Beekeeper's Pain de Mie

This bread is is flavored with the essence of chamomile, rose, and honey. Thus, the name, Beekeeper's Pain de Mie.

This sandwich bread has such an amazing fragrance from the chamomile and rose infused milk. It's very subtle, but it adds such a specialness to this loaf.

This month, the Bread Baking Babes, hosted by My Kitchen in Half Cups, are baking the most lovely loaf from King Arthur Flour's head baker, Martin Philip. He created this recipe for his bid for the 2016 Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, which is basically the bread baking Olympics or the World Cup of bread baking.

The contest takes place in Paris (of course) and was created in 1992 to promote innovation in the profession of bread baking.

There are two versions of Beekeeper's Pain de Mie. You can find the one-day version on the King Arthur Flour website. That version gives you options for making the bread with chamomile infused milk or just honey.

If you are adventurous and can plan ahead, you can try making the "official" version from the cookbook, Breaking Bread: A Baker's Journey Home in 75 Recipes by Martin Philip, which is what I did. Evidently it is a best seller in the King Arthur Flour bakery.

P.S. I'm a huge fan of Martin Philip's instructional YouTube posts with his son.

How to make beekeeper's bread:

This bread begins with a biga of white flour, water, and a pinch of yeast, which you mix and let ferment for 12 to 16 hours.

At the same time, bring some chamomile tea, milk, honey, and sugar to a boil and then let it steep for 12 to 16 hours. The original recipe calls for chamomile and lavender. I substituted a chamomile rose tea that also includes butterfly pea flowers, and hibiscus, and was really happy with the results.

If you prefer, you can make this bread without the tea, however, the scent is wonderful.

On baking day you mix the biga with the tea mixture, water, butter, and durum flour, along with more yeast and knead the dough briefly before letting it rise. "Fold" the dough by reaching under it, stretching it, and folding it over itself from all four sides.

Finally, you shape the dough into a sandwich loaf and place it in a 9 inch lidded Pullman pan. If you don't have a Pullman pan, you can use a standard 9-inch bread pan.

What is durum flour?

Durum flour is finely ground durum wheat, which is a hard, high protein wheat. It's often used to make pasta. It has a pretty yellowish color and a slightly nutty flavor. If you can't find it, you can substitute white wheat flour and adjust the water as needed.

Do not substitute semolina because it is too coarsely ground.

Suggested timeline for making this  bread:

Day 1:

6:00 to 7:00 pm

Mix the biga ingredients and make the milk tea mixture.

Day 2:

8:00 to 10:00 am

Mix the final dough and let rise for about 90 minutes, with two "folds" at 30 minutes and 60 minutes.

After 90 minutes, shape the dough and let rise for 60 to 90 minutes. Bake the loaf for 30 to 35 minutes. Be sure to let the loaf cool completely before slicing.

This recipe is for two loaves. I halved the recipe to make one loaf.

Beekeeper's Pain de Mie

Print

Yield: 32 servings (two loaves)

Author: Karen Kerr

This bread is is flavored with the essence of chamomile, rose, and honey. Thus, the name, Beekeeper's Pain de Mie.

Ingredients:

For the Biga

• 410 grams (3 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon) all purpose flour
• 246 grams (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) water
• Pinch of instant yeast

For the Wildflower Tea

• 170 grams (3/4 cup) milk
• 21 grams (1 tablespoon) honey
• 57 grams (1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon) sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried chamomile flours plus 2 tablespoons dried lavender flowers OR 4 chamomile teabags. I used Republic of Tea Chamomile Rose

For the Final Dough

• 172 grams (3/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon) of the milk mixture
• All of the biga
• 106 grams (1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons) water
• 410 grams (3 1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon) durum flour
• 123 grams (9 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 17 grams (scant tablespoon) salt
• 16 grams (1 tablespoon plus 2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast

Instructions:

To Make the Biga

1. Mix all of the ingredients in a medium bowl with your hands, and then knead until smooth. Cover and set aside at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours. 

To Make the Wildflower Tea

1. Bring the milk, honey, and sugar to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly.
2. Add the teabags or loose flowers, remove from the heat, cover, and let sit at room temperature for 12 to 16 hours. 
3. Strain before using. 

To Make the Bread

1. Add the milk, biga, and water to a large bowl and mix with your hands, breaking up the biga. 
2. Add the durum flour, butter, salt, and yeast, and continue to mix with your hands until you have a shaggy dough. 
3. Cover and let rise for 90 minutes, with a stretch and fold at 30 minutes and 60 minutes. 
4. Grease two 9 inch bread pans or Pullman pans. 
5. Divide the dough in two and pre-shape each into a log. Cover and let rest for 15 minutes. 
6. Flatten the logs and re-shape them into 9 inch loaves. Place them, seam side down, into the pans. Cover and let rise for 60 to 90 minutes, until the dough crests the rim of bread pans by 1 inch, or comes nearly to the top of the Pullman pans. 
7. Bake the loaves at 425 degrees F for 30 to 35 minutes, until golden brown. 
8. Remove the loaves from the pans and cool completely on a wire rack. 

Calories
128.41

Fat (grams)
3.40

Sat. Fat (grams)
2.00

Carbs (grams)
21.43

Fiber (grams)
0.70

Net carbs
20.73

Sugar (grams)
1.87

Protein (grams)
2.69

Sodium (milligrams)
195.53

Cholesterol (grams)
8.34

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2020/06/beekeepers-pain-de-mie.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

bread, Pain de Mie

Bread

French

Did you make this recipe?

Tag @KarensKitchenStories on instagram and hashtag it #KarensKitchenStories

Created using The Recipes Generator

Check out the rest of the Bread Baking Babes' Beekeeper's Bread:

• My Diverse Kitchen
• My Kitchen in Half Cups (host kitchen)
• Bread Experience
• Feeding My Enthusiasms
• Judy's Gross Eats
• Blog from Our Kitchen
• A Messy Kitchen