Making Miches with Charlie
To mark Real Bread week, here’s the story of the bread being served up in one school! The chefs we support and train put a lot of thought into everything they make – including their breads.
Charlie works at a SEN school and has been introducing sourdough breads. He makes around six small round loaves or four big miches per day – so why the miche?
Charlie adds sunflower and pumpkin seeds to his dough, kneads for around 10 minutes, folds it three times and proves it overnight in the fridge on a slow ferment. It bakes for 15-20 minutes at 220C.
Charlie says: “Our version is 80% water hydration so makes a really soft pillowy bread for them and has less of a crunch on the crust compared to the round loaves which I bake in a Dutch oven. I use the miche for breakfast toast, serve small slices of it at lunch and also for sandwiches. At the moment we do four different types of fillings as an alternative to hot lunch and for any school trips. There’s Peri Peri Chicken with green peppers, spinach, coriander. Maltese Tuna Sandwich with tomato purée, olive oil, pitted green olives, capers and parsley. Chickpea falafel with chilli mayo and mixed leave. West Country cheddar & caramelised onion.”
A Miche can be defined as a very large rustic sourdough bread, it should weigh between 1.5 to over 5 kg! It typically has a high percentage of whole wheat flour. It dates back to the days when French villages had communal ovens for baking. And now it’s being served up at Stormont House by Charlie! This is how we think school food should be – interesting, tasty, made with TLC and skill!