Miche Bread: Poilâne-Style Sourdough Wheat Loaf
Written by MasterClass
Last updated: Oct 21, 2024 • 11 min read
Apollonia Poilâne is a third-generation baker and steward of the iconic Poîlane miche bread, a traditional French-style sourdough with a tight crumb and mild flavor that her family repopularized. Learn how to make the “big hugs of bread” that put Poilâne on the map. Jump to recipe.
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What Is Miche Bread?
Miche (pronounced “mish”) is a rustic, hearty bread made with a sourdough starter and whole-wheat flour. In French, “la miche” means “the round loaf.” Also known as pain du champagne (“country bread”), this old-fashioned bread gets its dark brown color from whole grain, stone-ground flour. Today, most recipes approximate the original by mixing whole-wheat or rye flour with a percentage of white flour. Miche has a tighter crumb than pain au levain—the other French wheat sourdough bread—which makes it a perfect receptacle for jam and ideal for making sandwiches.
A Brief History of Miche Bread
For centuries, French people relied on communal ovens for baking bread. Such ovens were typically only available once a week. Long-lasting, hearty miche was a means of keeping a family well-fed for an entire week until the communal oven was available again. Miche remained popular until the advent of commercial yeast in 1915. Around this time, new modern baguettes started to replace traditional sourdough bread. In 1932, Pierre Poilâne opened his bakery in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, Paris, selling traditional miche bread to working-class locals. “At the time, the Parisians were favoring whiter breads, typically the baguette,” Apollonia explains. “To distinguish himself from his competition, my grandfather baked these country-style wheat loaves.” And it was a hit: “This neighborhood was filled with artists and craftsmen that could barely pay for their rent,” Appollonia adds. “And so they would get some sourdough and it would keep, and that made a world of difference for them because smaller and whiter breads keep less long.”
Pierre’s son Lionel (Apollonia’s father) further popularized the old-fashioned bread in the 1970s, and miche-style breads soon spread to the United States. Today, Apollonia Poîlane carries on her family’s tradition. “The recipe that we do today at Poilâne is the same as we did back in 1932 when my grandfather started,” she says.
What Does Miche Bread Taste Like?
Miche has a mild, hearty flavor and isn’t as tangy as San Francisco sourdough. Like all sourdough loaves, miche’s precise flavor depends upon the blend of bread flours, environmental factors, and variations in preparation (such as the length of the autolyse). “The beauty of sourdough is that it has a distinctive flavor. It keeps your bread longer, it gives it a more specific aromatic signature,” Apollonia says. It typically has a nuttier, more acidic flavor than white bread.
Bread Scoring Patterns: How to Score Miche
“Scoring is the last intervention you can do to the dough before it goes into the oven. It creates a direction to the way the loaf will crackle in the oven,” Apollonia says. Follow these steps for perfectly scored bread:
- 1. Gather your tools. A bread lame will work best for scoring, but you can also use a razor blade or a very sharp knife, or kitchen scissors.
- 2. Place your bread on a flat surface. Scoring is the last step of the bread-making process. You score the bread after you knead and after proofing, right before you put your loaf into the oven. Place your sourdough on a flat surface, such as a cutting board, so it is secure. “The trick here is if your loaf has risen a lot, make sure to score very lightly, just marking the loaf top. Conversely, if your loaf has been having a hard time rising, this is a moment where you’re gonna slash deeper and a little more forcefully to give the dough some boost,” Apollonia adds.
- 3. Make a hashtag for circular loaves. If you’re just starting to experiment with scoring, one of the easiest patterns to accomplish is a hashtag shape. With your blade angled at about 45 degrees, apply medium pressure—about what you’d use to write on paper with a pen. Quickly slash two parallel lines, each about ¼-inch deep. Then turn the bread 90 degrees and repeat. Speed is critical here. Hesitation can cause tears in the bread.
- 4. Try fancy shapes. “As you build your confidence in your dough and in your baking practice, venture off to put your initials or create a landscape,” Apollonia says. Polaîne miche gets a signature “P.” Cursive letters or ears of wheat are good starting points.
