"graham" > wrote
> For your next attempt, it might be worthwhile sieving the WW flour with a
> fine, kitchen sieve to remove the larger bran particles.

First of all, thanks for the pics Graham. It was really enlightening
to compare my loaf (which Reinhart implies is exactly the same as
Poilane's) to one of the actual loaves. I did, in fact, attempt to
"strain" *most* of the bran particles out of the (medium-grind) ww
flour. I must not have done a very good job, because the color of the
crumb was a much, *much* darker color than the pics of the loaf
posted. My sieve must not have been fine enough.


> Poilne uses asofter wheat flour than we would normally use

I can't believe he uses a softer (as in lower gluten %) flour for his
breads...although I have read that in Europe most of the flour is much
softer than in America. But, if the hypothesis that high gluten flour
is required for "holey" bread is correct, I don't understand how he
can get the crumb structure that he does in his loaves. Unless the
whole theory is bunk--and most any gluten % flour (given certain
limits) will produce an pleasing crumb structure such as the one
pictured.