. This entails mixing and baking as well as stacking his own firewood and stoking his own fire. Poilâne teaches his apprentices to bake by feel as much as by formula, so there is no thermostat in the oven. The baker must determine when the oven is ready by holding his hand in the oven or tossing in a piece of paper to see how long it takes to turn to parchment and then burn. Poilâne critiques a loaf from each batch daily to keep abreast of the work of his men, since there are nearly twenty bakers in his stable, most working outside of Paris at his manufacture in Bièvres. The key to the Poilâne method is comprehending the craftsmanship of hand work, including understanding the fermentation process and commitment to the finest ingredients. Poilâne’s flour is organically grown and is sifted to a partial whole wheat, a 90 to 95 percent extraction rate (this means that much, but not all, of the bran is still in the flour). The finished bread is somewhat dense and very chewy, its flavors changing in the mouth with each chew, and it keeps for about a week at room temperature. Bread pilgrims come from all over the world to buy a Poilâne loaf (this includes those who visit Lionel’s brother Max, who makes similar loaves at his own bakeries scattered around Paris). When I visited Boulangerie Poilâne on rue du Cherche-Midi, I noticed some very attractive gift boxes, complete with cutting board and knife. Apparently, many visitors buy these and have them shipped to family and friends. It speaks volumes that one man can become so iconic because of a commitment to his craft. Of course, it’s fitting that in France this craft is bread baking. The following version of the Poilâne-style miche utilizes a long fermentation and a three-build system (the barm counts as the first build). It makes creative use of common kitchen bowls to replicate the difficult to find banneton proofing baskets of Poilâne’s operation. As always with baking, necessity is the mother of invention, and a home kitchen can always be modified to imitate, on a small scale, a commercial bakery.