Re: Poilâne walnut loaves

Graham wrote:

> On 2025-02-09 12:41 p.m., Carol wrote:
> > Graham wrote:
> > 
> > > There has been some controversy in the bread world regarding
> > > Poilâne's sourdough miches. Videos taken in the basement of the
> > > Rue du Cherche Midi clearly show the bakers adding commercial
> > > yeast to the dough.
> > > In Apollonia Poilâne's book, she adds 4g of dried yeast to the mix
> > > in the following recipe for the Poilâne miche:
> > > 
> > > 410g levain (French-style, stiff levain, ~60% hydration)
> > > 550g AP flour
> > > 450 WW flour
> > > 650g water
> > > 20g salt.
> > > 
> > > She also uses this mix to make the justly famous walnut loaves.
> > > I have bought these small loaves on visits to the London branch
> > > and have tried to emulate them in the past. At the tail of the
> > > above miche recipe, she give the recipe. You add 240g of toasted
> > > walnuts to the miche dough and divide it into 6 pieces.
> > > I made a batch a couple of weeks ago and gave 3 of the loaves to
> > > friends who really liked them, even one who is gluten intolerant!
> > > Graham
> > 
> > Hi Graham!  I had to google that and it's still not clear but
> > levain is a type of fresh starter I gather?
> 
> It's just the French for starter. French "sourdough" is called
> "pain au levain".

Ok!  You be the King of starters!  Me, I'm awful at them.  ;-)