Recently my friend Thierry Delabre posted his version of this high extraction flour “tourte au meule.” I found that he had left the formula on his Facebook comments, so I tapped in the numbers on my BreadStorm™ calculator and shared it with him. When Thierry saw my numbers, he noticed a few differences in hydration. He also noticed that I didn’t use commercial yeast, just sourdough. And being out of my usual Farmer Ground half white (high-extraction) flour, I made a “faux high extraction flour” by combining 75% white wheat and 25% whole wheat.

Below is a definition of high extraction flour, or “T-80,” the same sort of flour used by the Poilane Bakery to make their world-famous Miche. 

Farine de Blé Type 80: This French flour is also called “Farine demi-complète” (half whole flour) or “Farine bise”, meaning greyish-brown flour. It is a brown, light whole-wheat flour that contains part of the hull of the wheat grain. It is used to make “pain bise” with.

Pain bise means “brown bread,” as in whole-wheat or whole-meal bread. Here is the the Tourte au meule, slightly adapted, in a good way!

P.S. Merci Thierry for your work, someone who teaches us all everyday in the gourmande and bread community.

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