Sonoma Miche, Sydney
by shiao-ping · More by this author
{ 2010 May 23 }
I visited most of the major bread bakeries in San Francisco in August last year and did not like any of the sourdoughs that I sampled except Chad Robertson’s Country Sourdough. Taste for bread is very individual. I have given up looking for nice sourdough from shops. If I want bread, I make bread in my own kitchen but my own results are never consistent. I have good days and bad days.
When I turned up at Sonoma Bakery Café in Paddington, Sydney, a few days ago, I really wasn’t expecting much. I had to be in Sydney for a day and so I was just filling up my time.
This window display got my heart pumping:
I stood in front of the window with my jaw dropped to the ground at the sight of these giant Miches!! Unbelievable! I am actually quite easily excitable.
So, who buys these giant (1.9kg) Miches at A$14.00 per piece? I do.
It was worth every cent of it.
It was much later in that day when I realized that Sonoma Paddington is right around the corner from my good friend, Jan of Pastilla Nash, whose delightful Prune and Walnut Log is served at Tetsuya’s restaurant along side sourdough from Sonoma Baking Company.
The crumb is translucent throughout (as seen below)– there is the vestige of fermentation on each and every cell. Every single cell is aerated. It is soft and spongy, mildly chewy, and mildly sour.
On the way home to Brisbane, somehow Chad Robertson came to mind. I don’t know why. It is not so much that I could recognize any similarities between Sonoma Miche and Chad Robertson’s Country Sourdough, but perhaps it is more because the excitement that I experienced in both breads was the same. As soon as I got home, I went onto Sonoma’s website and this is what I found:
"Andrew and Christian Connole, inspired by the artisan sourdough baking of Northern California…. The Connole boys immersed themselves in the baking fraternity of the San Francisco Bay area where they learnt to bake from renowned artisan bakers like Chad Robertson ….” Ah ha!
In fact, I like Sonoma Miche much better. It is rustic on the outside, but the crumb on the inside is very delicate. Chad’s Country Sourdough, on the other hand, is more what its name indicates. To achieve this delicate crumb, Andrew Connole says, “At Sonoma we prolong the fermentation process by chilling the doughs as they rise,” and that “These specially tempered doughs … are gently mixed and hand shaped before being given a lengthy fermentation in our retarder.”
The next day after I got home, I had 1/4 of this Miche with my kids. I sliced 1/2 of this Miche and placed the slices in a zipped locked bag and placed the bag in the freezer.
I kept the remaining 1/4 in another zipped locked bag at room temperature and my kids and I sliced it for breakfast on the third day. The crumb was still incredibly moist!! It was amazing. None of the sourdoughs that I had ever tasted were as moist as this. I like my sourdough very moist. Despite what most people say about sourdough’s good keeping quality, I rarely have sourdough without it being toasted if it is more than a day old. I am surprised that I am happy with the crumb of Sonoma Miche as is even on day three! I need not have to freeze half of the Miche after all.
Sonoma Paddington – what a treat!
Shiao-Ping
p.s. Andrew Connole talks about his bakery in youtube:
p.p.s. The white version of Sonoma Miche (Miche Sourdough) is Mission Sourdough which is more than a foot long:
by shiao-ping · More by this author
{ 2010 June 29 }
Thank you so much for your comment. You have given me a great tip for my next experiment. For all the bread styles that I have tried, miche is still my most favourite. I remember your great Forum post: "Dark" or "Black" colour to rye bread. Thank you again.
Thanks for this interesting post, Shiao-Ping.
by rossnroller · More by this author { 2010 May 24 }A couple of comments.
Firstly, if your bread-baking results are inconsistent, I can only imagine that's because of your constant experimentation with new doughs and techniques. I would not put myself in your class as a home baker, but my regular breads are very consistent. I suspect that's because I am less adventurous than you, and content to keep baking the same favourite breads over and over, perhaps with little tweaks to try to get them as close to the ideal as possible (typical plodding Taurean). In between my regulars I do try new ones - many, if not mostly, from your innovative recipes.
