Hmmm..given that the numbers above total 332, that would be a rather
small loaf. Considering that the Poilane miche is supposed to be two
kilograms, I'd have to guess the numbers would be bakers percentages.
It is also interesting that there is neither yeast nor water in the
final dough. Old dough is usually a yeasted process, and the yeast has
to come from somewhere!

Well the yeast comes from the old dough. and I'm talking sourdough
yeast. That's if you're making your "Poilane" loaf all the time. I was
describing how they make it in Poilane bakery. If you start it from
the begining you just use your starter instead of old dough to mix the
preferment. The point is that in Poilane they don't use a separate
starter, they use a piece of dough from the previous batch, meaning
there is salt on it.

Also, there isn't enough water in the
pre-ferment to adequately hydrate the dough.


I said just after: Enough water to make a nice dough, not too tight.
That's probably about 65%. most artisan bakeries dont weigh the water
AND the flour, they just weigh one and adjust the other. In Poilane
they weigh the water in buckets and they add enough flour. In other
bakeries they weigh the flour which is allready in bags, so that makes
it easier.

Let's assume we are shooting for 80% hydration, which is reasonable for
a whole wheat bread.

If you put 80% water for this bread you're gonna end up with a nice
soup, good luck.
Maybe your whole wheat absorbs that much water, but "Poilane" bread is
not whole wheat. It's made with T80 flour. And there's a big
difference.


Finally, the yeast. How much to use? I'd guess is about .3% instant
yeast, again, as a bakers percentage.

Then that's not sourdough bread anymore.
If you have a preferment I don't see why you need to add yeast. unless
you're on a hurry and you want to bang your loaf in an hour.

To make a two kilogram loaf with that recipe, try:

Preferment:
144 grams Flour
58 grams Old Dough
86 grams Water

Final dough:
960 grams Flour
19 grams Salt
730 grams Water
288 grams Preferment
3 grams Instant Yeast


That makes exactly 2000g, they scale their bread at 2.2KG
Again I don't see the point for the yeast that's just pointless. or at
least if I were to put that much yeast I would put less preferment
then.

If anyone tries it, I'd appreciate hearing how it turned out. I'm not
sure when I'll be able to try it.


I won't try this sorry. I'm too busy making bread everyday.


A few more interesting observations..... Bernard Clayton has a recipe
that was approved by Pierre Poilane, the father of Lionel, that was a
straight dough - no sourdough, no old dough, no poolish. Also no spelt,
and little whole wheat.

Well I guess if Meister Poilane approves a recipe, that must be real
good.
I wish he would approve my recipes but now he's dead, who else should
I ask for approval??

If you go to their web site, they tell you they
use 30% spelt (it isn't clear if that is a bakers percentage or a more
conventional percentage) and a sourdough process. It seems that there
are a number of hints about the Poilane formula, and that they are all
different.


I just said what was the "Poilane formula" in the previous posts and
you changed it to make your own. That's probably the problem with you
guys you just want to make everything more complicated than it really
is. Bread is bread, it's just flour water and salt. There is no big
secret, anybody can do it. If I had a 6yr old kid at hand, I sure
could teach him how to make a great loaf of bread


I'm not just trying to be nasty but sometimes you guys are just
pulling your hair too much. No offence for Poilane either, he's a
great baker and I read Lionel Poilane's book which is really good. But
you don't need anybody's approval to make good bread, there are loads
of people making much better bread than Poilane.

Cheers!