- 5. Use a slash. For oval-shaped loaves, also known as bâtards, one deep slash is typically all it takes to create a distinctive “ear” running the length of your loaf. Learn more about how to score your bread.
Miche Bread Shelf Life
While Miche has a longer shelf life than a baguette, all good things must come to an end. However, you can give your Miche new life by using it as an ingredient in other recipes.
What Do You Eat With Miche?
Miche has a tight crumb and crunchy crust, which makes it an ideal bread for dipping in soup, eating with jam, or making tartines and sandwiches. Consider making one of the following recipes using fresh or dry miche:
- Apollonia Poilâne’s sourdough wheat tartines: A tartine is a French open-faced sandwich consisting of a slice of toasted bread with a spreadable topping. Apollonia’s tartines call for Brie cheese, prosciutto, and fresh cracked pepper.
- Apollonia Poilâne’s sourdough wheat and rye granola: Apollonia’s take on homemade granola calls for stale miche, almonds, hazelnuts, and puffed rice. It makes for the perfect addition to a bowl of fresh fruit and yogurt.
- Apollonia Poilâne’s breadcrumb pesto: Breadcrumb pesto is a dairy-free variation on the classic basil pesto sauce, which swaps grated Parmesan cheese for the crispy crumbs of a days-old loaf of bread. Apollonia Poilâne’s breadcrumb pesto swaps the fresh basil for parsley, lending the sauce a more herbaceous, earthier taste than other pesto recipes.
Poilâne-Style Sourdough Wheat Loaf (Miche) Recipe
makes
1 loafprep time
45 mintotal time
1 hr 40 mincook time
55 minIngredients
Note: You will need to prepare Poilâne-style sourdough starter before starting this recipe. The total time does not include 3 hours 45 minutes of inactive time.
Make the dough:
- 1
In a small mixing bowl, combine the yeast with 1 tablespoon of the lukewarm water and whisk with a fork. Let the mixture sit until activated, about 2 minutes. Test for activation by briefly whisking the mixture with a fork. If it’s foamy, the yeast has activated. If not, start again with a new batch of yeast and lukewarm water.
- 2
In another small bowl, combine the salt with 2 tablespoons of the water and stir to dissolve.
- 3
Use a bench scraper to carefully transfer the sourdough starter to a large mixing bowl. Avoid deflating any air bubbles in the starter. Add the activated yeast mixture to one side of the bowl and cover with a little flour to prevent the yeast from touching the salt. Add the salt water mixture to the other side of the bowl. Add the remaining all-purpose and whole-wheat flours.
- 4
Pour 2 cups plus 5 tablespoons of the water down the sides of the bowl. If it’s a very cold day, use warm water; if it’s a hot day, use cool water.
- 5
Lightly flour your hands. Keeping your nondominant hand on the side of the bowl, form your dominant hand into a scoop shape and gently mix the ingredients, keeping your fingers together. Use your nondominant hand to rotate and tilt the bowl as you mix the dough with your cupped hand. Continue mixing until the ingredients come together and the dough has a stringy consistency, like soft string cheese.
- 6
Use your clean hand to very lightly flour a work surface. Use your dough-covered hand to scrape the dough out of the bowl and onto the work surface. Use a bench scraper to scrape excess dough from your hand onto the dough mound.
- 7
Flour your hands away from the loaf, and rub them together to remove all traces of dough. Discard this dough and flour; do not incorporate it into the rest of the dough. When your hands are clean and lightly floured, knead the dough. If it’s a hot day, you can be more forceful with the dough. If it’s a cold day, you’ll need to be more delicate with the dough.
- 8
Use a bench scraper to flip the dough over. If it sticks to the work surface, pick up the dough and re-flour the work surface. Use fast, energetic (but not too forceful) movements to knead the dough, bringing the side of your hand underneath the dough and folding it up over itself, then press it into the center of the dough with the heel of your hand. Repeat this motion until the dough comes together, about 5–10 minutes. The dough doesn’t need to be fully smooth, but there should not be any flour pockets.