As always, there are plusses and minuses whatever stance you take. Constant experimentation means stimulating baking and some spectacular successes as you break through new boundaries. Repeating the same breads while seeking to attain an ideal through small tweaks probably leads to consistent results, but less exciting baking! You never can have it all, can ya?
To the main content of your post: I'm really intrigued by this miche as you describe it. That transluscent crumb looks incredible. I wonder how they have managed to create a SD bread that maintains a fresh crust so long (hopefully, they don't use any preservative)? Do you think it's all down to the controlled temperatures they prove at?
Cheers
Ross
Sonoma Miche
by toni55 · More by this author { 2010 May 26 }Shao-ping,
Thank you for your post & pictures. I have gotten what you call translucent crumb and was thinking I was doing something wrong. In the beginning of my sourdough adventures I thought the goal was small, consistent crumb size (didn't even know the term crumb didn't just refer to what was left on the board after slicing!).
Then I found this site and a couple of others that have been so helpful in teaching me what results I should be looking for. Now I know when to smile & when to say "drat!" & go back to the bread board.
I can identify with the idea of $14.00 for a loaf of bread...several years ago I was visiting Seattle and went into the Grand Central Bakery...worth every cent :-)
Toni
On the translucent crumb
by shiao-ping · More by this author { 2010 May 26 }Hi Ross, You have a good point. I do experimenting on new recipes and new formulae a lot.
On the translucent crumb, my photos do not show the paper thin quality of their crumb. I read their website very carefully, but all that I could get out was that they use NO commercial yeast. No, I do not think that “it's all down to the controlled temperatures they prove at,” but I do think that the way they ferment their dough is the key reason for their success. You could see from my photos that their crumb color is quite dark. In fact, I should say it is very dark. The last time I got that crumb color was from a pure rye sour (my Pure Sourdough Rye, year 1939) where the rye flour went through a series of fermentation stages to get to that color. Sonoma Miche would not have a high content in rye, or there would be no volume or structure in their dough. Are you familiar with how real estate agents talk about their real estate? Sometimes it is not important what they say; it is more important what they don’t say. Recently I got hold of a few very old bread books, one of which tried to emulate the famed Poilane miche where cocoa powder was added for the coloring. Can you believe that? Cocoa powder!
I had a slice toasted this morning for brekky. Their crust is truly amazing. You can get crunchiness out of most sourdough breads easily. But to get it at the same time when it is also delicate and light, it is not easy. Their crust also has a paper thin feel about it because it is very light.
Intriguing and tantalising, Shiao-Ping.
by rossnroller · More by this author { 2010 May 26 }Wish I had cause (and funds!) to be in Sydney soon so I could try one of their loaves and experience first-hand what you describe!
BTW, my consistency has taken a turn I'd rather it didn't. I have been consistently (last 7 bakes!) turning out loaves that burst through a slash, or sometimes even the seam on the bottom. This has never happened before and it's got me stumped. I put a post on TFL seeking advice, but so far haven't pinned down the problem. Maybe it's one for the Queen of Home Sourdough Bakers [low bow, elaborate hand flourishes etc]...any ideas, perchance?
Cheers
Ross
Ross have you tried proofing
by LeadDog · More by this author { 2010 May 27 }Ross have you tried proofing the dough a little bit longer?
Hi LeadDog.
by rossnroller · More by this author { 2010 May 27 }Yes, that was one of the suggestions from the TFL thread that I took up in yesterday's bake - same bursting phenomenon occurred. I think I'll try again with a MUCH longer proof period, just to see what difference it makes.
Just curious, Duane - do you do a poke test or anything like that to assess whether your dough is ready? Must admit, I just go by the look of the dough and the clock, but I may have to get more conscientious about checking dough readiness in other ways...still, it's puzzling I've never had this problem until now, and that since it started 3 or so weeks ago it just keeps happening!
Gosh! Ross,
by shiao-ping · More by this author { 2010 May 27 }You have had almost the whole world of TFLoafers behind you helping - Andy of ananda, Paul of PMcCool, Eric of ehanner, Hansjoakim, Don of DonD, AND Mini Oven!!
