Poppy-Sesame Miche

BREAD

Feb 15

Baker Max Blachman-Gentile of The Standard East Village | New York
Yield: 1 loaf

INGREDIENTS:

75 grams starter
12 grams whole wheat flour
38 grams white flour
550 grams T75 Magog flour, plus additional as needed
66 grams levain
27 grams poppy seeds
27 grams sesame seeds
14 grams salt
Neutral oil
Rice flour
Semolina flour

METHOD:

The night before your bake, feed your starter normally, with a low-inoculation, so it will be ripe and very active in 10 to 12 hours. In the morning, when your starter is very bubbly and just starting to collapse, build your levain by mixing the starter with 55 grams 90°F-water, whole wheat flour, and white flour. The temperature of the levain should be around 82°F. Allow levain to rest in a warm space 3 to 4 hours.

In a large bowl, combine Magog flour with 423 grams water, until fully incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap or a wet towel. After a few hours, check the levain. It should be extremely bubbly. When the bubbles have reached the top, and you see it just starting to collapse, it is ready to mix into the dough.

Pour 66 grams levain over Magog flour dough, and dimple it into the dough. Using your hand like a pair of scissors, cut the levain into the dough. Mix by lifting and folding the dough over itself and stretching the dough high out of the bowl until the dough looks smooth and tugs back when you pull it. Add in the seeds, salt, and 50 grams water. Use the water to dampen the salt, which makes it easier to incorporate into the dough. Dimple and cut everything into the dough again, and then continue mixing the dough until everything is well incorporated and the dough has become smooth and strong again.

Put your dough into a lightly oiled container for the bulk fermentation. Ferment 3 to 5 hours, giving the dough folds every half an hour for the first 2½ hours. To give a fold, wet your hands and stretch one end of your dough high in the air, and then back toward the center of the dough. Rotate the container by a quarter turn, and repeat until you have folded all sides toward the center. Then scoop the dough from the middle, pull the entire thing out of the container, and give the dough a quarter turn.

The bulk fermentation is complete when your dough has gotten gassy and has grown by about 25 percent to 30 percent. You can also test this by pinching off a small ball of dough, about the size of a golf ball, and checking to see if it floats. When the dough is ready, gently dump it out of the container onto a clean work surface. Using a bench scraper, push one side of the dough forward, and then pull it back toward yourself, keeping the bottom stuck to the table and tucking the edge underneath the dough. Repeat this 3 or 4 times until the dough has become a tight ball. Let the dough rest for about 25 to 40 minutes. It should relax and spread out, but not loose its shape completely.

After resting, lightly flour the dough and a work surface. Using a bench scraper, flip the dough so that the top is now resting on the floured surface. Grab the left and right sides of the dough, and stretch them away from each other. Then fold them back in toward each other like you are folding a letter. Now do the same thing with the top and bottom edges of the dough—you should have a tight little square shape. Now, grab the bottom left and top right corners (think southwest and northeast) and stretch them apart, and then fold them toward each other so that they overlap. Lightly press them together so that they are sealed. Do the same thing with the northwest and southeast corners. This should help create structure so that you have a tight ball shaped dough. Flip the dough over, and gently round it into a nice boule on the table.

Line a round proofing basket with a towel and rice flour to prevent sticking. In a bowl, mix equal parts poppy seeds and sesame seeds. Put these on a plate big enough to fit the dough. Using a bench scraper, flip the top side of the dough into the poppy-sesame mixture so that it coats the top, and then place this top side facing down into your floured proofing basket.

Proof at room temperature until the dough gets puffy and feels relaxed when you poke it. This should take between 1 and 2 hours depending on how warm the dough is. At this point, put it in the refrigerator, lightly covered with plastic or a damp towel. Retard in the refrigerator overnight, or for about 14 hours.

The next day, set up your oven with a baking stone and a large pot or Dutch oven that will easily fit the entire loaf. Depending on how hot your oven runs, heat between 450°F and 500°F. Let’s say 475°F to be safe. Give this at least an hour to make sure your stone and cast iron are very hot.

When ready, pull the loaf from the refrigerator and lightly dust a peel with semolina flour. Gently flip the loaf onto the peel, so that the side that was facing up in the basket, the seam, is now facing down on the peel. Using a sharp razor blade, score the loaf with a big square pattern. Carefully load the loaf onto the baking stone, and cover it with the hot Dutch oven or pot, like a lid.

Bake 20 minutes and then remove the Dutch oven. Be careful as this will release steam. Decrease heat to 450°F, and bake until the crust has turned deep brown, like a dark caramel. Remove loaf from oven and cool on a resting rack.

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