First rise:
1. Lightly flour a large, clean glass bowl. Use a bench scraper to transfer the dough from the work surface to the bowl. Cover the dough with a cloth and let it rise in a warm (68–77 degrees Fahrenheit or 20–25 degrees Celsius), draft-free place until it has doubled in size and offers some resistance, about 45 minutes. Start checking the dough after 30 minutes, especially if your kitchen is very warm. If your dough has not doubled in volume after 30 minutes, consider moving the dough to a warmer (but not hot) place and give it an extra 10–5 minutes.
2. While the dough is rising, generously flour a cloth-lined wicker proofing basket or line a colander with cotton or linen.
Shape the dough:
1. Once the dough has doubled in size, begin shaping. Lightly flour your hands and lightly re-flour your work surface if necessary. Use the bench scraper to turn the dough out from the bowl onto the floured work surface. With the dough scraper and a lightly floured hand, gently move the dough across the work surface, re-flouring the surface as needed.
2. Use both hands to scoop underneath the left and right sides of the dough, lifting the dough straight up and setting it back down. The dough will stretch out when you lift it. As you set it back down, tilt the dough so that the top and bottom edges fold underneath, creating a seam. Gently cradle the folded dough boule (seam side down) to the top left corner of your work surface.
3. Working diagonally, from the top left corner of your work surface down to the bottom right corner of your work surface, gently tuck the dough underneath itself with your dominant hand, using your non-dominant hand as a guide to keep the dough’s shape. Repeat this motion until the surface of the dough is taut. You’ll know you’re using the correct motion if the seam at the bottom of the dough is very small and tight.
Proof the dough:
1. Carefully transfer the dough, seam-side up, to the proofing basket. Let the dough rise, covered with a clean towel, in a warm (68–77 degrees Fahrenheit or 20–25 degrees Celsius), draft-free place until it’s sitting about ½ an inch (1 finger wide) away from the rim of the basket, about 2 hours. If after 2 hours the dough is still an inch or more away from the rim of the basket, let it rise for no more than an additional 10–15 minutes.
2. While the dough proofs, position a rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat the oven to 475 degrees Fahrenheit (245 degrees Celsius). Midway through the second hour of proofing and after the oven is heated, place a lidded Dutch oven inside and allow it to warm up.
Score and bake the bread:
1. Once the dough is done proofing, quickly and carefully remove the Dutch oven and immediately close the oven door. Lightly flour the inside of the Dutch oven.
2. Quickly flip the dough from the proofing basket into the Dutch oven, seam side down.
3. Score the bread. Using a sharp lame or razor blade, score a simple ¼-inch-deep hash mark into the top of the bread, using the bottom of the proofing basket as a guide for the size of the hash mark. If the dough has risen a lot, score it very lightly to avoid collapsing. If the dough hasn’t risen very much, score it deeply (up to ½ inch deep) to give the bread room to rise during baking.
4. Put the lid on the Dutch oven and bake, covered, 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove the lid and continue to bake until the bread is a deep brown color, about 35 minutes longer.
5. Remove the Dutch oven and transfer the bread from the Dutch oven to a wire rack. To test for doneness, do the knock test: Balance the bread on its side and knock on the bottom of the loaf. If it sounds clear, the bread is ready. If it sounds muffled, return the loaf to the Dutch oven and continue to bake for an additional 5–15 minutes.
6. Once it’s done baking, allow the bread to cool on a wire rack for at least 1 hour.
7. Wrap the bread in a towel and store it at room temperature for up to 1 week. If you live in a very dry climate, wrap the bread in cloth and store it inside a plastic bag. If freezing, wait until the loaf has cooled entirely. Once cool, put large pieces of the loaf in freezer bags (as large as will fit in the bags). Remove as much air as you can from the bag and seal it for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature when you’re ready to use.
Bready for More? We’ve got you covered. All you knead (see what we did there?) is The MasterClass Annual Membership, some water, flour, salt, and yeast, and our exclusive lessons from Apollonia Poilâne—Paris’s premiere bread maker and one of the earliest architects of the artisanal bread movement. Roll up your sleeves and get baking.