The same thing has happened to me before. My own observations are as follows (sorry, I did not read any of the comments you’ve got, so if there is any duplication, please excuse me):
(1) The bursting out of the crust shows quite obviously that there was a strong force underneath (sorry, stating the obvious). That often happens when (a) the overall hydration of the dough is low (rather than high); and (b) the starter is very strong AND has not had a full chance of fermenting all the sugar in the starch (the dough being a low hydration dough means there is more flour, more food vis-à-vis the little beasties feasting on them). Because the wild beasties have not fully digested what is available to them, they are still going very strong, like a teen-ager who is about to reach prime, but not yet.
You know very well that in order to have attractive “grigne” and a good oven spring, it is better to under-proof the dough, rather than over-proofing it. You might however, have erred on the extreme under-proof. If I were you, I would prove my dough a bit longer time, eg. at least two hours in the current cooler weather or at the bulk fermentation stage – same thing (I am working on a total fermentation time basis).
(2) The second set of reasons concerns the more technical aspects of the loaf – the scoring and the shaping. Your scoring may be uneven, meaning your three slashes are not equal depth (the bursting happened at the deepest slash because the other two slashes are not deep / open enough to share the up-thrush of the oven spring. Or, your final shaping may be uneven - that one side is shaped tighter than the other and the bursting happens where the shaping is tighter. Sometimes I find that the problem started from when I was diluting the starter in water for the final dough – that it was not diluted evenly and that there were lumps.
In my own experience the first set of reasons above is more the real reason why bursting out of the crust happened. For me it happened in dryer doughs because dryer dough needed longer fermentation time (the wild beasties were not able to get at the starch as quickly and easily as in more liquid dough) but I overlooked it.
Sorry, Ross
by shiao-ping · More by this author { 2010 May 27 }I have just read LeadDog's comment and your reply. Your reply made me think that it is the cooler weather over the last 2 - 3 weeks that did it. In one of my posts (can't remember it is a recipe or a blog post) here at Sourdough.com that I said that with that particular bread that I made, it had 4 hours bulk ferment and 6 hours proof at room temp!! A month ago if somebody had told me that their dough was fermented this long, I would say you were mad!
My experience every time when the bursting out of the crust had happened, the crumb was not nice (for the simple reason that the dough had not been fermented enough) - the crumb tasted a little bit dry; there might be big holes but on the whole the crumb was dense.
Ross I use the poke test.
by LeadDog · More by this author { 2010 May 27 }Ross I use the poke test. You have covered why the bread is now bursting but my guess is just a little bit of change in the weather towards the cooler side is what has happened. Enjoy the longer fermentations you will get more flavor out of your bread. I know I'm looking forward to our next winter here.
shiao-ping wrote: On the
by Danubian · More by this author { 2010 June 27 }On the translucent crumb, my photos do not show the paper thin quality of their crumb. I read their website very carefully, but all that I could get out was that they use NO commercial yeast. No, I do not think that “it's all down to the controlled temperatures they prove at,” but I do think that the way they ferment their dough is the key reason for their success.
That type of crumb is usually associated with a very high water content, a very 'strong' flour - gluten enriched, high protein flour (HP) - and low intensity mixing with long fermentation. But I'd say high water & high protein.
The high water content will enhance diastatic enzyme activity degrading a significant portion of the flour starch producing the soluble sugar maltose. Since maltose is soluble the dough water that would be held or absorbed by the gelatinised/pasty starch is liberated when the complex starch is degraded into maltose. Thus there is a significant production of maltose & liberated water. This results in a very moist crumb (see above) and also with a dark caramelised but sweetish crumb & crust. I'd be tempted to bet a reasonable portion of wholemeal rye is soaked overnight to facilitate the development of maltose to caramelise on baking and produce a moist glossy crumb. Since a significant portion of the total flour is probably rye - soaking wheat produces maltose but not to the extent that rye does & the colour of whole wheat bread never reaches the dark colour of rye I also think the wheat flour would be strong or HP or even gluten added. Remember many French breads are made with Manitoba type flours; the French import a lot of their premium wheat bread flours from Canada.
The low intensity mixing in combination with the high water content and good longish floor times makes the crumb structure very like the photos show.
Good luck.